[extropy-chat] Humanity 2.0

[Dirk Bruere]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charlie Stross" <charlie at antipope.org>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Humanity 2.0


>
> On 30 Nov 2003, at 16:36, Greg Burch wrote:
>
> > How to write an article about transhumanism for the mainstream press:
> >
> > 1.  Attend a WTA or ExI meeting.
> > 2.  Make note of how geeky the attendees are, especially that most of
> > them are young, male, lack tans and seem to be socially maladroit.
> > 3.  Mention Eric Drexler and Hans Moravec.
>
> [ snip rest of accurate list ]
>
> Well, y'know, they used to act the same way towards members of the
> British Interplanetary Society in the 1930's and 1940's. Or to Verner
> Von Braun's pals (before the Wehrmacht got involved). And presumably
> the original home computing clubs came in for the same treatment.
> Transhumanism is, if anything, a hell of a lot bigger than any of the
> above -- and it raises profound questions once you get beyond the
> initial reaction.
>
> There are really important legitimate concerns that will occur to the
> public as transhumanism becomes an item on the political agenda, and
> they need to be addressed urgently; for example, is transhumanism
> compatible with democracy, or even with the Enlightenment thesis that
> humans are of equivalent worth before the law? Yes, these are indeed
> being addressed in the internal political debates on this list -- but
> as long as the debates hinge around minutiae of libertarian doctrine
> they're going to talk right past those people who aren't interested in
> libertarianism (but who have the ability to yell at their
> representatives to pass legislation). I fear that when transhumanism
> goes public, the actual transhumanist movement is doomed to be
> marginalized (at best) or persecuted (at worst), because the mainstream
> public will look at it in a very different light.
>
> This happened in the 1990's when the internet reacted public
> consciousness. I was there. I saw what happened. The initial ignorance
> and pigeonholing wasn't pretty, and neither were the consequences.
> (Great Firewall of China, RIAA/MPAA persecution of people who use file
> sharing tools, mad copyright absolutists in the driving seat,
> government attempts to monitor everything ... and that's just
> scratching the surface.)
>
> Here's a clue: we need good propaganda, and we need it fast. The
> difference between propaganda and press coverage being that propaganda
> is made, while press coverage is forced upon you.


Well, you nerds and misfits have done a good job but Transhumanism is now
too important to be left to people like you. This is now a serious matter
for the political, military and intellectual elite, so kindly take yourself
off to some other loony fad please while your betters (who actually know
about the real world) take it from your amateurish hands now that you are
out of your depth.

There - I've written the epitath for any major technological innovation, and
Transhumanism will be the biggest so far.

Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millennium
http://www.theconsensus.org