 Our next speaker is going to be Gabriel Rothblatt. You just heard him commenting a moment ago. Gabriel is here representing the pterosem movement and joins us for his second year as a member of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. Gabriel also lives in Florida with his wife and four kids and he also, and this is really exciting, recently announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress from Florida's eighth district which includes the Kennedy Space Center. We're excited to have Gabriel here and he's going to be talking about the pterosem movement which is another transhumanist religiously oriented, they call it a secular approach to religious transhumanism. Happy to have you, Gabriel. What was that? Well, it's a great honor to be here in front of such a prestigious group of intellects as you saw that huge number of PhDs in there. I am also in that minority with just a bachelor's degree. But yeah, last year at last year's conference, I felt I had a real awakening but I like to refer to as a spiritually transhuman experience. I, incredibly the same day that I came here, the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies published my first piece of Futurist Philosophy and as I was sitting in the audience like you all now, I just felt really awestruck by the depth of thought and character of the presenting guest and just as Brent did, I got really overwhelmed, the emotion of the matter just really kind of came over me so much so that I did not sleep that following night at all and just so overwhelmed by inspiration and a drive to become more than what I was. That I knew I had to come back here again this year with the right to share that experience. And as last year's conference coincided with a major milestone for me, so does this year's this week. Now it's my candidacy, I'm now active candidate for US Congress. So I'm gonna get used to that and give you a disclaimer. I'm not here. I'm not here as a candidate. I made the decision to come here before I decided to run but I do believe my identity as a transhumanist is what influenced me to want to become more than what I am. And I hope everyone here shares that experience and comes back next year with new accomplishments and ambitions to share with us. We're all familiar with the concept of the chicken and the egg, the dilemma of faith versus fact. Did life begin with a single cell or was there some kind of moment of creation? Do we believe what we know or do we know what we believe? And does an opinion one way or the other change anything about how the two now do exist simultaneously? I wanna invite you to expand that creation dilemma to compare man and God, religion and theology. The very existence of one, is it contradictory or is it complementary to the existence of the other? Did or could one precede the other? It's a simple question and has a lot of varying interpretations which unfortunately have created deep divide where we have physical boundaries that separate ideological differences. Does either past determine our future? The debate has been really quite heated. I believe this is due to religious organizations. Neither humankind nor God have any benefit in the gross massacre and atrocities of war and conflict. The desire of the religious organization to manifest itself as the sole spokesperson between man and God has led us into some of the darkest chapters of our history. Their deceit and corruption has alienated many groups and made the concept of faith entirely unpalatable or some, but contrary to the religious organization's attempt to monopolize the God meme, the diversification of faith has made the institution stronger. Just as genetic diversity is good for life, theological diversity is good for faith. But could there be a secular faith? All religion is an attempt to realize godliness through cooperation, duplicatable actions amplified on a global scale. That builds reality from a communal belief. I believe in the United States, there's principles of supporting freedom of religious expression. Maintains a rich marketplace for faith in the light of a world increasingly ruled by technology. And it's no coincidence that it's here in America where the visions of Joseph Smith were developed. To truly realize God's potential, all of humankind must work towards a united goal. However, people like myself have come to understand a non-cosmetic theology, described as humanist by some, agnostic or atheist by others. We pursue a unique connection with our environments, one generally free from affiliation, which brings us to terrorism and what is a trans religion? Trans religion means transcending religion. It means encompassing all religions. Essentially secularism. If you work for the goals of terrorism, you are terrorism. Joining the organization is not necessary. Terrorism is three categories of rituals, core categories of rituals. I like to call uploading, networking and meditation. All religions incorporate to some degree even secular lifestyle does as well. There are other rituals, but I believe these three particularly facilitate the specific and common change that all groups want to see in the world. Terrorism commonly practice a form of yoga called Kundalini, which is preferred because of its rich scientific support of increased hormonal balance and circulation. But meditation not only encompasses yoga, but prayer as well. Prayer is a form of meditation. And although less scientific study backs its results of personal health, there are some that show that even basic prayers can improve your mood. It's truly only certain mantras that are associated to certain meditations that have any direct theological purpose to them. Uploading is a vernacular we use in terrorism. However, special credence is given to communal stories. It's not just personal experience. Storytelling includes reciting scriptural and auditory traditions. They also fit the definition of uploading, giving that information again to a new computing source. Secondly, we may call this journalism or just perceive it as the art of expression. In writing this paper I was very fascinated to discover that former LDS president Woodruff, he kept the journal for 63 years and advocated that all Mormons maintain a life log, which is the very essence of what uploading means. Networking, in a tradition religious sense, I think we refer to it as proselytizing or congregating. And congregating as well is popular in secular culture, as well as rich socialization and advocacy of one's positions to others in the community. In terrorism, we like to simply view it as extra fee. But the principle in all these cases are the same. Then we have four core beliefs, which are simple statements, but I think have it a religious as well as a secular appeal to them as well. The purpose of life is to create diversity, unity, and joyful immortality. Nature automatically selects for these traits, joyful immortality, unity, diversity. They're the self-fulfilling prophecy of creation. Regardless of your stance on how we got here, there is a consensus that since we are here, we have a duty to live as long and as joyfully as possible. Nobody dies so long as enough information about them is preserved. They are simply in a state of cybernetic biostasis. Future mindware technology will enable them to be revived if desired to healthy and independent living. The concept of immortality is common through religion. Unanimously proclaimed as a reward for living life in a method asked by God. Say for capital punishment, there's no religious mandate that one die through a specific course or after a set of time. Again, indefinite life is rewarded through righteous living and maintenance of your temple. God is technological. We are making God as we are implementing technology that is evermore all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful and benevolent. Geoethical nanotechnology will ultimately connect all consciousness and control the cosmos. The belief that we can be more leads us to create tools from which we need to realize that dream. In that we create God in ourselves and in our connections to each other. The reality of God becomes more tangible through our cooperative development of the tools of our faith. Finally, love means that happiness of others is essential to your own happiness. Love must connect everyone to achieve life purpose and to make God complete. The magnetism of love is universal. No matter how greatly two people may see their differences, love can unite them. That's my wife. And inherent love for others will allow you to overlook their differences to begin with. It is always in the divine and human interest to proliferate love. And summary, I don't believe where you begin as is important as where you're headed. Knowledge is never a destination when curiosity is your journey. A common misinterpretation of transhumanism and of terrorism is that immortality for godliness at any cost is the goal. In truth, both are best described by the secular values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Which should come as no surprise given the society that transhumanism, that Mormonism has come out of. Thank you for allowing me to speak and if you have more time I'll take questions.