Captain Kirk, et al, to Keynote Ninth Annual International TransVision2007 Conference in Chicago

CHICAGO - The World Transhumanist Association is hosting its ninth annual TransVision conference, a leading international gathering of science, technology and policy leaders, and this year’s theme is “Transhumanity Saving Humanity: Inner Space to Outer Space” with keynotes by internationally renowned visionaries William Shatner, Emmy award winning actor, environmentalist; Ed Begley Jr., actor and environmentalist; Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author and futurist; and Aubrey de Grey, acclaimed longevity scientist.

Confirmed presenters include: Martine Rothblatt, founder, Terasem Movement; Max More, Chair, Extropy Institute; Natasha Vita-More, President, Extropy Institute; Nick Bostrom, Director of the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute; James Hughes, Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies; Sky Marsen, Ph.D., Semiotics Expert, Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of London; Ron Bailey, Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine; and Tanya Jones, COO, Alcor Foundation.

Speakers will address how emerging technology will give our societies the ability to solve the grand challenges facing humanity. Global health, the environment and space development will be addressed. The conference will consist of three days of intensive briefings by some of the most influential futurists, innovators, policy leaders and celebrities from the U.S. and around the globe.

Day 1: Inner Space: Transforming Ourselves -- Aging, Life Extension, Nanotech, Nanomedicine, Bionics, Biotech, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, Cryonics
Day 2: Meta Space: Transforming Humanity -- Environment, Global Warming, Sustainable Housing, Alternative Energy, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality
Day 3: Outer Space: Beyond the Planet -- Future Humans, Colonizing Outer Space, Space Tourism, Future Civilizations
In addition, inventor, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil will be awarded the prestigious H.G. Wells Award, named after Herbert George Wells, a 19th and 20th Century English futurist and writer.