Raymond Kurzweil - “The Acceleration of Technology in the 21st Century: the Impact on Business, the Economy, and Society”
RAY KURZWEIL has been described as “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal, and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. Inc. Magazine ranked him #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” and PBS included Ray as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America,” along with other inventors of the past two centuries. As one of the leading inventors of our time, Ray was the principal developer of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition. Among Ray’s many honors, he is the recipient of the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize, the world's largest for innovation. In 1999, he received the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. And in 2002, he was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, established by the US Patent Office. He has received nineteen honorary Doctorates and honors from three U.S. presidents. Ray has written four national bestselling books. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into 9 languages and was the #1 bestselling book on Amazon in science. Ray’s latest book, The Singularity is Near, was a New York Times best seller, and has been the #1 book on Amazon in both science and philosophy.
Sergei Zhukov – “The Russian Space Program: Changing the Vector of our Condition
He holds a PhD in Engineering, is a spaceflight test pilot and a member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. In 1979, he graduated with honors from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University with a major in Nuclear Reactors. He then worked in the Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation “Energia,” a manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components, managed experiments in astrophysics and radiobiology onboard the MIR orbital space station, and instructed cosmonauts. In 1991-1993, under the Russian Supreme Soviet, he served as deputy head of a working group on cosmonautics that enabled the creation of the Russian Space Agency (RKA) and the passage of the bill “On the Space Program” and the “Treaty Between the States of the CIS on Collaboration in the Field of Research in and Exploitation of Space.” In 1996, under the aegis of RKA, he founded and headed the company Technology Transfer Center, which became the basis for founding, in 2000, the Trade Center for Patent, Licensing and Commercial Use of Scientific Achievements. Zhukov participated in the creation of the state enterprise Russian Technology in 1997 and the “Vostochny” launch site in 2007, and he managed development of the OPK Inter-industry Innovation Center from 2007 to 2010. He is the President of the Moscow Space Club, consultant to the Federation Council, and author of numerous academic articles and collections of poetry. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Russian Cosmonauts Unit.
Sergei Krichevsky – “Populating Beyond the Earth: Problems and Prospects for Expanding into Space”
He holds a doctorate in Philosophy and a PhD in Engineering and is a Professor at the Russian Academy of National Economy and State Service under the President of the Russian Federation. Krichevsky graduated from the Red Banner Defense Aviation School for Pilots at Armavir in 1976; completed post-graduate studies at the Zhukovsky Military Aviation Engineering Academy in 1986; and graduated from the International Center for Training Systems (a department of UNESCO) in 1994. For 25 years, he served in the Air Force and Anti-aircraft Warfare Division of the USSR and the Russian Federation. He holds the rank of Military Pilot 1st Class and flew fighter jets such as the MiG-21, Mig-23, and SU-27. From 1989 to 1998, he was a cosmonaut test pilot. He numbered among the detachment of cosmonauts at the Yury Gagarin Center for Cosmonaut Training slated to fly on the Soyuz-TM rocket and serve on the MIR Orbital Space Station. Krichevsky has worked on solving problems related to the research, testing, exploitation, military application, and safety of aerospace equipment as well as environmental monitoring. He participated in preparing the federal bill “On the Space Program.” He is an active member of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, a member and expert advisor to the Moscow Space Club, and the author of over 200 publications. His primary scientific interests are aviation and spaceflight, flight safety, the history and philosophy of science and technology, interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving, prognostics, integration of social, technological and natural systems, and ecology and environmental politics.
Akop Nazaretyan – “Big History as an Instrument for Strategic Forecasting: Problems at the Middle of the 21st Century”
Akop P. Nazaretyan is Senior Research Fellow of the Oriental Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences and Full Professor in Moscow State University, Editor of the academic journal ‘Historical Psychology & Sociology’. He is the author of over 300 scholarly publications, including books: ‘Intelligence in the Universe: sources, formation and perspectives’ (1991, in Russian); ‘Aggression, Morals and the Crises in World Cultural Development (1995, 1996, in Russian); ‘Aggressive Crowds, Mass Panic, and Rumors. Lectures in Social and Political Psychology ‘(2001, 2003, 2005, in Russian); Civilization Crises within the Context of Big History. Self-Organization, Psychology, and Forecasts (2001, 2004, in Russian); ‘Anthropology of Violence and Culture of Self-Organization. Essays on evolutionary historical psychology’ (2007, 2008, in Russian); ‘Evolution of Non-Violence: Studies in Big History, self-organization and historical psychology’.
Alexandr Panov – “The Singularity of Evolution and the Future of Fundamental Science”
He graduated from Moscow State University (MGU) in 1982 with a degree in physics, after which he worked at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy until 2000. Since 2000, he has been at the Physics Department of MGU, where he is a Senior Research Fellow, having defended his PhD in Physics and Mathematics in 1997. Panov is the author of over 150 articles in scientific periodicals and one book, “Universal Evolution and Challenges in SETI,” published in 2007. His primary academic interests include the astrophysics of cosmic rays, dimensions in Quantum Mechanics, cosmology and gravity, scientific methodologies, and universal evolutionism and problems of macroevolution.
Michael Veller - “A Man in the System of Energoevolutionism”
He graduated from high school in Belarus with highest honors in 1966, and from the Philology Department of Leningrad University magna cum laude in 1972. Veller has worked in around 30 different professions: from felling lumber in Komi to cattle herding in Altai to professional hunting in Taimyr in the far north of Russia to journalism, teaching and as a tour guide. His first book came out in 1983 in Tallinn, Estonia; and since 1987, he has been a member of the Writers’ Union. As of today, his collected works number 20 volumes, and many of his writings, including his collection “Legends of Nevsky Prospekt,” the novel “Zvyagin” and the political tract “The Last Great Chance,” are bestsellers often reissued, with an overall circulation of 10 million copies. He has received a multitude of literary prizes, is a member of the Russian PEN Center, and has delivered lectures at a number of European universities. Since 1981, he has been working on his own philosophical system, which has come to be called “Energoevolutionism.” The theses of this system first appeared in print 1986-1988 in literary journals. Then in 1998, his book “Everything About Life” provided a comprehensive exposition of his philosophical views, followed by “Cassandra” in 2002 and “The Individual in the System” in 2010, which have been republished in parts under different titles, including “An Overarching Theory of Everything,” “The Meaning of Life,” “Love of Evil,” and others. At the London International Book Fair in 2011, he presented his four-volume work: “Energoevolutionism,” “Sociology and Energoevolutionism,” “Psychology and Energoevolutionism” and “Aesthetics and Energoevolutionism.” He participates in numerous international philosophy symposiums and conferences and is a member of the Russian Philosophical Association.
Dmitry Strebkov – “Prospects for Energy Resources Today”
D.S. Strebkov was born on March 11, 1937 in Vinnitsa (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). In 1959, he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Agriculture Mechanization and Electrification (now Moscow State Agricultural Engineering University), Faculty of Electrification. From 1959 to 1960, he worked as an engineer at the electromechanical workshop “Mosselenergo”. In 1960, he moved to the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for Current Sources, where he worked up to 1987 as a senior engineer, senior researcher, division head, laboratory head, department head, deputy Chief Designer. Since 1987, he is director of the All-Russia Scientific-Research Institute for Electrification of Agriculture (VIESH). In the context of a secondary job, he worked from 1967 to 1987 as a senior teacher, associate professor and professor at the All-Union Correspondence Polytechnic Institute (chair “Fundamentals of Radio Engineering and Television”). In 1967, he graduated from the Moscow State University n. a. M.V. Lomonosov (Evening Department, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, specialty “Mathematics”). He received the Cand. Sci. (Tech.) degree from the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for Current Sources in 1971, and the Dr. Sci. (Tech.) degree in 1983. In 1985 he received the academic status of professor at the All-Union Correspondence Polytechnic Institute (department “Fundamentals of Radio Engineering and Television”). He became a corresponding member of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences n. a. V.I. Lenin in 1991, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1993, an academician of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1997. D.S. Strebkov heads research works on electrification of agriculture, as well as in the field of renewable energy. Twenty candidates of science and two doctors of science have received their degrees under his supervision. He has published 1000 scientific works (this number includes 305 inventor’s certificates and patents of the Russian Federation and 16 USA patents). Since 1992, he is the Chairman of the Russian Section of the International Solar Energy Society, since 2002 he is the vice-president of the Russian Committee on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources. D.S. Strebkov is the Chairman of the VIESH Dissertation Council and the Chairman of Council on Agricultural Engineering Specialties of the State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles under the RF Ministry of Education and Science. He is also the Chairman of the UNESCO Chair and the Chairman of the Chair “Renewable Energy and Rural Electrification” of the Moscow State Agricultural Engineering University and the Head of the Working Group of the European UNESCO Bureau on education in the field of solar energy.
Alexandr Galushkin – “The State and Potential Development of Robotics and Control Systems”
Graduated from the Bauman higher technical academy in Moscow at the department of “Automatic guidance systems” in 1963, and in the same year was sent to do full-time post-graduate study at this department. In 1966, he defended a dissertation for a PhD degree in engineering, and in 1969 received the academic title of lecturer. In 1974, at the academic council of the Computer Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he defended a dissertation for the degree of doctor of engineering. Professor A.I. Galushkin is the author of over 300 scholarly works, including 25 monographs.
Alexandr Frolov – “Cybernetic Medicine in the Present and Future”
Graduated from high school in 1960 with highest honors, and the same year was accepted at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIFT), Department of Aviation Mechanics. He graduated from MIFT with honors and immediately entered the Institute’s graduate program, defending his PhD thesis in 1971 in Physics and Mathematics. That year, he changed specialties and began working at the Institute of Higher Neurological Activity and Neurophysiology, under the Russian Academy of Sciences, first as director of the Neurophysiological Cybernetics team, and as of 1978, as chair of the Laboratory for the Study of the Mathematical Neurobiology of Learning. In 1988, he defended his doctoral thesis in biology on two topics: Human and Animal Physiology and Biophysics. As of 1991, he has taught as a professor. He is the author of two monographs: “Neuronal Models of Associative Memory” and “Informational Characteristics of Neuronal Networks,” and over 200 articles, the majority of which have been published in international journals. For many years, he has collaborated with scientists in France and the Czech Republic. His primary areas of scientific interest: modeling associative memory, motor control and learning; brain-computer interfaces; and developing mathematical methods for analyzing electrical activity in the brain.
Sergey Enikolopov – “Ideology of Immortality: Psychological Aspect”
Head of the laboratory of the sociology of deviant behavior and a healthy lifestyle for children and teenagers at the Center for the Sociology of Education at the Russian Academy for Education. Board member of the Moscow section of the Russian Psychologists’ Society. Board member of the Russian Psychiatrists’ Society, member of the American Psychology Association (APA), member of the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA), member of the editorial staff of the magazines Psychiatry, Historical Psychology and the Sociology of History, member of the editorial board of the magazine Survey of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology named for V.M. Bekhterev, and the Armenian Journal of Mental Health. Full member (academic) of the Russian Academy of Medical and Technical Sciences. The author of over 250 scientific works.
Vladimir Pirozhkov – “Innovative Breakthroughs and the Creativity of the Future”
In 1985 became a student at Sverdlovsk Institute of Architecture (now – Urals State Academy of Architecture and Arts, Ekaterinburg, Russia). Holds a BSc in Design. In 1991 invited for internship by Professor Luigi Colani of Colani Design Bern AG, Switzerland. In 1993 won a scholarship at Art Center of Design, Switzerland. Holds a BSc in Transportation Design. 1994- 2000 – Interior Designer, CITROEN, Paris, France. Created interiors for the most commercially successful models: C3, Pluriel, C4 Coupe, C5 and C6. 2000 - 2007 – Senior Interior Designer, TOYOTA Europe Design Development, Nice, France. Participated in development of the most popular models: Yaris, Avensis, Auris, Corolla, RAV4, Celica, Lexus IS250, Lexus RX, and IQ, Managed development of the perspective models for years 2020-2025. From 2007 – President of the Design and Innovation Centre ASTRAROSSA, Moscow, Russia. Projects included: Restyling of GAZ SIBER-VOLGA, livery design and roll-out of Sukhoi SUPERJET-100, restyling and creating new cabin design for the whole product line-up of KAMAZ, interior design of KAMOV-62 helicopter, full size design concept spacecraft RUS. At the moment - creating innovative system of ‘3D off-road’ transport. Teaches design & innovation in leading colleges and art schools in Europe and Russia. Honorary Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts (from 2004).
Aleksandr Kudryavtsev – “Global Trends in the Development of Technological Civilization: Freedom through Slavery”
Alexander have more than 30 year experience in product innovation process from idea generation to verification. During last 11 years he was a CEO of “Center of Practical Innovation”, Moscow. Rector of the Moscow Public University of creativity.
Fred Spier – “Big History and the Future of Humanity”
Fred Spier is Senior Lecturer in Big History at the University of Amsterdam. He has organized and taught the annual 'Big History Course' at the University of Amsterdam since 1994, the annual 'Big History University Lecture Series' at the Eindhoven University of Technology since 2003, and the 'Big Questions in History Course' at Amsterdam University College since 2009. Spier first obtained a M.Sc. in biochemistry at the University of Leiden with research experience in plant genetic engineering and the synthesis of oligonucleotides. He subsequently obtained an M.A. in cultural anthropology at the Free University Amsterdam (cum laude) and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and social history (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam. As part of these studies, Spier executed a ten-year research project on religion, politics and ecology in Andean Peru, which led to the publication of two books: Religious Regimes in Peru and San Nicolás de Zurite. Current activities include developing a paradigm that helps to explain all of history. In his article How Big History Works: Energy flows and the rise and demise of complexity (2005), downloadable on his personal website, the first outline of this theory was proposed. An improved and more elaborate version of this argument is presented in his book Big History and the Future of Humanity, Wiley-Blackwell (2010). The paperback version was released in January 2011. A translation in Spanish was published in 2011; a translation into Chinese by Truth & Wisdom Press is planned for August 2012; and also the contract for a translation into Arabic has been signed. Spier is now working on a manuscript explaining how social and technical developments have conditioned the writing of history, tentatively titled: The Size of History: Reaching Out and Looking Back. In addition to promoting big history in many different arenas, Spier currently serves as the first Vice President of the International Big History Association (IBHA) and as Program Chair of the first IBHA conference 2012, to be held in Allendale / Grand Rapids, MI.
Dmitry Bulatov – “Techno-Biological Art: The New Condition of the Living”
Dmitry Bulatov is an artist, researcher and new media theoretician. His research focuses on different aspects of interdisciplinary art media (sci-art, robotics, genetic engineering, etc.). Author of many articles on contemporary art published in Russia and abroad, also of books and anthologies, including BioMediale. Contemporary Society and Genomic Culture (Kaliningrad, 2004). Evolution Haute Couture: Art and Science in the Post-Biological Age (volume 1, Kaliningrad, 2009). His artworks have been presented in various national and international exhibitions, including at the 49th and 50th Biennale in Venice and the Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, 2002). Bulatov has taken part in numerous international contemporary art conferences and given lectures in Russia (including The State Hermitage Museum, The State Tretyakov Gallery, The National Centre for Contemporary Arts), USA, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Singapore and Hong Kong. In 2007 one of his art works was named in the The Top 10 New Organisms of the Year, selected by Wiredmagazine. He has received numerous grants and awards including the National Innovation Award for Contemporary Visual Arts (Russia, 2009). Organizer and curator of more than 20 international sci-art projects. Currently, he is a member of the editorial board of “DOC(K)S,” a French contemporary art magazine, and curator of the international science art program in a frame of the European Capital of Culture Maribor 2012, Slovenia.
Sergei Varfolomeev – “The Individualization of Human Energy and Direct Electrical Supply to Each Metabolism”
Graduated from Faculty of Chemistry The M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Chemical Kinetics Department., 1968 Ph.D. (Chemical Kinetics, Chemical Enzymology), MSU, 1971. Junior researcher, Biokinetics Department, A.N.Belozersky Interfaculty Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Bioorganic Chemistry, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1971 - 1973. Assistant Professor, Chemical Kinetics Department, Chemistry Faculty, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1973 - 1974. Senior researcher, Chemical Enzymology Department, Chemistry Faculty, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1974 - 1978. Professor, Head of Biokinetics Department, A.N. Belozersky Interfaculty Laboratory for Molecular Biology and Bioorganic Chemistry, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1978 - 1987. Professor, Head of Chemical Enzymology Department, Chemistry Faculty, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1987 – present Director, Institute of Biochemical Physics Russian Academy of Science, 2004 - present. Doctor of Science (Chemistry), MSU, 1979 (i)main fields: physico-chemical biology; biocatalysis, chemical and biological kinetic, enzymology biotechnology. (ii)current research interests: biofuels enviromental biotechnology, biosensor, genetic engineering of enzymes.
Randal Koene – “The Engineering Challenge to Make Minds Substrate-Independent via Whole Brain Emulation Within Our Lifetimes”
Dr. Koene is a neuroscientist and neuroengineer, and he directs the Halcyon SIM (substrate-independent minds) and BCI (brain-computer interfaces) divisions, as well as the Analysis team at the nanotechnology company Halcyon Molecular in Silicon Valley (http://halcyonmolecular.com/). Between 2008 and 2010, Koene was director of the Department of Neuroengineering at Tecnalia, the third largest private research organization in Europe. Dr. Koene has been involved with organized research in artificial general intelligence (AGI) since the first AGI conference in 2008. He has a strong interest in developments both in machine intelligence and human intelligence enhancement, as well as the potential convergence of the two. Dr. Koene earned his Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology at McGill University, and his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Information Theory at Delft University of Technology. He is a former Professor at the Center for Memory and Brain of Boston University, and is co-founder of the Neural Engineering Corporation of Massachusetts. Randal Koene established the MindUploading.org website (http://minduploading.org/) and first proposed the term and specific approach called whole brain emulation, the purpose of which is the technological accomplishment of mind transfer to a different substrate. Dr. Koene’s professional research objective is the implementation of whole brain emulation: creating the large-scale high-resolution representations and emulations of activity in neuronal circuitry that are needed in patient-specific neuroprostheses. He is a member of the Oxford working group that convened in 2007 to create a first roadmap toward whole brain emulation. Dr. Koene investigates the fundamental and multi-disciplinary requirements for substrate-independent minds, the nano- and synthetic bio-technological tools for data acquisition and interfacing with the biological brain at large scale and high resolution, as well as novel computational substrates that can support emulated functions of the mind.
Vitaly Dunin-Barkovsky – “The Russian Brain Reverse Engineering Project”
Head of the Neuroinformatics Department at the Center for Optical-Neural Technology, which is part of the Scientific Research Institute for Systems Analysis under the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has been a director, board member, or collaborator at a diverse range of Russian and international scientific institutes. Dr. Dunin-Barkovsky’s fields of interest include neuroinformatics and the theoretical and experimental biophysics of the nervous system. As of August 2011, Dr. Dunin-Barkovsky has been the Director of the David Marr Internet Laboratory for Reverse Engineering of the Human Brain, organized by the “Russia 2045” Initiative
David Dubrovsky - “Consciousness and Brain: Human Nature Transformation Perspectives”
Fought in the Great Patriotic War (from December 1943, 3rd Belarussian front). From August 1945, lathe operator at the vehicle and tractor repair factory in Melitopol, and studied at night school. He passed exams for a high-school diploma, and enrolled at the philosophy faculty of Kiev State University, graduating in 1952. He worked at a secondary school in Donetsk (1952-1957) as a teacher of logic and psychology, and after these subjects were abolished, astronomy and metalwork, and from 1957 to 1970 at the Donetsk medical institute in the philosophy department. In 1962, he defended the PhD dissertation on the topic “On the analytical and synthetic nature of the reflective activity of the brain”, and in 1969 the doctoral dissertation “A philosophical analysis of the psycho-physiological problem”. From 1971 to 1987, he was the section head of the magazine “Philosophical Sciences”, and a professor at the philosophy faculty of Moscow State University. In 1987-1988, he was the head scientific advisor of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1988 to the present, he has been the head scientific advisor at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Philosophy (cognition theory department). He is the co-chairman of the Russian Academy of Science Scientific Council for the methodology of artificial intellect (from 2005), and a member of the editorial staff of a number of magazines. He is the author of 7 books and 280 articles. His main scientific works concern the problem of the “consciousness and brain”, an analysis of the structure of subjective reality, issues of cognition theory and science methodology. In many of his articles, the topic of research is issues of the correlation between the conscious and the unconscious, the biological and the social, philosophical aspects of psycho-regulation, self-awareness, self-improvement, artificial intellect, and problems of deception and self-deception. He is the responsible editor and author of introductory articles for the following books: J. Margolis. Personality and Consciousness. Prospects for non-reductive materialism (Moscow, 1986); Blind Deaf Mutes: historical and methodological aspects. Myths and Reality (Moscow, 1989); The Phenomenon of Karate-Do: Philosophical and Ethical-Psychological Aspects (Moscow, 1989); The Brain and Consciousness (Moscow, 1990), The Brain and Reason (Moscow, 1994),V.P. Efroimson. Genius and Genetics (Moscow, 1998); Philosophical Artificial Intellect (Moscow, 2005); Artificial Intellect: An inter-disciplinary approach (Moscow, 2006); L.M. Livtak, Life After Death: Near-Death Experiences and the Nature of Psychosis. (Moscow, 2007); The Problem of Consciousness in Philosophy and Science (Moscow, 2009); Gichin Funakoshi, Karate-Do: My Way of Life (Moscow, 2011); Natural and Artificial Intellect: Methodological and Social Problems (Moscow, 2011).
Aleksandr Kaplan – “The Integration of the Human Brain into Control Systems for Anthropomorphic Devices Using Brain-Computer Interface Technology”
In 1973 graduated from the Department of Human Physiology at Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 1976 he finished his postgraduated study at the same department and in the same year he was left at Moscow State University for research work. Since then, he emerged from research assistant to professor, head of the laboratory, the supervisor of 12 dissertations (Ph.D. projects) , many national and international grants such as DAAD, RFBR, RHF, Skolkovo etc. Ya. Kaplan is one of the leading experts in Russia and abroad in the area of the development of the brain-computer interface technologies: his first article in this area (published in 2005) was about the possibility of creating interfaces based on the unconscious part of the brain to communicate with the external environment. Progress in this area were due to including his developments in the field of human EEG analysis and it’s interpretation, as published in numerous articles in Russia and abroad. Original segmental approach to analysis of the EEG, developed by А. Ya. Kaplan, allowed him to generate a highly sensitive test system for psychopharmacology which led to the creation of new nootropic drug, appreciated as achievement in the area of science and technology in 2002 given as a prize by State Russian Federation Government. At present, Prof. A.Ya. Kaplan works on the project of creation of the manipulators and robotic systems, controlled by EEG in his laboratories of neurocomputer interfaces at MSU and cognitive processes and interfaces in the National Science Center "Kurchatov Institute".
Oleg Bakhtiyarov – “Activating Resources of Consciousness as the Basis for Forming Qualitatively New Technologies”
Swami Vishnudevananda Giri Ji Maharaj – “Transcendental Transhumanism as the Probable Future of Humankind”
He is the certified Russian-speaking Yoga master with 20 years of spiritual experience. He studied with more than 10 masters. He is the founder of the only advanced yoga education center in Russia: the Yoga Monastery-Academy (or Advaita-Yoga Ashrama) “Collection of Secrets,” which propagates a unique system of study and practice. He is also the founder of the worldwide society of Laya Yoga, with followers in the CIS and around the world. He is the author of over 90 books and a multitude of articles and sketches on the philosophy, theory and practice of Yoga and Tantra. Swami Vishnudevananda Giri also conducts research in theoretically difficult areas of philosophy and Yoga, such as prophecy, game theory, manipulation of reality, and common roots of Vedic civilization among the Aryans and ancient Slavs. He is the founder of “The Immortals,” or Worldwide Transhumanist Movement of Immortalists, and of a new direction in Russian transhumanism and immortalism called Transcendental Transhumanism, based on the theories of Yoga and other sacred texts.
Stepin Vyacheslav - "Turning Point in Civilisation Developement. Points of Growth for New Values"
Is a Russian-Belorussian philosopher and scientific organizer. He graduated from the History Department of Belarus State University (BGU) with a concentration in the philosophy of history in 1956 and received his postgraduate degree in philosophy at BGU in 1959. In the late 1960s, he became an active participant in seminars of the Moscow “methodological circle,” and in the ‘60s and ‘70s, he was a co-organizer and leader of methodological seminars in Minsk. He received his doctorate in philosophy in 1976 and professorship in 1979; served as Chair of the Philosophy Department at BGU from 1981 to 1987 and Director of the Institute of the History of Science and Technology in Moscow from 1987 to 1988; became a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences in 1987, Director of the Academy’s Institute of Philosophy from 1988 to 2006, and a Russian Academy of Sciences Academic in 1994. He has been a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus since 1995 and an Honorary Academic in the International Academy of Sciences, Education and Technology Transfer in Germany since 1992. Since 2006, he has been the Chair of Philosophical Anthropology in the Philosophy Department of Moscow State University. He holds the presidency of the Russian Philosophical Society.
Viktor Petrenko – “Psycho-Practices as the Key to Cosmic Consciousness”
Graduated from the Psychology Department of Moscow State University in 1973 and has remained there as a researcher and professor. In 1993, he became a tenured professor, and three years later was elected as a Fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN). In 1999, he was awarded the Rubenstein Honorary Prize in Psychology by RAN. Petrenko is the Editor and Chief of the journal “The Methodology and History of Psychology,” a member of the European Association “Theories of Personality Constructs,” and a member of the European Association “Empirical Aesthetics.” His scientific interests revolve around the psychology of consciousness, psycho-semantics, political and ethnic psychology, the psychology of art and mass communications. Petrenko is the first Russian psychologist to make wide use of the structure of semantic space in order to study the worlds of personality and ethnic and social groups. Using the framework of the methodological school of Vygotsky-Leontiev-Luria, he proposed the term “psychosemantic” to indicate a wide field of research connected with studying the contents of human consciousness; concepts on politics, economics, law, ethics, and art; and self awareness and awareness of others. In doing so, he developed a native Russian version of psychosemantics. In the field of political psychology, he has developed methods for understanding the semantic space of political parties and conducted research on the Russian political mentality. Currently, he is researching and developing a psychosemantic approach to changing states of consciousness. Petrenko is the author of over 300 publications and 8 books.
Elena Molchanova - "Creation of Meaning Inside and Outside of Psychotic Reality"
Elena Molchanova is a scientific advisor of Kyrgyz Psychiatric Association and chief consultant of the Republican Center of Mental Health, The sphere of scientific interests includes transcultural psychology, cognitive psychopathology of time perception, psychopathology of violence and stress-related disorders. Author of more than 50 peer-reviewed academic articles, co-author of 2 books and 3 manuals.
Craig Benjamin – “Building a Synthesis of Scientific Theories & Spiritual Traditions in the University Undergraduate Classroom”
At GVSU he teaches big history, world history, ancient Central Asian history, and world history historiography to students at all levels. Benjamin is a frequent presenter of scholarly and pedagogical papers at conferences world wide, and the author of numerous published books, chapters and essays on big history, world history, ancient Central Asian history, and historiography. Benjamin has recorded lectures for the History Channel, The Teaching Company, and the Big History Project. Benjamin is Vice President (President Elect) of the World History Association; Treasurer of the International Big History Association; and a member of both the Advanced Placement and SAT World History Curriculum Development and Assessment Committees.
David Christian – “Comparative Humanoid Histories”
David Christian (D.Phil. Oxford, 1974) is by training a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, but since the 1980s he has become interested in World History on very large scales. He taught at Macquarie University in Sydney from 1975 to 2000 before taking up a position at San Diego State University in 2001. In January 2009 he returned to Macquarie University. He has written on the social and material history of the 19th century Russian peasantry, in particular on aspects of diet and the role of alcohol. He has also written a text book history of modern Russia, and a synoptic history of Inner Eurasia (Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia). In 1989, he began teaching courses on 'Big History', surveying the past on the largest possible scales, including those of biology and astronomy; and in 2004, he published the first text on 'Big History'. At San Diego State University, he taught courses on World History, 'Big History', World Environmental History, Russian History, and the History of Inner Eurasia. He is a member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen [Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities], Affiliates Chair for the World History Association, and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Global History and the Cambridge History of the World. In 2008, he was appointed as a James Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont, and also accepted appointments as a Research Fellow at Ewha Women's University in Seoul and as a Professor of History at Macquarie University in Sydney. In 2009 David Christian received an ARC grant to support research on the second volume of his history of Inner Eurasia, which will cover the history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia from the Mongol Empire to the present day. Over the next few years he will also be working with the support of Bill Gates to create an online course in Big History for High School students.
Eric Chaisson – “Cultural Evolution in a Universal Context: Will Si-based Machines Dominate C-based Humans in 2045?”
Dr. Eric J. Chaisson is an American astrophysicist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has multiple appointments, most notably at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. His major interests are currently twofold: His scientific research addresses an interdisciplinary, thermodynamic study of physical, biological, and cultural phenomena, seeking to understand the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars, planets, life, and society. His major goal is to help devise a unifying cosmic-evolutionary worldview of the Universe and our sense of place within it. His educational work engages master teachers and computer animators to create better methods, technological aids, and novel curricula to enthuse teachers and instruct students in all aspects of natural science. He teaches an annual undergraduate course at Harvard on the subject of cosmic evolution, which combines both of these research and educational programs.
Aleksandr Lvovsky – “Quantum Technologies and Singularity”
He did his undergraduate in Physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1993, he went on to do an M. A. and M. Phil. in Physics at Columbia University in New York City, finishing his program in 1996. In 1998 Alexander completed his Ph. D. at Columbia University under the supervision of Dr. Sven R. Hartmann, having conducted experimental studies of coherent optical transients in atomic gases. After his Ph. D. he spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics, and then five years at Universität Konstanz in Germany, first as an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow, then as a research group Leader in quantum-optical information technology. In 2004 he became Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary, where he remains today. Dr. Lvovsky is a Canada Research Chair, a lifetime member of the American Physical Society and the winner of many awards – most notably the International Quantum Communications award, the Alberta Ingenuity New Faculty award and the Emmy Noether research award of the German Science Foundation. At the University of Calgary Alexander conducts wide-profile experimental and theoretical research on synthesis, manipulation, measurement and storage of quantum optical information for applications in quantum technology.
Dmitry Leontyev – “The Future as a Space for the Possible”
Heads the Laboratory for the Study of Mathematical Neuro-Biology at the Institute for Higher Neurological Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He holds a doctorate in psychology and is a professor in the Psychology Department of Moscow State University and Chair the Laboratory for the Study of Personality Development Problems in the Handicapped at the Moscow City Psychological and Pedagogical University. Dmitry Leontiev also hales from a renowned line of Russian psychologists, being the son of Alexei Alexeevich Leontiev and grandson of Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev. He is currently the director of the Institute for Existential Psychology and Creativity for Life in Moscow. His areas of specialization encompass the fields of psychology of personality, motivation and concepts, theory and history of psychology, psycho-diagnostics, psychology of art and advertising, and the application of psychology in conjunction with the humanities, among other areas. He has authored over 400 publications and received the Victor Frankl Fund Prize in Vienna in 2004 for his achievements in the field of concept oriented humanistic psychotherapy. He has edited numerous translations of the works of the world’s leading psychologists. In recent years, he has been engaged in studying the possibilities for non-therapeutic psychological assistance, prevention, and facilitation of personality development based on existential philosophy
Archbishop Lazar Puhalo – “Models of Reality as Sources of Conflict”
He is a Fellow of the Chester Ronning Centre of the University of Alberta, Canada, his formal studies include physics and neurobiology. Puhalo has travelled widely in the Middle East as a member of the Conversations with Islam project, lecturing in Syria and Turkey. He has presented at the Risali I Nur symposia in Istanbul. His lecture series in Romania spanned six years, focussing primarily on social issues, and included participation in Templeton conferences on science and religion. He began work with the ecology movement in 1963 and continues to write and lecture on the dangers to our biosphere. The author of more than 38 books, including On The Neurobiology of “Sin.” His“signature work” is Culture, Commonweal and Personhood. Lecturing regularly in Universities in Canada and America, Lazar Puhalo is an internationally known lecturer in subjects related to social justice, human rights, ecology and the clash between commonweal and corporatism, as well as science and culture. Founder and abbot of All Saints Monastery near Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Puhalo is a retired hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America and serves as the Civil Liaison for the Canadian Archdiocese of the OCA. He is a consistent advocate for broader and deeper education in the sciences, ecological responsibility, the welfare of the mentally handicapped and affordable housing.
Lowell Gustafson – “Religion in the Age of Human Politics”
Lowell Gustafson received his PhD from the University of Virginia in 1984 in Government and Foreign Affairs. From 1984 to 1986, he taught Latin American Politics at the University of Virginia. Since then he has been on the Political Science faculty at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, USA, having served as chair of the department for ten years over three terms. Since 2008, he has been an Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova. He is the author of The Sovereignty Dispute over the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, Oxford University Press, a co-editor of 6 books, and author of many articles, chapters, and papers. Among his other professional service, he is the Secretary for the International Big History Association.
Lama Gonbo Dorje
After graduating from school, he studied at the Kalmyk State University and Shchepkin Theater Academy (Moscow). In 1990-1992, he was a khuvarak acolyte at the Elista Khurul and the St. Petersburg Buddhist temple. In 1991, on the recommendation of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, he organized and headed the Buddhist Youth Center (from 1993 the Dharma Center of Kalmykia), which at present educates the believers of Kalmykia about the foundations of the Buddha’s teachings. In 1992 – 1996 he was the executive secretary and deputy Chairman of the Kalmykia Buddhists’ Association, and in 1997-2004 underwent training at meditation centers and monasteries in Tibet, Mongolia and France. Since 2000, he has been the Superior at the Orgakin Khurul “Bodo Dalai-Lamin Rashi Lunpo”. In 2005, he was raised to the rank of Bajracharya – a teacher of Buddhist tantra according to the tradition of Drikung Kagyu of Tibetan Buddhism by His Eminence Yudra Rinpoche (Nepal).
Alan Fransis – “The Proto-Science of Consciousness”
For over forty years Alan has been researching and teaching the ancient Taoist protosciences of consciousness and the teachings of GI Gurdjieff. He was a founder of the Gurdjieff Foundation in Oregon and 2005 the Russian Center for Gurdjieff Studies. He studied directly under Masters Tung Kai Ying, Ju Kim Shek, Marshall Ho'o and in Gurdjieff Work Lord John Pentland, Michel de Salzmann and others. He was involved in the initial pilot program leading to development of UCLA Pain Control Clinic and nearby the first college of Taoist Medicine. He was founder and director of Turnaround, a skid row Center for addiction and social services. Alan is a business consultant who has given presentations to PICMET an international conference for managing engineers and technologist, is currently consulting to the creation of Manutan Corporate University in Paris and in a joint venture to develop new consciousness technology in Russia.
Maxim Kalashnikov – “Singularity-2045 or a New Dark Age”
He is an opponent of liberal policies and proponent of proactive government and the creation of a “neuro” social model that will supersede capitalism (a “neuro-society” is a structure in which society is organized along the pattern of neurons in an organic central nervous system and makes use of the most advanced technologies, known as “sixth and seventh wave” technologies). He graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in history, worked as an economic and political commentator for “Russian Gazette” from 1994 to 2001, and has served as an editor at the newspaper “Stringer” and the journal “Russian Entrepreneur.” His best known books are “Broken Sword of the Empire,” “The Third Project,” “Superman Speaks Russian,” “Harness the Lightning!” “The Global Diversion Crisis,” and “The Captivating Star of Risk.”
Vital Sounouvou - "Bionics Revolution: The Flying Humanoids"
Vital envisions a future for Africa as a place of innovation and technology with an instrumental position in the global economy. He is committed to promoting his own inventions as well as the technological and entrepreneurial innovations of his peers. At age 16, Vital founded World Teen, an association for the cultivation of talent among young West Africans, eventually numbering over 300 members. He went on to study Computer Sciences and Network Engineering, earning a degree from the Technical Institute of Calais-Boulogne. Today Vital focuses his energy on his innovative bionics project: “From Benin to the Flying Humanoids,” in conjunction with the University of Abomey-Calavi. This comprehensive vision is rooted in his belief that life can be recreated artificially (www.vitalsounouvou.com). His innovations also extend into business; Vital is a co-founder of Eworbiz.com, Afriwall, and Exportias.com. Vital is a Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN) Ambassador and a member of the GYIN Youth Advisory Group. He has been invited to speak at numerous international exhibitions for the promotion African innovation and youth entrepreneurship. In 2010, Vital helped to create the Young Beninese Leaders Association with the sponsorship of the U.S. Embassy, and he continues to work closely with the diplomatic mission in Cotonou.
Sergei Pereslegin – “Contemporary Version of the Phase Model: Mainstream Technology Behind the Phase Barrier”
He is a literary critic and political essayist, sociologist, socionics specialist and military historian. He graduated from the Physics Department of Leningrad State University (LGU) with a specialization in “the physical properties of nuclear and elementary particles.” He has taught special courses in physics and physical mathematics at LGU, collaborated with the Moscow Institute of Systems Research, and lectured at the University of Kazan and the Riga Sociology Center. He became a “Wanderer” prize laureate in 1996 for his book of literary criticism “Eye of the Typhoon: the Last Decade of Soviet Fantasy Writing.” He is a participant in the “Leningrad Seminar,” Russia’s most important science fiction gathering, held annually by the legendary Russian science fiction writer Boris Strugatsky; compiler, editor and author of the notes in the book series “Military Historical Encyclopedia”; author of the forward and afterward of the book series “Worlds of the Strugatsky Brothers”; and head of the research groups Constructing the Future – as of 2000, the Saint Petersburg School of Scenario Forecasting – as of 2003, and Knowledge Reactor – as of 2007.
Pavel Luksha – “Education in the Future”
He is responsible for the development and delivery of integrated executive programmes. Among the recently accomplished programs are: ‘Innovation management for major state-owned corporations’ (in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development), ‘Major Project Management for Oil&Gas Industry’ (in partnership with MIT and BP), TNK BP Academy of Major Projects, RENOVA Strategic Forum, and others. Mr. Luksha is an independent member of the board of the National Club of Director for R&D and Innovation (an all-Russia professional institution that unites executives coordinating R&D and technological innovation practices in largest Russian companies), a member of the Expert Council of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives of the Government of Russian Federation, and a leader of the Agency-supported project that forecasts most demanded competencies up to 2030. Apart from that, Pavel Luksha is one of the leaders of the Metaver (a community of groups of educational innovators), the co-author of Education 2030 foresight and a new foresight methodology ‘Rapid Foresight’. Pavel’s career track record includes experience both in business and academic fields. As a finance and strategic professional, he provided consulting services with such international companies as Accenture, Alvarez & Marsal, and Arcadis Euroconsult, advising Russian and international businesses across a range of industries, as well as governments and non-profit organizations. He also held executive positions with leading automotive manufacturer SOLLERS, and was on the Board of Directors for Zavolzhsky Motor Plant. He also ran his own businesses in advisory and HR services. Pavel’s research experience includes research activity with the Institute of Economics of Russian Academy of Science (Evolutionary Economics Working Group), and with the University of Hertfordshire, UK (Group for Research in Organizational Evolution). Pavel has published works on evolutionary economics and economics of the firm, strategic entrepreneurship, and system thinking in a number of international peer reviewed journals, including Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Journal of Sociocybernetics, Artificial Life, and others. He is also the author of the book on the foundations of evolutionary economics, published in 2009 (in Russian). He taught Strategic Management courses in MBA and undergraduate programs of leading Russian schools, including the Higher School of Economics, and Moscow State University Business School. Pavel has graduated from the Higher School of Economics with MSs degree in Economics. He holds PhD degree in Economics of Central Economic Mathematical Institute of Russian Academy of Science.
Vadim Kazutinsky – “Possible Scenarios for the Development of Civilization in the Context of Universal History”
Graduate of Kiev State University, physical department (1956), speciality – «astronomy». Since 1962 till present day he works in the Philosophy institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where since 2005 he fills a position of a main research fellow. His doctor's degree thesis was «Traditions and revolution in modern astronomy» (1999). He is a full member of the K.E. Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Astronautics (since 1991).
Joseph Voros – “Macro-Prospection: Thinking about the Future Using Macro- and Big History”
Dr Joseph Voros started out as a physicist. Нe has a PhD in theoretical physics, during which he worked on mathematical extensions to the General Theory of Relativity*followed by several years in Internet-related companies (including a stint at Netscape Communications)*before becoming a futurist. His professional interests are broadly multi-disciplinary, and his main research interests are similarly varied. Among these are: the emerging field of "integral inquiry"; theories and models of social change; the long-term future of humankind; and the broad sweep of cosmic evolutionary history as a framework for conceptualising the human knowledge quest and futures research. Three of his research articles have won excellence awards including, most recently, an Outstanding Paper Award in 2010. He is a member of the World Future Society, the World Futures Studies Federation, The Foresight Network/Shaping Tomorrow, and the International Big History Association. He lives in the historic regional city of Ballarat, outside Melbourne, Australia, and spends much of his commuting time thinking about "everything from the Big Bang to the BlackBerry, and beyond.
Timur Schukin – “The ‘Avatar’ Project”
Graduated from Moscow’s Lyublin Gymnasium in 1995 and Moscow State University in 2000. In 2004, he defended his PhD thesis on Psychophysiology and “Prognosis Errors Associated with Changes in EEG Alertness Levels” at the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has headed the Laboratory for Bio-Management at the Institute for Cognitive Neurophysiology, and worked on problems associated with biofeedback, including studying with Dr. Elmer Green in the United States. He has successfully employed invention theory in his work as an organizational consultant and led a variety of production and software projects, as well as several commercial organizations. Currently, he is the director of the company “Vetvi-Labs,” which specializes in software development and biofeedback equipment. He participated in a number of projects at the exhibit “science art” related to interactive sculpture and as a co-author and scientific consultant. In 2010, he participated in founding the global social initiative “Russia 2045,” where he continues to serve as a coordinator
Danila Medvedev – “The Possibility of Building a Utopia”
Received his PhD in economics from the Saint-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics in 2005. In 2007, Medvedev spoke in the Russian Parliament at a roundtable on “The Influence of Science on the Political Situation in Russia: A Look into the Future.” This was later published as a prognosis, co-authored with experts from the Russian Transhuman Movement. In February of 2010, he published “An Open Letter to President D.A. Medvedev from Citizen D.A. Medvedev,” in which he sets forth his vision of technological development in Russia.
Leonid Grinin, Andrei Korotaev – “Global Technological Transformations and Global Future”
Leonid Grinin has PhD and is Senior Research Professor at the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Deputy Director of the Eurasian Center for Big History & System Forecasting as well as Research Professor and Director of the Volgograd Center for Social Research. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Age of Globalization (in Russian), also a co-editor of the international journals Social Evolution & History and the Journal of Globalization Studies, as well as co-editor of the international almanacs Evolution, History and Mathematics, and Kondratieff Waves. In 1980 graduated cum laude from Volgograd Pedagogical University, then worked as a teacher in several educational establishments. In 1989 he founded Uchitel Publishing House, and has been its Director General ever since. In 1996 he maintained a thesis called “The Periodization of Historical Process” for Master degree in Moscow State University. And he received his PhD from Moscow State Technical University in 2001 (the PhD thesis was “The Role of Productive Forces in Historical Process”). In 2008 together with Alexander N. Chumakov he founded the journal “Age of Globalization” (in Russian). In 2009, together with Andrey Korotayev, James Sheffield and Victor de Munck he founded the Journal of Globalization Studies (in English). Grinin`s academic interests lie in the sphere of social laws, social evolution, driving forces of historical development, the theory of historical process and its periodization and certain aspects (the productive and political ones), evolution of statehood. Grinin`s academic research in the field of Global Studies, futurology and Big History is connected with the analysis of modern problem of globalization and modernization, forecasts of the world political and social-economic development, current global crisis, economic cycles of different duration and their modeling, information-scientific revolution and its influence on global processes, history of globalization and periodization of global process analysis of global trends in historical processes, comparison of global processes in nature and society. Dr. Grinin is the author of about 320 scholarly publications in Russian and English.
Andrey Korotaev made major contributions to world-systems theory, cross-cultural studies, Near Eastern history, and mathematical modeling of social and economic macrodynamics. Born in Moscow, Andrey Korotayev attended Moscow State University, where he received a B.A. degree in 1984 and an M.A. in 1989. He earned a Ph.D. in 1993 from Manchester University, and in 1998 a Doctor of Sciences degree from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 2000, he has been Professor and Director of the Anthropology of the East Center at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, and Senior Research Professor in the Oriental Institute and Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2001-2003 he also directed the "Anthropology of the East" Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ In 2003-2004, he was a visiting member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. He is co-editor of the journals Social Evolution & History and Journal of Globalization Studies, as well as History & Mathematics almanac (together with Leonid Grinin and Arno Tausch). Together with Askar Akayev and George Malinetsky he is a coordinator of the Russian Academy of Sciences Program "System Analysis and Mathematical Modeling of World Dynamics". Korotayev is a laureate of the Russian Science Support Foundation in "The Best Economists of the Russian Academy of Sciences" nomination (2006).
David Hookes – “The Realisation of Our Species-Being in the Quantum-Digital Age”
Born in 1942 close to the Liverpool dock road into a working class family. Educated at Quarry Bank High School and then Trinity College, Cambridge University from which received a BA in Natural Sciences with major in Physics. As an undergraduate he was dissatisfied with the fact that there were so many conceptual problems in Physics such as the interpretation of quantum mechanics and the unexplained constancy of the velocity of light in Special Relativity. So I decided to switch to Molecular Biology. I then obtained a PhD in this subject at Kings College, London University with a thesis on the molecular structure of bio-membranes. Spent a year in Germany as a post-doctoral fellow of the Von Humboldt Foundation and carried out, inter alia, theoretical work on the transport properties of bio-membranes. Back in England I was appointed Head of Physics at Kilburn Polytechnic. Some years later took a Masters Degree in Digital Electronic Engineering at the University of Westminster. Then appointed a Senior Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at Coventry University and did research in a number of areas such as biosensors, robot tactile sensing, and computer-interactive educational technology, developing a ‘Physics -is-Fun’ workstation. After retirement he became an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Liverpool University Computer Science Department. А member of the Labour Party and a life-long trade unionist and socialist. My present research interests are: How to save the planet from the threat of global warming; renewable energy technologies; application of ideas from physics to political economy and computer networks; Computer-interactive educational technology; a hobbyist interest in foundational problems of physics.
John Smart – “The Race to Inner Space: Seeing, Guiding and Benefiting from Humanity’s Faster, Smaller, Smarter, and Wealthier Future”
John M. Smart is a technology foresight educator and a scholar in global processes of evolution, development, and accelerating change. He is president of the Acceleration Studies Foundation (Mountain View, CA), and co-founder of Evodevouniverse.com, an international research community that explores evolutionary and developmental processes of change at the universal and subsystem scales. He is also an affiliate of the ECCO research group at VUB (Brussels, Belgium). He is a professor and program champion for the Emerging Technologies masters program at the University of Advancing Technology (Tempe, AZ), which teaches foresight in exponentially advancing technologies, and seeks innovative technology solutions to humanity’s grand challenges. He is also an advisor in futures studies and forecasting at Singularity University (Mountain View, CA). John has a B.S. in business administration from UC Berkeley, an M.S.-equivalency in physiology and medicine from U.C. San Diego School of Medicine, and an M.S. in futures studies from the University of Houston. He studied systems theory at UCSD under the mentorship of James Grier Miller (Living Systems, 1978), who mentored under process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. His personal website on accelerating technological change is AccelerationWatch.com, and his blog is EverSmarterWorld.com.
Barry Rodrigue – “Manifesto for a New Millennium”
Barry H. Rodrigue was born and raised in the eastern borderlands of Canada and the United States. After his baccalaureate, he worked in Alaska as an ethnographer, field biologist and journalist. While there, he founded the international almanac, Archipelago, and collected cultural materials for the legendary Folkways Records (available through the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Sound series). A Fulbright Scholar and Ph.D. graduate from Laval University (Québec), Dr. Rodrigue is associate professor at the University of Southern Maine. His work as an archeologist and geographer focuses on topics ranging from adaptation in the Appalachian Highlands to peace initiatives in the Caucasus. He has produced numerous articles and books, individually and with others, such as L’Histoire régionale de Beauce-Etchemin-Amiante (2003), which was short-listed for the Canadian Historical Association’s annual prize for most significant contribution to Canadian history. His work on local, regional and global issues in the past, present and future made him an early advocate for macro-studies to resolve conflict, a process he terms “mutualization.” He serves as International Coordinator of the International Big History Association (IBHA) and is a member of the Eurasian Center for Big History & System Forecasting (Russian Academy of Sciences). He is presently co-editing the text, From Big Bang to Global Civilization: A Big History Anthology (University of California Press), with Dr. Leonid Grinin and Dr. Andrey Korotayev.
Video Salutations:
Anders Sandberg
He was born in Solna, Sweden. He holds a Ph.D. in computational neuroscience from Stockholm University, and is currently a James Martin Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. Sandberg's research centres on societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement and new technology, as well as on assessing the capabilities and underlying science of future technologies. His recent contributions include work on cognitive enhancement[1] (methods, impacts, and policy analysis); a technical roadmap on whole brain emulation;[2] on neuroethics; and on global catastrophic risks, particularly on the question of how to take into account the subjective uncertainty in risk estimates of low-likelihood, high-consequence risk.[3] He is well known as a commentator and participant in the public debate about human enhancement internationally, as well as for his academic publications in neuroscience, ethics, and future studies. He is co-founder of and writer for the think tank Eudoxa, and is a co-founder of the Orion's Arm collaborative worldbuilding project.[4] Between 1996 and 2000 he was Chairman of the Swedish Transhumanist Association. He was also the scientific producer for the neuroscience exhibition "Se Hjärnan!" ("Behold the Brain!"), organized by Swedish Travelling Exhibitions, the Swedish Research Council and the Knowledge Foundation, that was touring Sweden 2005–2006. In 2007 he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University, working on the EU-funded ENHANCE project on the ethics of human enhancement.
Nick Bostrom
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