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From Order of Cosmic Engineers
The foundation of the Order was announced at The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future conference in Second Life on June 5, 2008. A formal launch event, the Silvermoon Meeting, took place in World of Warcraft on June 14, 2008, hosted by Bainbridge's WoW Science Guild and the Cosmic Engineers Guild. Read the Prospectus of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, collaboratively authored by the Order's founding members.
See also Bainbridge's Cosmic Engineers wiki.
The Terasem Journal of Geoethical Nanotechnology has an article on Awaken the Universe -- Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers, by Philippe Van Nedervelde. This article was adapted from a lecture given by Philippe Van Nedervelde, MA Comm., FLF, co-founder of the Order of Cosmic Engineers (OCE), during the 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology on July 20, 2008 at the Terasem Island Amphitheatre in Second Life. Philippe discusses the benefits and methods to developing the technologies purported to enhance, thus expand, human health and life spans.
On July 20, 2008, Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director of the European Foresight Institute and one of the founding members of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, gave a presentation on Awaken The Universe -- Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers, at the 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology. The workshop took place at the Terasem Amphitheater in Second Life and explored what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness. Click here for detailed information, full text, PPT and video coverage.
Image: Sculpture "Converging Aspirations" by Philippe Van Nedervelde on Terasem island, Second Life. Larger Version.
The Order of Cosmic Engineers warmly invites you to join its cosmic quest. We joyfully set out to permeate our universe with benign intelligence, building and spreading it from inner space to outer space and beyond.
We need a new spaceflight social movement capable of giving a sense of transcendent purpose to dominant sectors of the society... The human condition is one of extreme absurdity unless fixed in a cosmic context to provide meaning... A species which does conquer the stars will have developed a culture including a cosmic religious faith well-adapted to continue expansion indefinitely... I have suggested that only a transcendent, impractical, radical religion can take us to the stars.
William Sims Bainbridge, Religions for a Galactic Civilization, 1981
Dear Mother Nature... We have decided that it is time to amend the human constitution. We do not do this lightly, carelessly, or disrespectfully, but cautiously, intelligently, and in pursuit of excellence. We intend to make you proud of us. Over the coming decades we will pursue a series of changes to our own constitution, initiated with the tools of biotechnology guided by critical and creative thinking.
Max More, A Letter to Mother Nature, 1999
The universe is coming to life.
James Gardner, The Intelligent Universe, 2007
So will the Universe end in a big crunch, or in an infinite expansion of dead stars, or in some other manner? In my view, the primary issue is not the mass of the Universe, or the possible existence of antigravity, or of Einstein's so-called cosmological constant. Rather, the fate of the Universe is a decision yet to be made, one which we will intelligently consider when the time is right.
Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, 1999
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke's "Third Law"
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
The Order is, at the same time, a transhumanist association, a space advocacy group, a spiritual movement, a literary salon, a technology observatory, an idea factory, a virtual worlds development group, and a global community of persons willing to take an active role in building, in realizing a sunny future. As engineers, we aim to build what cannot be readily found. Adopting an engineering approach and attitude, we aim to turn this universe into a "magical" realm. The Order is naturally resolved and determined to have a very strong presence in online VR worlds, the next generation online global meeting place, and it will lead new VR world development initiatives.
