# Key Points from Transhumanist IRC Discussions

• Participants explored advanced optical technologies, including thin-film nanotechnology for reducing parabolic mirror costs and Langmuir-Blodgett trough technology for creating thin films with specific optical properties, demonstrating the community's interest in practical applications of nanoscale engineering.

• The group discussed superconductivity principles, explaining how electrons move through ordered crystal patterns in superconducting materials via "tubes" that eliminate resistance, showing the technical depth of conversations in the channel.

• Bryan Bishop updated a DIY transhumanist wiki with a "Declaration" document explicitly listing enhancement technologies including genetic engineering and neural implants, representing efforts to formalize and categorize transhumanist technological goals.

• A participant described developing software that can analyze flowchart images (including whiteboard photos) and automatically convert them into REST APIs, targeting companies wanting to implement REST interfaces without specialized developers.

• The community debated the importance of programming skills in transhumanism, with some arguing it provides "the most immediate gains in transhumanist undertakings" while noting a demographic imbalance where transhumanists tend to be programmers rather than biologists.

• Participants engaged in philosophical discussions about the Proactionary Principle, questioning Max More's definition of "progress" and debating whether extropianism should be included in or distanced from current transhumanist documentation.

• The conversation explored how computational power functions as brain augmentation, noting that many internet technologies (mice, wikis, hyperlinks) originated at the Augmentation Research Center, connecting current digital tools to their transhumanist origins.

• Members debated whether new technologies inevitably reinforce existing power structures, particularly in the context of space colonization scenarios where Earth-based powers might prevent true independence of Mars settlements through military means.