Dear Futurists,

I’ve some news to share about forthcoming events:

1.) Technology and the radical transformation of politics – Mon 26 Mar

A better politics awaits us, beckoning us forward. It’s up to us – all of us – whether we recognise that call and take the required actions. Key to these actions will be to harness technology more wisely and more profoundly than before.

These words come from close to the beginning of my new book Transcending Politics – A Technoprogressive Roadmap to a Comprehensively Better Future.

In an event at London’s Newspeak House on Monday 26th March, I will be sharing some of the key analysis from this book, and inviting the audience to advance the creation of the better politics which technology can enable.

Topics that I expect to cover in the meeting include:

• A integrative vision of sustainable abundance for everyone – and the technologies needed to achieve that outcome
• Why technological change is presently making politics worse rather than better
• Ten legitimate causes of the fear and unrest that are destabilising society – and suggested technoprogressive responses to these issues
• The key role of the philosophy of transhumanism in accelerating the transformations needed for humanity to navigate through the existential landmines lurking in the near-future
• The fundamental importance of “super democracy” alongside the three traditional “supers” of transhumanist thought: super longevity, super intelligence, and super wellbeing
• The technological changes that can enable better humans and better politics to co-evolve over the next 10-20 years
• The opportunity to transcend the present-day divisiveness of right-wing vs. left-wing politics
• A roadmap of practical next steps.

There is no charge to attend, but advance registration is necessary, since space is limited.

For more details about this event, and to RSVP to attend, click here.

Note: People who attend this event will have the opportunity to purchase a physical copy of “Transcending Politics” for £10 (cash) – reduced from the standard cost on Amazon of £12.

People who would like to start reading the book ahead of the event can obtain it from Amazon- paperback or Kindle.

2.) Politics without politicians? Sun 11 Mar

A quick reminder: the event “Back to the Future for a Real Democracy”, featuring Brett Henning, the Director of the Sortition Foundation, is taking place this Sunday from 11am to 12.30pm at Conway Hall.

This is a meeting of the Conway Hall Ethical Society, supported by both GlobalNet21 and London Futurists.

An important reminder: if you want to attend this event, you need to register on the Conway Hall webpage for the event, here. If you try to register on the London Futurists meetup page, you’ll end up in what is called the Waitlist. That’s an indication that you need to do something extra in order to secure your attendance.

3.) Can technology stop us aging? Mon 12 Mar

Having mentioned two events about the future of politics (items #1 and #2), I’ll now mention three events about the future of aging.

First is a talk “Can technology stop us aging?” which I’ll be giving on Monday 12th March at the Wringer and Mangle in Spitalfields.

This event is organised by Funzing Talks. For more details, and to buy a ticket to attend, click here.

As you can see from the event page, attendees have given some great reviews when I gave this talk previously:

Very informative and eyeopening. David knows what he’s talking about!

I attend events regularly in London and this was one of the best so far.

David is fascinating and passionate speaker on the topic, and he has a lot of interesting facts to back him up.

Inspiring, well informed and riveting. Well done David.

4.) Undoing Aging, Berlin, 15-17 March

One of the best introductions to the Undoing Aging conference that is taking place in Berlin from Thursday to Saturday next week (15-17 March), co-hosted by Forever Healthy and the SENS Research Foundation, is contained in a recent interview by LEAF (the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation) of Michael Greve, the founder and CEO of Forever Healthy.

You can read that interview here. I recommend it!

You’ll see that there’s a very strong set of speakers at Undoing Aging. It should be a highly informative event.

5.) RAADfest, San Diego, 20-23 September

RAADfest – the festival for “Revolution Against Aging and Death” – is taking place this year from 20-23 September, in sunny San Diego, California.

The motto of the festival is “Learn how to fight aging today and cure it tomorrow.”

Although it’s six months before the date of the festival, lots of plans for it are already in place. You can read more details on the event website.

Some of the headline numbers feature in this poster:

Note that the cost to register to attend increased on 15th March (in one week’s time). So if you are planning to attend, you should visit the RAADfest website within the next few days, to lock in the lower price.

6.) Two Offers for London Futurists from Fast Future

Rohit Talwar and Steve Wells from Fast Future are keen supporters of the London Futurists community and are kindly making two special offers to our members.

Firstly, they are offering a FREE one year subscription to FutureScapes, which is worth $149. FutureScapes is Fast Future’s newsletter, providing a weekly window on the best of future’s thinking from the Fast Future team and their global network of future thinkers. Articles range from insights on emerging developments and big shifts happening across society, provocative thought pieces on critical developments that could shape the future, interesting futures-focused news articles, and links to engaging videos about what lies over the horizon.

To take advantage of the offer, please visit the Fast Future store, select the newsletter, and apply coupon LF02 to receive a free one year subscription to the newsletter.

Secondly, they are offering a 50% discount on all publications available in their store.

To take advantage of this offer, please visit the Fast Future store, select the books and format you require, and apply coupon LF01 at checkout. The discount does not apply to shipping costs for print books. Anyone making a book purchase will automatically receive a one year subscription to FutureScapes.

These two offers are valid until midnight  on March 16th 2018.

7.) Will Science and Technology Save the World?

In case you missed the live on-air panel discussion last Sunday, “Will Science and Technology Save the World”, here’s a recording

Thanks are due to the panellists for their thought-provoking contributions:

• Nikola Danaylov, aka “Socrates”, host of the popular Singularity 1 on 1 podcast, and author of “Conversations with the Future: 21 Visions for the 21st Century”
• Kim Solez, Director of the course “Technology and the Future of Medicine” at the University of Alberta
• Jay Friedenberg, Psychology Professor, Manhattan College, and author of “Humanity’s Future: How Technology Will Change Us”
• Seth Weisberg, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, previously worked at the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Science at Florida Atlantic University.

Watch out for news of more London Futurists hangout-on-air events shortly.

// David W. Wood
Chair, London Futurists