Dear Futurists,

This note mainly contains information for people planning to attend one of the London Futurists events at the London ExCeL Centre, tomorrow (Wed) and/or the day after (Thurs). But it also contains news about the TransVision 2017 event that will take place in Brussels, 9-11 November, for people interested in or sympathetic to the aims of transhumanism. Read on…

1.) Finding the London Futurists events in the ExCeL centre

If you’re thinking of attending

• A serious assessment of the Technological Singularity, 5:30-7:30pm Wednesday, and/or
• The 5G World Futurist Summit, 11am-4pm Thursday,

then you’ll want to pay attention to the following points.

London ExCeL can be reached via the DLR (Docklands Light Railway). Just be sure you get on the correct branch of the DLR. Because the Custom House for ExCeL station is closed at the moment for renovation, you are recommended to travel to the next stop, Prince Regent, which is at the other end of the ExCeL building.

London ExCeL is vast! It may take you at least 10 minutes to walk from the entrance beside the tube station to the registration door for TechXLR8. There are signs on the floor to guide you all the way. They’ll take you to a door labelled N4. It’s a bit like an airport terminal.

The next issue is how to find the London Futurists event inside the TechXLR8 area, which itself is pretty huge. The short answer is: we’re in Theatre B, which is just on the left inside the entrance by the registration area. When you enter, you’ll be given a floorplan. Theatre B is clearly marked on the floorplan.

When you get there, you’ll know you’re in the right place, since the front of it will look like this:

(The reference to “Public Safety Summit” on the wall is because that’s what being held in this area, on Wednesday, before London Futurists move in at the end of that afternoon.)

Here’s where things could become confusing. The floorplan, and the mobile app for TechXLR8, both say, misleadingly, that the Futurist Summit is taking place in another theatre, known as Theatre A, which is about 10 minutes walk from Theatre B. Please ignore that misdirection!

In summary, if you get out of the tube with only 5 minutes to go, before the start of the event, you’ll probably eventually arrive at the right location about 15 minutes late. Oops. So give yourself more time.

Because of overall time constraints, we’ll be starting the Futurist Summit at 11am sharp, on the Thursday, without waiting for latecomers, sorry! And likewise on the Wednesday evening, we’ll be starting as close to 5:30pm as we can.

Incidentally, you’ll find lots of other things to marvel at, in the TechXLR8 venue. That’s another reason for you to plan to arrive early 🙂

One final comment: don’t forget that you should register online in advance, for TechXLR8, using the links on this webpage.

2.) Brussels, 9-11 November: The Future of Transhumanism

It’s my pleasure to forward a note from Didier Coeurnelle, spokesperson of AFT-Technoprog.

Hello,

We are organizing an international conference on November 9-10-11, 2017 in Brussels, about the state of the transhumanist movement in Europe and in the world. The conference is likely to bear the name “TransVision 2017: The future of transhumanism”.

The French Transhumanist Association – Technoprog, in partnership with Humanity+, IEET, London Futurists and many other organizations, would like at this time to invite representatives of all transhumanist or related organizations who wish to come and meet for three days of discussions.

We will share our information, take stock of the state of the transhumanist movement in our respective areas of the world, share our experiences and reflect on the relevance and possibility of joint action. What lessons can we draw from the past? What can we learn from the various recent political initiatives? What should be the priorities for transhumanist action? Does a consensus exist in support of a technoprogressivist perspective? Is it desirable to restructure transhumanism at the European level? How about connections at the global level? etc.

The symposium will be organized in the beautiful premises of the Grand Café Muntpunt, adjacent to the Royal Opera of Brussels, right in the center of the European capital.

The three days will be organized as follows:

• Thursday, November 9: Assessment: an account of the situation and the evolution of the movement and transhumanist thought in various countries of Europe and the World
• Friday, November 10: Prospects: working time on what we think to do, together or separately
• Saturday, November 11: Syntheses, External analysis of the movement

Participation in the first two days will be mostly for the members and sympathizers of the invited organizations. The third day will be open to the public and the press.

This email is first for you to block your calendar. More information (and a website) will be available during the summer. Do not hesitate to announce the event to your fellow futurists / techno-optimists / technoprogressists…

Didier Coeurnelle
Spokesperson of the AFT-Technoprog

If you’re interested in speaking at TransVision 2017 – either as a representative of an organisation with involvement in the transhumanist community (past, present, or planned future), or as an independent observer – then please get in touch.

See this H+Pedia article for brief information about the history of TransVision conferences.

Regards,

// David W. Wood
Chair, London Futurists