Posthumanity

Company Town Is the Most Twisted Posthuman Novel You’ve Ever Read

Madeline Ashby took all the conventions of “artificial life form” novels and shredded them with her novel vN and its sequel, ID. Now she’s doing the same thing for the posthuman “everybody gets upgraded and has free ice cream forever” story, in her brutal new novel Company Town. Company Town, which comes out in May,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Apr 7

Lasers power Pentagon’s next-gen artificial limbs

The Pentagon’s already got brain-controlled prosthetics, and they are a major improvement over old-school artificial limbs. The devices are far from perfect, however. They rely on metal implants, which aren’t compatible with the body’s tissues, and they can only transmit a few signals at a time – turning what should be a simple movement into…

io9 Katie Drummond - Danger Room Nov 5

Anti-smoking PSA from the 1980s warns Brits about the scary posthuman future

Britain’s National Archives has created an amazing online collection of “public information films,” or what we in the United States call “public service announcements” (PSAs). It’s an incredible collection that goes back to the 1950s and continues up through 2006. Some of the movies are just silly, and others are kind of amazing in their…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 17

A gallery of biotech devices that could give you superpowers right now

Biotechnology now outpaces the bodies we were born with. Today, we can give ourselves additional senses or improve the ones we’ve got, and we can heighten our strength while also building limbs better than the breakable ones most of us have. Here’s a gallery of all the human enhancements that will be improving lives –…

io9 Keith Veronese Jul 21

New synthetic vocal cord gel gives voice to the voiceless

Call it a silent killer: some 6 percent of the U.S. population has some kind of voice disorder, most of those resulting from scarring of the vocal cords that can lead to diminishing or even total loss of the ability to speak. Giving voice to the voiceless, a team of Harvard and MIT researchers have…

io9 Clay Dillow - Popular Science Jul 16

Future humans with algae implants could breathe underwater

Ever wonder how we’re going to create humans who can breathe underwater? Of course you do. Now a study published this week about how algae insinuate themselves into salamander embryos (and DNA) could provide the beginnings of an answer. We know that viruses can invade an organism, and eventually wind up integrating into that organism’s…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 5

What Is The Singularity And Will You Live To See It?

If you read any science fiction or futurism, you’ve probably heard people using the term “singularity” to describe the world of tomorrow. But what exactly does it mean, and where does the idea come from? We answer in today’s io9 flashback. What is the singularity? The term singularity describes the moment when a civilization changes…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 3

A bioengineered future in deep space

NASA’s Human Research Program is all about risk reduction, finding ways to counter fatigue and mitigate radiation damage, among other potential issues in space travel. But what if a different kind of program had evolved? After all, back in the 1960s the agency was looking into the much broader question of how a human being…

io9 Paul Gilster - Centauri Dreams Sep 18

Genetic Evidence Shows Why Tibetans Kick Ass At High Altitudes

Tibetans handle high altitudes much better than most people. New research pinpoints the genes that allow them to breathe easily on mountain peaks, and avoid deadly side-effects. The people of Tibet are essentially Fremen of the heights. Evolutionary pressure has created a population of people that have a distinct set of physiological traits that help…

io9 Tim Barribeau May 13

Portraits In Posthumanity: Aimee Mullins

A one-time intelligence analyst with the Pentagon, Aimee Mullins is an athlete, model, and activist. And she does it all using a collection of experimental prosthetic legs. She says her special “cheetah” legs give her superpowers. On her website, Mullins gives a quick background on how she got where she is today: Born without fibulae…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 10

What Is The Singularity And Will You Live To See It?

If you read any science fiction or futurism, you’ve probably heard people using the term “singularity” to describe the world of tomorrow. But what exactly does it mean, and where does the idea come from? We answer in today’s backgrounder. What is the singularity? The term singularity describes the moment when a civilization changes so…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 10

Beyond The Human Race – And “Human-Racism”

J. Hughes is the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a professor at Trinity College Hartford, and author of the book Citizen Cyborg. Here he explains the idea of transhumanism – and its dark side. The problem with the idea of posthumanity is that the thing it is supposed to be…

io9 J. Hughes May 9

What Will The Citizens Of New Jersey Mutate Into?

So apparently there’s tritium leaking into one of New Jersey’s main aquifers. As a proud Garden Stater, I have no choice but to hope that this environmental clusterfuck will give us fancy new phenotypes and not horrible, horrible cancer. Even though the radioactive run-off from the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township, New…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

Great Stupid Moments In Posthumanity: Teenage Caveman (NSFW)

In Larry Clark’s 2002 Teenage Caveman, a virus wipes out humanity, leaving only scattered human tribes and teenage immortals who love blowing lines and orgies. And if you have sex with the immortals, you gain superpowers or spontaneously combust. WTF? Ostensibly a remake of Roger Corman’s 1958 Z-grade classic of the same name, Clark’s Teenage…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Your Posthumanism Is Boring Me

Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2009, Jamais Cascio is a futurist who writes about the environment, technology, and culture. Here he argues that yesterday’s posthumanism is today’s boring quotidian. We will never be posthuman, because we have always been posthuman. “Posthuman” is a term with more…

io9 Jamais Cascio May 8

Fritz Kahn’s Cybernetic Body Art Is Like Terminator Circa 1920

Berlin gynecologist Dr. Fritz Kahn (1888-1968) was a titan of anatomical illustration thanks to his imaginative portrayals of the human body as a living factory. Pop on some Kraftwerk, because here come the man-machines! Here’s his bio from Fritz-Kahn.com In the 1920s, his magnum opus, “Das Leben des Menschen” (The Life of Man) – a…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Portraits In Posthumanity: Steve Mann

Canadian geek artist Steve Mann has augmented his vision with wearable computers for most of his life. He invented his “smart pants” in high school, perfected his body tech rig at MIT, and now has one eye that’s a camera. Mann isn’t exactly a cyborg – he doesn’t control his augmentations with his mind, and…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 7

One Mutation Could Prevent You From Becoming An Alcoholic

Do you feel exhausted after a couple of drinks? Need constant Red Bull infusions to make it out of the bar? You might have a mutation that prevents you from becoming an addict. The way the human body handles down alcohol is predominantly governed by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which breaks down the potentially…

io9 Tim Barribeau May 7

How Much Would It Cost To Build A Real Iron Man Suit?

Iron Man’s suit isn’t as science fictional as you might think. Most of its components exist right now in research and development labs. What would it cost Tony Stark today to put them together and become superhuman? Helmet-mounted display Tony controls his Iron Man suit via a sophisticated helmet-mounted display that is voice-activated. It could…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 7

“Am I Not A Man and A Brother?” Four Fictional Legal Systems Respond to Sentient Androids

People have long imagined automatons for society’s drudge work. The possibility and its implications are among science fiction’s favorite topics. One question that crops up constantly: What is a sentient android’s legal status? Is something that feels still property? The Curiosity Star Trek: TNG’s Data is one of pop culture’s best-known androids. From season to…

io9 Kelly Faircloth May 7

Posthumanity

Company Town Is the Most Twisted Posthuman Novel You’ve Ever Read

Lasers power Pentagon’s next-gen artificial limbs

Anti-smoking PSA from the 1980s warns Brits about the scary posthuman future

A gallery of biotech devices that could give you superpowers right now

New synthetic vocal cord gel gives voice to the voiceless

Future humans with algae implants could breathe underwater

What Is The Singularity And Will You Live To See It?

A bioengineered future in deep space

Genetic Evidence Shows Why Tibetans Kick Ass At High Altitudes

Portraits In Posthumanity: Aimee Mullins

What Is The Singularity And Will You Live To See It?

Beyond The Human Race – And “Human-Racism”

What Will The Citizens Of New Jersey Mutate Into?

Great Stupid Moments In Posthumanity: Teenage Caveman (NSFW)

Your Posthumanism Is Boring Me

Fritz Kahn’s Cybernetic Body Art Is Like Terminator Circa 1920

Portraits In Posthumanity: Steve Mann

One Mutation Could Prevent You From Becoming An Alcoholic

How Much Would It Cost To Build A Real Iron Man Suit?

“Am I Not A Man and A Brother?” Four Fictional Legal Systems Respond to Sentient Androids

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