David Wood

The Abolition of Aging: The forthcoming radical extension of healthy human longevity 24/05/2016

by David Wood

$11.99

Within our collective grasp dwells the remarkable possibility of the abolition of biological aging.

It’s a big “if”, but if we decide as a species to make this project a priority, there’s around a 50% chance that practical rejuvenation therapies resulting in the comprehensive reversal of aging will be widely available as early as 2040.

People everywhere, on the application of these treatments, will, if they wish, stop becoming biologically older. Instead, again if they wish, they’ll start to become biologically younger, in both body and mind, as rejuvenation therapies take hold. In short, everyone will have the option to become ageless.

The viewpoint just described is a position the author has reached following extensive research, carried out over more than ten years. His research has led him to become a strong supporter of what can be called “the rejuveneering project”: a multi-decade cross-disciplinary endeavour to engineer human rejuvenation and thereby enable the choice to abolish aging.

But this viewpoint frequently encounters one of two adverse reactions.

First, people say that it’s not possible that such treatments are going to exist in any meaningful timescale any time soon. In other words, they insist that human rejuvenation can’t be done. It’s wishful thinking to suppose otherwise, they say. It’s bad science. It’s naively over-optimistic. It’s ignorant of the long history of failures in this field. The technical challenges remain overwhelmingly difficult.

Second, people say that any such treatments would be socially destructive and morally indefensible. In other words, they insist that human rejuvenation shouldn’t be done. It’s essentially a selfish idea, they say – an idea with all kinds of undesirable consequences for societal harmony or planetary well-being. It’s an arrogant idea, from immature minds. It’s an idea that deserves to be strangled.

Can’t; shouldn’t – this books argues that both these objections are profoundly wrong. It argues instead that rejuvenation is a noble, highly desirable, eminently practical destiny for our species – a “Humanity+” destiny that could be achieved within just one human generation from now. In the author's view, the abolition of aging is set to take its place on the upward arc of human social progress, echoing developments such as the abolition of slavery, the abolition of racism, and the abolition of poverty.

This is a discussion with enormous consequences. Changes in the public mood regarding the desirability of rejuveneering could trigger large reallocations of both public and private research expenditure. In turn, these reallocations are likely to have major implications in many areas of public well-being. Clearly, these decisions need to be taken wisely – with decisions being guided by a better understanding of the rich landscape of rejuveneering possibilities.

Due to complexities and unknowns, no one can be sure of the outcome of this project. Despite what some rejuvenation enthusiasts may suggest, there’s nothing inevitable about the pace of future medical progress. That’s why the author gives the probability of success as only around 50%.

Although the end outcome remains unclear, the sense of discovery is increasing. The underlying scientific context is changing rapidly. Every day brings its own fresh firehose of news of potential breakthrough medical approaches. In the midst of so much innovation, it behoves us to seek clarity on the bigger picture.

To the extent that this book can provide that bigger picture, it will have met at least some of its goals.

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Anticipating 2025: A guide to the radical changes that may lie ahead, whether or not we’re ready 16/06/2014

by David Wood , Mark Stevenson , Rohit Talwar , Calum Chace , David Pearce , Sonia Contera , Natasha Vita-More , Anders Sandberg , Ben McLeish , Amon Twyman

( 12 )

$10.70

The near future deserves more of our attention. A great deal can change over the next few years.

From mid 2014 until 2025, there will be seven 18-month “Moore’s Law” generations, potentially resulting in a 128-fold increase in raw computing performance (that's 2 multiplied by itself 7 times). That will enable devices with core components that are, for example, 5 times more powerful, 5 times cheaper, and 5 times smaller (hence requiring 5 times less energy input) than today’s computers. Over the same time period, we can expect similarly striking progress in cloud computing, big data analytics, robotics, synthetic biology, renewable energy systems, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and many other fields.

Collectively, these changes will enable huge transformation in very many areas of work, play, learning, and healthcare – as well as in our social and economic structures. The potential upsides are enormous. There are potential enormous downsides too.

As a comparison, consider the changes over a similar timescale, between 2003 and 2014. In 2003, there was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube, no iPad, no Kindle, almost no Wikipedia or Skype, and only a smattering of smartphones. There were no freely available online video educational courses, such as the Khan Academy. However, that same past period also saw a tremendous financial crash that, for a while, threatened the survival of economies around the globe. The preconditions for an even worse crash remain in place, as do preconditions for other global crises.

The authors of the chapters in Anticipating 2025 share the broad view that remarkable changes could be taking place in human lifestyles and in social structures by 2025 – or that if such changes have not yet transpired by that time, the popular mindset could be much more open towards the likelihood and desirability of such changes. The magnitude of these impending changes far exceeds the typical thinking of most of our present-day leaders in the fields of politics, business, and academia – leaders who are “caught in the present”, or who are too accustomed to thinking in linear rather than in exponential terms.

In Anticipating 2025, the authors give their diverse views as to which future scenarios are technically feasible and which are desirable. They also highlight the best steps to take to bring these desirable visions into reality, despite the many and varied roadblocks that are likely to be encountered en route.

As befits a critically important discussion, the authors expound a variety of viewpoints, via a range of different writing styles. Readers are urged to explore these chapters widely, leaving aside their comfort zones and briefly suspending their familiar thought patterns. That’s the best way to prepare for the tumult that may lie ahead.

Information relevant to the topics discussed – including additional reading lists, diagrams, and pictures – can be found online at http://anticipating2025.com/book/. The same site holds the records (including videos) of a London Futurists conference held in March 2014 with the same name – Anticipating 2025. Many of the presenters and several attendees from that conference have provided chapters for this book.

The book opens with 3 overview chapters that set the scene for further discussion. Part II features 3 chapters on the transformation of medicine and healthcare. Part III considers the future of Artificial Intelligence and potential future mergers between human and machine intelligence. The chapters in Part IV consider ways in which technology can empower transformations in society. Part V explores transformations of human nature and core human behaviour – including a transcendence of present-day human nature via transhumanism.

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RAFT 2035: Roadmap to Abundance, Flourishing, and Transcendence, by 2035 17/01/2020

by David Wood

( 4 )

$7.27

The fifteen years from 2020 to 2035 could be the most turbulent of human history. Revolutions are gathering pace in four overlapping fields of technology: nanotech, biotech, infotech, and cognotech, or NBIC for short. In combination, these NBIC revolutions offer enormous new possibilities: enormous opportunities and enormous risks.

Rapid technological change tends to provoke a turbulent social reaction. Old certainties fade. New winners arrive on the scene, flaunting their power, and upturning previous networks of relationships. Within the general public, a sense of alienation and disruption mingles with a sense of profound possibility. Due to the increased scale, speed, and global nature of the ongoing NBIC revolutions, the disruptions that followed in the wake of previous industrial revolutions – seismic though they were – are likely to be dwarfed in comparison to what lies ahead.

Amidst these turbulent waves, RAFT 2035 offers a Roadmap to Abundance, Flourishing, and Transcendence. RAFT issues a bold call to action, to encourage more people around the world to recognise the true scale of the opportunities ahead, to set aside distractions, and to build effective coalitions in pursuit of a set of 15 goals to be achieved by 2035.

Written by the Chair of London Futurists, David Wood, RAFT shows that futurism isn't just about describing futures that are likely or possible. It's also about highlighting futures that are highly desirable, and seeking to change the arc of human history in the light of that insight.

The 15 goals of RAFT range from significantly improved mental wellbeing, a radical new social contract, transformations in education and politics, a sustainable relationship with the environment, reductions in the threat of violence and crime both locally and internationally, and a renewed focus on humanity's journey into new realms of both inner and outer space. For each goal, two interim targets for 2025 are identified, as important steps towards the radically better future that is within our grasp.

“It’s often said that technology is poised to make humans stronger and more intelligent. But RAFT emphasises the possibility of a change that is much more important – the potential for technology to make us kinder and more empathetic. It’s a message that deserves to be widely heard.”
- David Pearce, Philosopher, and advocate of Paradise Engineering

“In RAFT, David Wood challenges all of us to reconsider how technology can best serve ethics, safety, and values that uplift the human spirit. A future that champions the very best aspects of what it means to be human is within our grasp, if we can humanise technology, and harmonize the interests of advanced civilization with nature.”
– Nell Watson, Chair of EthicsNet.org and IEEE’s Certification for Ethics in Transparency

“The need for a different set of politics is more pressing than ever. RAFT is a framework for the transition we need to make which is beyond the faultlines of traditional political positions.”
– Hannes Sjöblad, Co-founder DSruptive Sweden, and Chief Disruptive Officer of Epicenter Stockholm

“I’ve often enjoyed listening to David Wood set out his hopes and fears for the future. In RAFT 2035 he applies his formidable insight to the very important question of securing a truly great future, for the United Kingdom and beyond, by 2035.”
- Matt O’Neill, Futurist Keynote Speaker, Futurist.Matt

“RAFT 2035 maps out the possibilities and the trade-offs our exponential world is going to need. Continuing as before with tiny incremental steps is no longer an option: we need a RAFT of big ideas to make a step-change.

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Sustainable Superabundance: A Universal Transhumanist Invitation (Transpolitica Book 4) 15/01/2019

by David Wood

( 6 )

$6.94

Beyond the fear and chaos of contemporary life, there is good news to share.

A new era is at hand: the era of sustainable superabundance. In this era, the positive potential of humanity can develop in truly profound ways.

The key to this new era is to take wise advantage of the remarkable capabilities of twenty-first century science and technology: robotics, biotech, neurotech, greentech, collabtech, artificial intelligence, and much more.

These technologies can provide all of us with the means to live better than well – to be healthier and fitter than ever before; nourished emotionally and spiritually as well as physically; and living at peace with ourselves, the environment, and our neighbours both near and far.

This is not a vision of today’s society writ large – a mere abundance of today’s goods, services, activities, relationships, and rewards. It’s a vision of a superabundance, with new qualities rather than just new quantities.

This is not a vision of returning to some imagined prior historical period – to some supposed bygone golden age. It’s a vision of advancing to a new society, featuring levels of human flourishing never before possible.

This is not a vision restricted to the few – to an elite percentage of today’s humanity. It’s a universal vision, for everyone, of a wide, diverse fellowship in which all can freely participate, and in which all can enjoy unprecedented benefits.

This is not a vision of the far-off future – something relevant, perhaps, to our great-grandchildren. It’s a vision of change that could accelerate dramatically throughout the 2020s – a vision that is intensely relevant as the year 2020 comes into view.

This is not a vision of a fixed, rigid utopia. It’s a vision of the collaborative creation of a sustainable, open-ended, evolving social framework. In this new framework, every one of us will be empowered to make and follow our own choices without fear or favour.

In this vision, the sky will no longer be the limit. In this vision, the cosmos beckons, with its vast resources and endless possibilities. In this vision, our destiny lies in the ongoing exploration and development of both outer and inner space, as we keep reaching forwards together to higher levels of consciousness and to experiences with ever greater significance.

But first, we face some hard, critical choices – choices that will determine our future. If we choose poorly, technology will do much more harm than good. If we choose poorly, a bleak future awaits us – wretched environmental decline, bitter social divisions, and a rapid descent into a dismal new dark age. Instead of the flourishing of the better angels of our human nature, it will be our inner demons that technology magnifies.

** This book - this Universal Transhumanist Invitation - explains the choices. **

“Sustainable Superabundance offers a profoundly uplifting vision for the 2020s and beyond”
– Natasha Vita-More, Executive Director, Humanity+

“David Wood is one of the best futurists around today, insightful and visionary, with a broad grasp of the issues, and passionate commitment to making the future a good place to live. This book will become a key resource for the development of practical technoprogressive policies”
– James Hughes, Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET)

“A welcome addition to the debate over how society should respond to the forthcoming Economic Singularity”
– Calum Chace, Author of Artificial Intelligence and the Two Singularities
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Transcending Politics: A Technoprogressive Roadmap to a Comprehensively Better Future (Transpolitica Book 3) 10/02/2018

by David Wood

( 3 )

$11.51

Politics is broken. Technology risks making matters worse. But transhumanism can fix it. Comprehensively. Via the profound application of technology that uplifts the best qualities of humanity, enabling unprecedented health, intelligence, wellbeing, democracy, and liberty. With no-one left behind.

These are the core claims in the book "Transcending Politics" by David Wood, former smartphone industry executive, who is now chair of London Futurists and executive director of Transpolitica.

Selected feedback on "Transcending Politics":

"From homo economicus to transhumanism and the abolition of aging. From knocking on doors every five years to liquid democracy and citizens’ assemblies. From nations competing in global markets to transnational networks sharing artificial intelligence and energy sources. It’s all there – and with heart." – Indra Adnan, Co-initiator, The Alternative UK

"We live in amazing times where tools to analyze and fix our problems are now available. Why not apply them to politics? In this fascinating and informative book, David Wood takes us on a tour of the near future. He explores what’s happening, why and how we can harness the promise of technology to move beyond red team/blue team bickering to a place where government decisions have transparency and effect." – Toby Unwin, Chief Innovation Officer, Premonition LLC

"Politics plays a significant role in the possibility of our future survival and flourishing. But politics today is largely broken. In response, Wood urges us to embrace transhumanism – to use technology to overcome the limitations of brains formed in the Pleistocene. For without greater intelligence, emotional well-being, and better political institutions, we are doomed. This carefully and conscientiously crafted work defends this thesis with vigour, and it is a welcome relief from the ubiquitous nonsense that passes for political dialogue today. Let us hope that it informs that dialogue and fuels action." – John G Messerly, Author of “Reason and Meaning”, one of “Top 100 Philosophy Blogs on the Planet”

"Most transhumanism advocates wish to ‘transcend’ politics in the sense of replacing it – that is, when they’re not trying to avoid it altogether. Their utopian visions may be clear but they haven’t a clue about how to achieve them. David Wood is relatively unique in addressing this matter head on. A particularly refreshing feature of his approach is that he is willing to accept people as they are before attempting to foist a radical future on them. Wood combines the right balance of enthusiasm and sobriety to take forward a truly ‘technoprogressive’ vision for transhumanism." – Prof Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, University of Warwick

"For anyone interested in whatever comes next for a truly technoprogressive society, David Wood lays out in clear, accessible language not only the case for why the politics of the future must be transformed, but also the way in which we might want to go about it. The topics he covers represent some of the most important conversations we need to be having as a society, today, here and now, before it’s too late." - Gareth John, Independent Researcher, Aberystwyth

"David Wood’s scenarios for the future are so engaging that Transcending Politics will become a must-read for anyone engaged in politics or interested in the future of humanity. Readers will be captivated by the author’s description of potential impact of exponential growth of technology on human progress, and the changes needed in the relationships between the governed and the governing if we are to mitiga

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Envisioning Politics 2.0: How AIs, cyborgs, and transhumanism can enhance democracy and improve society (Transpolitica Book 2) 29/06/2015

by David Wood , Alexander Karran

$1.29

The single most important task of the next ten years is to find better ways of cooperating. In an age of unprecedented crowds – both online and offline – the global human community urgently needs social mechanisms that will encourage the wisdom of crowds rather than the folly of crowds.

Our existing methods of mutual coordination seem to produce more strife than harmony these days. We’re struggling to cope with ever larger tensions and disruptions on the shrinking world stage. The nation state, the multinational business firm, the free market, the non-governmental organisation, the various international bodies of global coordination set up after the Second World War – all find themselves deeply challenged by the myriad fast-evolving overlapping waves of stress of the early twenty-first century.

We’re facing tragedies of the commons writ larger than ever before. The actions that make good sense to smaller groups often add up, perversely, to disastrous outcomes for the larger community. But attempts to coordinate actions to avoid such tragedies are falling foul of numerous deep-seated conflicts of interest.

Politics 1.0 has taken us a long way. But the multidimensional, intersecting nature of present-day issues and opportunities requires a new calibre of politics. Anticpating that new calibre of politics is the central purpose of the think tank Transpolitica which has published this volume.

The essays in this book provide visions of what Politics 2.0 might look like. They express the thoughts, hopes, and fears from a diverse mix of futurists, political thinkers, academics, and think-tank members. They explore various ways in which new technology might enable improved politics (analogous to the way in which technology enabled the emergence of a collaborative "Web 2.0" with community intelligence, superseding the top-down "Web 1.0"):

*) Relevant expert knowledge being quickly brought to vexed questions of subsidies, regulations, standards, and so on – rather than politicians being out of their depths
*) Automated fact-checking taking place in real-time, rather than mistakes and errant claims being allowed to influence political discussion for too long
*) Humans improving their own cognitive skills, as part of a process we can call cyborgization
*) External artificial intelligence augmenting the decision-making capabilities of humans
*) The insights of the transhumanist movement, which boldly upholds the possibility of a profound social transformation alongside human physical and mental enhancements.

Table of contents

1.) Zoltan Istvan’s “Teleological Egocentric Functionalism”: a libertarian philosophical basis for “Transhumanist” politics – by Roland Benedikter, Katja Siepmann, and Annabella McIntosh
2.) Four political futures: which will you choose? – by David W Wood
3.) How do governments add value to society? – by Bruce Lloyd
4.) The benefits of digital democracy – by Walter L.S. Burrough and Kay Firth-Butterfield
5.) Cyborgization: a possible solution to errors in human decision making – by Dana Edwards and Alexander J Karran
6.) Of mind and money: post-scarcity economics and human nature – by Stuart Mason Dambrot
7.) Voluntary basic incomes in a reputation economy – by Michael Hrenka
8.) Specifications: an engineer’s approach to upgrading politics – by René Milan
9.) Extended longevity: an argument for increased social commitment – by MH Wake
10.) Longevity, artificial intelligence and existential risks: opportunities and dangers – by Didier Coeurnelle
11.

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Anticipating tomorrow's politics (Transpolitica Book 1) 19/03/2015

by David Wood , Stephen Oberauer , Michael Hrenka , Roland Schiefer , Waldemar Ingdahl , Amon Twyman , René Milan , Stuart Dambrot , Maximo Ramallo , Sally Morem

( 3 )

$4.58

This book takes as its starting point the observation that technology has the potential to radically transform politics. The observation is simultaneously inspiring and frightening.

Accelerating technology is already in the process of radically transforming many other areas of life – including education, entertainment, health, transport, the environment, and warfare. Some of these changes are highly beneficial; others are deeply troubling. In yet other cases, the implications remain unclear. So it is with the changes that technology can bring to politics. Technology can change politics in ways that are variously beneficial, troubling, and hard to fathom.

The relationship runs both ways. Just as technology can alter politics, so also can politics alter technology. The speed and direction of technological adoption is strongly influenced by social and psychological factors, by legislation, by subsidies, by incentives, and by the provision or restriction of public funding. Political action can impact all these factors, either for better or for worse. Anyone who cares about the future of technology needs, therefore, to care about the future of politics.

These bidirectional overlapping sets of influences – politics impacting the development and deployment of technology, and technology impacting the evolution and effectiveness of politics – deserve a greater share of our collective attention. They merit a higher priority in the overall global conversation about the future of society. That’s for two reasons.

First, accelerating technological progress has the potential to transform lives in the next ten years more profoundly than in any preceding ten year period in history. Radical technological changes are coming sooner than most politicians appreciate. Technology fields such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology, renewable energy, regenerative medicine, brain sciences, big data analytics, robotics, and artificial intelligence, are all undergoing rapid evolution. Improvements are feeding further improvements, in compound positive feedback cycles. Together, these technologies will change society in unexpected ways, disrupting familiar patterns of industry, lifestyle, and thinking.

But second, alongside the potential for exceptional benefits from these changes for both the individual and society, there is the potential for tremendous risk. The potential risks – like the potential benefits – are hard to anticipate with any confidence. Collectively, we need to improve our powers of anticipation, and to deepen our resilience in readiness for surprise developments. We need to learn to look with greater perception into the set of possible future scenarios. Improved foresight will increase our ability to spot potential oncoming threats (before they become too damaging) and potential major opportunities (before they slip outside of our collective grasp due to inaction on our part). And once we notice these major change factors ahead, we need to become better at making these future scenarios vivid, so that society as a whole includes these factors in the global dialogue. This book is dedicated to these tasks.

The goal of Transpolitica - founded in January 2015 - is to catalyse a transformation of the global political dialogue. We wish to encourage politicians and political observers from all parties (and those with no existing alignments) to urgently:
•Think through, in advance, the potential consequences of rapid technological change
•Take part in a wide public discussion and exploration of these forthcoming changes
•Adjust public policy in order to favour positive outcomes
•Support bold regenerative projects to take full advantage of accelerating technology – projects with the uplifting vision and scale of the 1960s Apollo moonshot pro

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Smartphones and beyond: Lessons from the remarkable rise and fall of Symbian 03/09/2014

by David Wood

( 14 )

$10.70

Over the last two decades, smartphones have ascended to a position of enormous global impact. These multi-purpose near-miracle devices place into the hands of users worldwide astonishing quantities of real-time information. They have become major sources of entertainment, utility, and control. Indeed, every year, smartphones become ever more capable. As such, they’re profoundly transforming human experience in every walk of life.

But where are these steps of smartphone progress taking us? What are the core factors that have propelled all these improvements? And can we re-use some of that underlying improvement engine for potentially even more significant purposes?

In short, these are questions of the smartphone future, the smartphone past, and the wider present. These questions deserve good answers.

These questions have inspired the author to set down in writing his own experiences and reflections from two helter-skelter decades close to the heart of this remarkable industry. Throughout that time period, he has been an avid enthusiast for the potential of smartphones, an active participant in many key projects, a futurist and forecaster of what might happen next, and, at the same time, a persistent critic of much of what he saw. He observed at close quarters the maelstrom of the industry, with its rich mix of stunning successes and devastating failures. He lived through a great deal which deserves to be better known.

This book shares particular insight from the inside story of the remarkable rise and fall of Symbian. Symbian is the comparatively little-known company that, behind the scenes, laid vital foundations for the present-day near-ubiquity of smartphones. Despite its subsequent untimely demise, Symbian has rich connections with the future, the past, and the wider present of smartphones.

The author tells the Symbian story from his unique vantage point as the only person to remain on the company’s senior leadership team throughout almost the entirety of its turbulent, roller-coaster existence: from its 1998 formation as an uneasy joint venture based around “the big three” giants of the mobile phone industry of that era – Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia – right through to its collapse, a dozen years later, under pressure from faster, nimbler, more inspired competitors from Silicon Valley.

Nowadays few people remember much about Symbian – if they ever knew about it in the first place. It was a company that mainly lived in the shadows, away from public glare. But despite its low public profile, Symbian was the indisputable global leader in the smartphone market for most of the first decade of the 21st century. During that time, software developed by Symbian powered the vast majority of the world’s smartphones, as the smartphone market itself grew and grew in scale. Sales of Symbian-powered smartphones went from millions of units being sold in a year, through millions of units being sold in a month, to millions of units being sold each week.

For much of that time, Symbian appeared to have the potential to be “the Microsoft of mobile computing”, with potential revenues and publicity to match. Symbian’s customers included the world’s top five mobile phone manufacturers, and many other regional leaders.

But sales eventually peaked, in 2010, and fell into steep decline shortly afterwards. Ask people today about smartphones and the words they’ll mention are “iPhone”, “Android” – and (perhaps) “Windows Phone” or “RIM BlackBerry”. The word “Symbian” is a fast-receding memory.

It need not have turned out this way.

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Symbian for Software Leaders: Principles of Successful Smartphone Development Projects (Symbian Press Book 9) 10/12/2007

by David Wood

$77.55

As a co-founder of Symbian and former executive of Psion Software, David Wood has been actively involved in well over 100 smartphone development projects worldwide. Over the time spent on these projects, he has come to understand the key issues which determine the difference between successful and unsuccessful projects for Symbian OS. This book highlights and explains:

How to tame the awesome inner complexity of smartphone technology
Optimal project team organisation, combining agility and reliability
The design and the philosophy behind key features of Symbian OS
The potential trouble spots of smartphone integration, testing, and optimisation
How to receive the full benefit of the diverse skills in the extensive Symbian partner ecosystem
The methods that are most likely to deliver commercial success when using Symbian OS
The wider significance of Symbian OS skills and expertise in the evolving mobile marketplace
The particular importance of software leaders in bringing breakthrough smartphone products to the market

Other Formats:: Hardcover

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