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The San Francisco Tesla Society
presents a free presentation featuring
"Age of Convergence -
at the Intersection of Emergent Technologies
and Spiritual Evolution
A "Big History" view of Future History"
Sunday, November 11, 2007 1 - 5 p.m. at
San Francisco Public Library
Park Branch - Lower Right Entrance
1833
Page Street @ Cole
San Francisco, CA 94117
Around
the world, across myriad boundaries of race and culture, people in all walks of life are
responding to a profound sense of urgency. The operational overhead of mere
existence in the current world requires an exposure to levels of complexity and velocity
never before encountered in human history. We have become immersed in an
accelerating environment where everything is interconnected at all times, in real time.
Mapped against our current world are the remnants of future history projections from
myriad ancient cultures around the world. There is remarkable consistency among
these prophecies that foretell of events of spectacular significance occurring the
first-third of the Twenty-First-Century.
The question is, Why?
Fast-forward to the current moment, at the edge of that very region of time so
specifically cited by this diverse collection of cultures. What is found here now
are the features of a world that could not possibly have been comprehended except in the
context of apparent magic, or the workings of "the Creator".
The current existence template is being driven by synthetic biology, artificial
lifeforms and intelligences, applied nanotechnology, cybernetic enhancements to the mind
and body, and many other areas of already applied science that are redefining such basic
concepts as "what is life, thought, or even consciousness itself?"
This rapidly approaching evolutionary event horizon, currently is referred to by some as
the "Singularity", an era when artificial forms of life and intelligences merge
together with "naturally occurring" versions of such into an operational ecology
of our making.
One of the prevailing responses to this approaching evolutionary event horizon is to
retreat into the isolationalist domains of fundamentalism; religious, cultural, and
"new age" fundamentalism.
The outer edge of the observable universe is being probed, new solar systems and planets
are being discovered on an almost daily basis, and yet there are many who will desperately
cling to such notions that life cannot possibly exist anywhere beyond Earth, and that the
Earth itself is only 6,000 years old
Meanwhile, populations are exploding, resources are fast disappearing, the oceans are
filling with dead zones, the planetary climate is rapidly changing, and wars are already
being fought over energy, usable land, water.
Some would argue that a horrific fate of death and destruction will be rendered upon all
except those "chosen few" who adhere to a rigidly defined religious protocol.
This presentation argues the exact opposite
We are now facing an evolutionary test that has occurred on countless planets scattered
throughout billions of galaxies. We are entering an age where, at least potentially,
accelerating technology converges with an emergent form of spiritual maturity, enabling
the capacity to see ourselves, our world and the cosmos holographically - the Age of
Convergence
Charles
Ostman currently is a senior fellow at the Institute for Global Futures, a consulting
group which provides strategic research, analysis, technical due diligence, and related
technology centric development services
to Fortune 500 companies and institutions worldwide.
Charles serves with the management team of Fourth Venture, a business development entity
engaged in the enterprise of translating former soviet / eastern bloc military
technologies (and expertise) into benevolent / cleantech applications with significant
social implications, such as alternative & sustainable energy platforms, specialized
materials and applied nanotechnology.
He is an active participant with the Millennium Project for Global Futures Studies and
Research, of the American Council for the United Nations University, a global
participatory futures research think tank of futurists, scholars, business planners, and
policy makers who work for international organizations, governments,
corporations, NGOs, and universities
Charles has authored numerous technical papers and published articles, lectures frequently
around the country and abroad, and has contributed content featured in a number of
books, including CyberLife, Secrets, the SIRS Applied Sciences journal, and is
involved in various other authoring projects.
He chairs and participates in a wide variety of conferences and seminars in the US and
abroad, most recently co-chairing the Global Cleantech 2006 conference in Palo Alto, CA
He has been a featured guest and speaker in a diverse variety of nationally broadcast
television and radio programs in venues ranging from PBS Television to the nationally
syndicated Coast to Coast AM and America at
Night radio programs.
Charles Ostman has 25+ years experience in the fields of electronics, materials science,
computing and artificial intelligence, including eight years at Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Subsequent professional experience encompasses a diverse range of technical development
projects at facilities including GTE Lenkurt, Litton Industries, Lucas Films, Phoenix
Laser Systems, NanoThinc, Omni Scientific Instruments, Evolutionary Networks, and a
variety of other technology related companies
and institutions.
Charles Ostman can be reached in cyberspace at the following locations:
www.historianofthefuture.com
charles.ostman@historianofthefuture.com