{"schemaVersion":"1.2","articleId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers","locale":"en","canonicalUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/","articleVersion":"1.2.1","translationVersion":"1.2.1","release":{"releaseId":"2026-10-31.2","manifestUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/data/releases/2026-10-31.2/manifest.json","citationsUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/data/releases/2026-10-31.2/citations.json","publicRecordBundleUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/data/releases/2026-10-31.2/hieropedia-public-record-2026-10-31.2.tar.gz"},"claims":[{"segmentId":"s001","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s001","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s001","sourceHash":"9c2204dc332ae652","translationHash":"9c2204dc332ae652","excerpt":"Order of Cosmic Engineers Type Transhumanist association Launch June 14, 2008, in World of Warcraft, according to Giulio Prisco Founding participants Giulio Prisco, William Sims Bainbridge and Philippe Van Nedervelde, according to Prisco Me","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s002","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s002","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s002","sourceHash":"d49d4e40dfadf1f3","translationHash":"d49d4e40dfadf1f3","excerpt":"The Order of Cosmic Engineers (OCE) was a transhumanist association launched in 2008 through meetings in virtual worlds. Its founders linked technological transformation with a search for meaning and community, presenting cosmic engineering","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-1","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-1","sourceUrls":["https://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2008-June/044060.html"]},{"referenceId":"ref-2","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-2","sourceUrls":["https://www.transumanisti.it/9_articolo.asp?id=11&nomeCat=Testimonianze"]}]},{"segmentId":"s003","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s003","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s003","sourceHash":"ac5ff207a75f9567","translationHash":"ac5ff207a75f9567","excerpt":"Origins and early meetings","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s004","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s004","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s004","sourceHash":"deca9bca57fad4ac","translationHash":"deca9bca57fad4ac","excerpt":"In a June 15, 2008 report, Giulio Prisco distinguished an announcement at a Second Life conference on June 5 from the launch in Silvermoon City, within World of Warcraft, on June 14. Writing in 2009, he named William Sims Bainbridge and Phi","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-1","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-1","sourceUrls":["https://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2008-June/044060.html"]},{"referenceId":"ref-2","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-2","sourceUrls":["https://www.transumanisti.it/9_articolo.asp?id=11&nomeCat=Testimonianze"]}]},{"segmentId":"s005","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s005","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s005","sourceHash":"32ed31ef2fd36975","translationHash":"32ed31ef2fd36975","excerpt":"Van Nedervelde presented the project at Terasem’s virtual amphitheatre in Second Life on July 20, 2008. An adapted version of his lecture, published in the Journal of Geoethical Nanotechnology, preserves its rationale and excerpts from the ","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-3","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-3","sourceUrls":["https://terasemjournals.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/awaken-the-universe-pvn-pvn-edit-j-edit1.pdf"]}]},{"segmentId":"s006","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s006","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s006","sourceHash":"2334af5b9cbc7283","translationHash":"2334af5b9cbc7283","excerpt":"The proposed “unreligion”","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s007","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s007","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s007","sourceHash":"4b4669b5694bd9a5","translationHash":"4b4669b5694bd9a5","excerpt":"Van Nedervelde called the proposed form of association an “unreligion.” He argued that scientific inquiry had weakened religious belief without replacing the supportive communities religions provided. His alternative would combine inquiry i","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-3","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-3","sourceUrls":["https://terasemjournals.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/awaken-the-universe-pvn-pvn-edit-j-edit1.pdf"]}]},{"segmentId":"s008","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s008","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s008","sourceHash":"788fce586ac780d8","translationHash":"788fce586ac780d8","excerpt":"Prisco’s 2009 essay supplies a related motivation: he wanted transhumanist visions to speak to hopes and emotions as well as intellectual argument. He described the Order’s project as joining engineering with neo-futurist art and the cosmic","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-2","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-2","sourceUrls":["https://www.transumanisti.it/9_articolo.asp?id=11&nomeCat=Testimonianze"]}]},{"segmentId":"s009","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s009","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s009","sourceHash":"41a95febf640b40f","translationHash":"41a95febf640b40f","excerpt":"From virtual habitats to cosmic intelligence","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s010","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s010","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s010","sourceHash":"a85db232906f4110","translationHash":"a85db232906f4110","excerpt":"The Prospectus excerpt sets out a sequence: build a community, develop virtual habitats for permanent residence, enhance minds and bodies, preserve and upload minds, then extend intelligence through matter toward cosmic scales and the creat","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-3","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-3","sourceUrls":["https://terasemjournals.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/awaken-the-universe-pvn-pvn-edit-j-edit1.pdf"]}]},{"segmentId":"s011","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s011","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s011","sourceHash":"4487ccc3d77703cd","translationHash":"4487ccc3d77703cd","excerpt":"In 2010, James Hughes interpreted the Order as a form of naturalistic cosmotheology: godlike beings might emerge through the development of intelligence within nature rather than exist outside it. His account also discusses the Order’s spec","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-4","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-4","sourceUrls":["https://ieet.org/archive/articles/hughes20100114.html"]}]},{"segmentId":"s012","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s012","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s012","sourceHash":"2361f9d70c323c54","translationHash":"2361f9d70c323c54","excerpt":"Virtual worlds as meeting places","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s013","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s013","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s013","sourceHash":"f092166834013f60","translationHash":"f092166834013f60","excerpt":"Virtual worlds served a more immediate purpose. Bainbridge’s historical account describes participants at the Silvermoon meeting represented by Horde avatars. 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His 2019 study discusses Van Nedervelde’s existen","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-5","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-5","sourceUrls":["https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/87/1/57/5144944"]}]},{"segmentId":"s016","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s016","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s016","sourceHash":"d61227ed78dc805c","translationHash":"d61227ed78dc805c","excerpt":"In his 2019 account, Bainbridge describes the Order as effectively succeeded by Turing Church around 2010. Prisco’s 2023 recollection likewise treats OCE as a past undertaking and recalls organizing its World of Warcraft opening with Bainbr","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}],"sourceReferences":[{"referenceId":"ref-6","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-6","sourceUrls":["https://wrldrels.org/2019/08/03/turing-church/"]},{"referenceId":"ref-7","referenceUrl":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/#ref-7","sourceUrls":["https://www.turingchurch.com/p/remembering-the-first-scientific"]}]},{"segmentId":"s017","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s017","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s017","sourceHash":"2fa97693b70fa87b","translationHash":"2fa97693b70fa87b","excerpt":"See also","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s018","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s018","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s018","sourceHash":"f7dcc2c4610c6a2f","translationHash":"f7dcc2c4610c6a2f","excerpt":"Historical precursors to AI-mediated religion Turing Church Terasem","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s019","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s019","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s019","sourceHash":"69824d3b0e70ca6a","translationHash":"69824d3b0e70ca6a","excerpt":"References","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]},{"segmentId":"s020","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s020","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s020","sourceHash":"57014d5724df78ae","translationHash":"57014d5724df78ae","excerpt":"Giulio Prisco, Silvermoon Meeting: Launch of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in World of Warcraft, Extropy mailing list (15 June 2008) Giulio Prisco, Le visioni cosmiche del transumanismo forte, Associazione Italiana Transumanisti (3 May 2009","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2008-June/044060.html"},{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://www.transumanisti.it/9_articolo.asp?id=11&nomeCat=Testimonianze"},{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://terasemjournals.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/awaken-the-universe-pvn-pvn-edit-j-edit1.pdf"},{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://ieet.org/archive/articles/hughes20100114.html"},{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/87/1/57/5144944"},{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://wrldrels.org/2019/08/03/turing-church/"},{"kind":"external-source","target":"https://www.turingchurch.com/p/remembering-the-first-scientific"}]},{"segmentId":"s021","claimId":"hp:institutions:order-of-cosmic-engineers:s021","anchor":"claim-hp-institutions-order-of-cosmic-engineers-s021","sourceHash":"9b0fd3f58520926e","translationHash":"9b0fd3f58520926e","excerpt":"Founders’ publications and participant accounts supply most of the institutional history. Scholarly analysis provides context, not a complete organizational archive. The sources do not establish membership totals, a formal dissolution or le","sourcePointers":[{"kind":"editorial-record","target":"https://hieropedia.org/institutions/order-of-cosmic-engineers/editorial-notes/"}]}]}