[extropy-chat] Extropy Institute "Exponent" Newsletter
Extropy Institute
exi-info at extropy.org
Sun Nov 16 15:18:55 UTC 2003
Extropy Institute Newsletter
Bigger than democracy? (11.15.03)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extropes
We transhumanists have been accused of many things -
outlandish, selfish, wealthy, brainy, dreamers, radical -
you name it. Some transhumanists may have
responded to this by looking for an idea that's almost
universally popular and then trying to attach
transhumanism to it. In this issue, Max More -
philosopher of transhumanism, and now frequent author
of business innovations - takes a sharp look at the
what's wrong with the term "democratic
transhumanism" in his essay, "Democracy and
Transhumanism".
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Gregory Stock,
biotechnology's spokesperson, to our Council of
Advisors. Greg has been a long-time friend of ExI and
now a welcomed advisor. We are also very excited
about the addition of Pamela Lifton-Zoline, science
fiction writer, painter, and co-founder of the Telluride
Institute, a far-reaching organization whose
conferences have featured such fascinating figures as
John Cage, John Naisbitt, and Laurie Anderson.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue: "Democracy and Transhumanism"; New Council of Advisors Members; Thought Leader Futurist Summit; Brian Alexander's New book - RAPTURE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Transhumanist Thought Leader Virtual Summit
* Democracy and Transhumanism, by Max More
* What Does Democracy Mean and Why Value It?
* New Council of Advisors Members:
* RAPTURE: How Biotech Became the New Religion
Transhumanist Thought Leader Virtual Summit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ExI's Summit is scheduled for January, 2004. The
virtual meeting will include some of the global futurist
organizations and groups to discuss transhumanist
ideas. Our goal is to develop a fluid communication with
other organizations to show and tell what we are
doing, when we are doing it, and how we can better
communicate with each other on similar projects. Some
suggested organizations to attend:
Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Betterhumans,
De:Trans, Foresight Institute, CRN, The Long Now
Institute, ExtroBritannia, Singularity Institute,
Santa Fe Institute, Telluride Institute, Transhumanist
Arts & Culture, Kurzweil AI.net, Adaptive AI, Inc.,
World Future Society, World Transhumanist
Association, Immortalist Institute, TransVio, NEXUS,
and others.
A formal invitation is schedule to go out in late
November. If you are an organization or a group and
you do not receive one, PLEASE contact us and give
us
your contact information.
ExI's Summit is an inclusive event and all futurist
organizations, businesses and groups that have a
transhumanist perspective on life are welcome!
Democracy and Transhumanism, by Max More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are transhumanists democrats? Should they be
committed to and defined by democracy? Let's go back
to the seventeenth century. Monarchy is the prevailing
system in the Western world. Suppose a group of
progressive early humanists wanted to associate their
views about the status of human beings - views radical
for the time - with the best political orders of the time.
They might declare that "modern 17th Century
humanism is a constitutional monarchist philosophy".
Such a statement would show that they reject
outdated forms of unlimited monarchy or theocracy.
We would find such a quickly-dated commitment
amusing today. "What does humanism have to do, in
essence, with constitutional monarchy?" we might ask.
Humanism asserts the value of progress. Tying it to the
political system of the time - even though the system
was the best of the time - would confuse ends (human
dignity, personal sovereignty, and so on) with a means.
Transhumanist organizations that declare themselves
to be "democratic transhumanists" make an even
bigger mistake. Transhumanist perspectives look
further ahead, into much more drastic change to the
human condition. To identify transhumanism with any
current political system must appear short-sighted and
blinkered to some. To others it may simply appear to
be a transparent attempt at posturing - like telling
Americans that transhumanism is all about "motherhood
and apple pie" or telling Europeans that transhumanism
is committed to universal, government-provided health
care.
A transhumanist organization should no more describe
its core commitments as "democratic" than it should
describe itself as an "Internet organization" when in
practice and in aspiration the organization interacts by
means of any effective medium of communication.
Democracy and Transhumanism Essay >> http://www.extropy.org/politicaltheory.htm
What Does Democracy Mean and Why Value It?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the broad sense, democracy means "rule of the
people, by the people, for the people".
In a second sense, democracy is used to mean an
(almost) universal right to vote on issues and/or
representatives. Sometimes direct democracy is seen
as "more democratic" than representative democracy.
In a third, very common sense, democracy is taken to
refer to some combination of the voting procedures (as
in the second sense) and the particular political and
legal procedures of the speaker's country. In the case
of the USA, those procedures are mainly constitutional
protections of individual freedoms embodied in the Bill of
Rights and the Constitution. In the case of Great
Britain, arguably such a constitutionally-limited republic
exists in a largely unwritten form (the Magna Carta
being the main written document).
How well do any of these meanings relate to the
philosophies of transhumanism? The first and broadest
sense of "democracy" is intended to eliminate in
principle the rule of "the people" by an oligarch. In
practice, many of the actual people do not get to vote
(prisoners, tax-paying permanent residents who are not
citizens). Those that do may not possess sufficient
knowledge or motivation to vote. Those who do vote
may not enjoy any choices of candidate, position, or
package of policies that represents their preferences.
The complicated working of real democracies - and the
vast involvement of government in commercial
activities - means that a small percentage of the
people actually wields most of the influence.
The second sense has only a tenuous connection to
transhumanist values of self-determination, self-
transformation, and progress. An unlimited democracy
can be tyrannize large segments of the population. It
should be remembered that Adolph Hitler was
democratically elected. Universal suffrage has little to
do with freedom or other values dear to
transhumanists, especially when voting costs nothing
to the voter and requires no knowledge. As the great
English jurist, Lord Acton said:
"It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse
to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve
of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into
play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the
absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no
redemption, no refuge [ ]"
Only in some instances of the third sense of the term
do we find a firmer relation to transhumanism. A
constitutionally-limited republic that succeeds in
protecting liberty and responsibility upholds a legal
order with two essential features:
First, its public officials are responsible in that their
official actions are open to public scrutiny and
unrestricted criticism, and their official tenure may be
terminated by those governed by manageable
procedures such as popular election or the vote of a
legislative majority.
Second, its criminal law is limited to prohibiting matters
of fraud, theft, and assault. The law and public policy
enhances rather than reduces the freedom of the
people.
The value of democracy in its constitutionally-limited
sense lies in its attempt to recognize the sovereignty of
the individual - legitimate government requires the
consent of the governed - and in its intent to limit the
opportunities for abuse of centralized authority.
Democracy is or should be a method for running
government with the aim of creating and enforcing a
system of laws that protect the liberty of citizens.
Democratic arrangements are purely a means to
achieving the end of protecting individual liberty. A
benevolent despot might achieve the same end -
perhaps even more effectively and at less
inconvenience - without democratic procedures. It
would be dogmatic to insist that democracy is the only
way or the best way for all societies in all places at all
times to protect their individual sovereignty. [Continue
to the link -]
CONTINUE: To read more of Max More's essay: >> http://www.extropy.org/politicaltheory.htm
New Council of Advisors Members:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gregory Stock
and Pamela Lifton-Zoline
Council of Advisors >> http://www.extropy.org/directors.htm
RAPTURE: How Biotech Became the New Religion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
___Brian, how did you become so interested in biotech?
___BA: Hmmm... Well, I've always been interested in
biology -- it was the only science subject I ever did
well in high school or college. I was an English
literature major and political science major in college
and it may seem as though writing about biotech is an
odd area for me to work in. But my overarching interest
has always been the culture, and to me biotech is
most certainly a real cultural phenomenon. It is literally
changing the way we regard our futures, our religions,
the natural world, and ourselves. So for me, this is a
perfectly natural realm to work in. Professionally, I
first became interested in biotech in 1994, just as the
book opens with the second A4M conference in Las
Vegas. It really started with a question, which was,
what is the real science behind any of this? And if
there was any real science, wow.
___: . In your opinion, does transhumanity have a
particular political line of thinking that is evident in the
underlying values of transhumanists?
?
___BA: I do recognize that within transhumanism, and
even within extropy, there may be a wide variety of
views on political philosophy. Just have a look at the
past year on the extrope discussion group! This is a
very important question for transhumanists. (More on
this in answer to later questions.)
___? If you could separate out one element that keeps
people from rushing to support transhumanity and
donating money to Extropy Institute to further its
goals, what would that be?
___BA: Just one? That's tough. Everything from people
just not having the money to thinking that the money
is better used for other causes, but if I had to pick just
one, I would say that it is a lack of the overarching
vision of what transhumanity means in the near term,
as opposed to the far future vision. Getting people to
support a cause aiming to do something they can take
part in the next five years is much easier than getting
them to support a cause that looks ahead 100 years.
Aubrey's Methuselah mouse is a good example. other
institutions are trying to do the same thing, but they
place the work in a framework of understanding the
diseases of aging. That's something more concrete
that everybody can relate to as opposed to saying you
want to engineer a super-long-lived mouse for the sake
of making a super long-lived mouse.
___? How did writing _Rapture_ change your mind
about transhumanists?
___BA: well, it didn't really. I've always liked
transhumanists, and enjoy spending time with them,
though I am not a "transhumanist" per se and I
disagree with a fair number of the predictions and
with some -- not all by any means -- of the attitudes
expressed by some transhumanists. A TV interviewer
asked me the other day if I didn't "feel sorry" for life
extensionists. I said no, that life extensionists -- and
I would say the same about transhumanism in general -
- are actually being more honest than many of us
about that they want. I admire people who can be
unabashed about their desires. Nobody, at least not
anybody in good physical and psychological health,
wants to die. But saying so, or saying you'd like to be
smarter, or improve your body in some fundamental
way, is considered strange by many people because it
seems so impossible, and so wanting the impossible can
be seen as something odd or even pathetic. Well, I
don't think it is impossible in the very long term, and I
think these are some of the most basic of human
desires, expressed for thousands of years.
Improvement is the driving force behind much of
human culture. It's who were are. now, one
person's "improvement" is another person's
danger, but the point is, we all want "better." Now, I
will say that I always thought the
transhumanist vision works better as a concept or an
idea (hence the subtitle of the book) than as a
practical path. That did not change with the book.
My research only confirmed my view. Transhumanism
seems to me to be about propagating the idea that it's
okay to favor change. The idea of transhumanism
being "about" cryonics, or the singularity or merger
with computers, or space colonization or germline
engineering is, in my view, a mistake. I've always
thought that man himself is "transhumanist" and has
been throughout history, as I try to show in "rapture."
we all want to rise above our current station, whether
that is in a spiritual, cultural, physical, mental sense
doesn't matter. We've always evolved. We've always
been "trans."
___? What do you think is the most urgent issue to
contend with regarding Leon Kass and the anti-
biotechnology swarm?
___ BA: Leon Kass is only one incarnation of anti-
biotech, which is really
about anti human improvement. My reading of
the "bio-Luddite'" (as I call
it in "Rapture") philosophy is that they believe
that "human" cannot be
improved upon.
I say that humans have always tried to improve upon
themselves and
that this is, in fact, human nature. Dr. Kass is
expressing a view that
has always been expressed about science and man's
place in the natural
world. Most famously, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is
just such a warning,
but there have been such warnings about defying the
natural order
forever. I think the most important thing to contend
with is the idea
that enhancement technology will, by its very nature,
be de-humanizing.
Sometimes it might be, sometimes not. Personally, I
think it is important
to keep an open mind. I might add that this is why
Dr.
Kass and others
use transhumanism, and the longing for some to have
a "post-human"
future, against biotech as a whole. Rhetoric
about "post-humanity"
doesn't really do anybody any good. First, I think it's
incorrect. We
will always be human. Second, it makes people think
that, say tomorrow, alien-like augmented species who
used to be people
will walk the earth. That won't happen but it makes for
a great sound
bite, a good headline, a scary scenario.
___? Do you think that transhumanism is more
scientific
than it is
cultural? In other words, do you think that we should
emphasize science or culture in
order to prosper and elicit positive memes about
transhumanism?
___ BA: I think you ought to give MORE emphasis on
the cultural than the
science. I know transhumanists will disagree
with me here, but much of the science upon which
the movements seem based
is not only not yet ready for prime time, it may never
be ready. Let the
science takes care of itself. The minds of people are
what really count. I
think transhumanists have done a generally poor job
of addressing fears,
concerns, apprehensions of the general public about
how biotech will
affect people. There's a tendency to look down on
such fears with disdain.
But when Leon Kass and Francis Fukuyama and
others
appeal to fears,
they talk about culture, society, religion, art, and
human relations. People
understand these things. This is what "Rapture" is
about, really, the
culture. The science places it in context but it is not,
at heart, a
science book. It's about hope.
So if I were a transhumanist who wanted to make a
difference, I'd
research issues like population, resources,
environment, social justice,
human rights, art and the ways these will or will not
be affected. When I
give talks, these are the questions people are most
interested in.
___ ? Do you think Extropy Institute has succeeded in
memetic engineering of "transhumanism? "
___ BA: Yes, but I do think transhumanism is now
becoming bigger than Extropy
or any one organization. I think this is a measure of
Extropy's success,
but also may mean that in the future extropy comes
to be less and less
important as the spawn swim on their own. As
science catches up to Extropy's ideas, the ideas will
spread outward
into the general public, as "rapture" shows they
already have, and the
need for an organization like extropy will pass
completely.
And by the way, let me say that I have always
admired the very grown
up way Natasha and Max and a few others have dealt
with some of the snarkier
writing about extropy and transhumanism, including
some by me about
certain elements of transhumanism. (In a wired story
I
referred to
extropians as "enthusiastic amateurs" and that pissed
some people off so
much that they couldn't see that the story was
about
how some of the
ideas were being accepted by mainstream science
and that extropes were
not as kooky as some might think.) That can be
tough
to do. but by
putting yourselves out there, by taking the good with
the bad, you do get
some of the message through.
___? Looking back, is there anything you feel you left
out of your book that
you would now expand upon?
___BA: If I thought anybody would read it, I would
have liked to make the
book about another 100 pages! essentially I would
have gone into more
detail about some of the things that are already in
the book. I would
have liked to have done more with how biotech
actually works. I mean how
drugs are made by engineering cells to produce
human
proteins. I would
have liked to have spent more time with Wally
Steinberg, a truly
fascinating character, or Deeda Blair. I would have
liked to gone into
much more detail about regeneration science (but
look for that appearing
somewhere soon).
To purchase Brian Alexander's book >> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738207616/qid=1068592900/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-1194620-0696645?v=glance&s=books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join Now! >> http://www.extropy.org/membership.htm
Directors, Council of Advisors, and Executive Advisory Team >> http://www.extropy.org/directors.htm
Max More's "Liberty and Responsibility" >> http://www.maxmore.com/libresp.htm
Best Business Analysis on the Web! >> http://www.manyworlds.com://
Brian Alexander's New Book! Rapture - How Biotech Became The New Religion >> http://www.amazon.com
More About Us >> http://www.extropy.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: natasha at natasha.cc
voice: Natasha Vita-More, President (512.263.2749)
web: http://www.extropy.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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