[extropy-chat] Dr. James Hughes responds to Harvey Newstrom

Natasha Vita-More natasha at natasha.cc
Wed Jun 9 15:13:29 UTC 2004


At 10:49 PM 6/8/04 -0700, starman2100 at cableone.net wrote:

>Harvey repeatedly tried to get us to disavow the Transhumanist FAQ because 
>Natasha was annoyed it didn't in her view
>give enough credit to Max and herself. Then she put up her own 
>"Transhumanist FAQ" which barely even mentions the WTA
>in passing. We repeatedly debated and voted down disavowing our 
>Transhumanist FAQ.

I really do not want to be part of this discussion personally, and 
professional it is misplaced.  However, since I have been brought into it, 
I will respond specifically to mention of myself and not to any other 
claims or statements.

It's a long story and no one can attempt to put it down in a few sentences 
by blaming someone(s) because when you have a FAQ and it is rewritten over 
and over again, things gets confused, rewritten, deleted from and added 
to.  What I objected to many years ago and which took many years to be 
heard was the lack of attention to FM-2030 and his hard work and efforts in 
his visionary view of the "transhuman," not using Max More's definition of 
transhumanism and writing about Max as a college student rather than a PhD, 
etc., using the phrase "libertarian" in describing ExI and 
"extropians,"  not mentioning Transhumanist Art and its statement, and 
generally making transhumanism a movement that started with WTA, rather 
than back in the 1980s, which is the truth and should be recognized because 
it is a fascinating story.

There are several Transhumanist FAQs.  In fact, I purchased the domain 
"Transhumansitfaq" which I designed a while ago, I have yet to put it up 
because I was hoping that all transhumanist organizations could contribute 
to it so that it is a fullly realized website. However, Alex Bokow started 
the Transhumanist FAQ and Anders Sandberg has a Transhumanist FAQ, 
Transhumanist Arts & Culture has a Transhumanist FAQ, etc.  ExI's 
Transhumanist FAQ is another Transhumanist FAQ.  Since ExI's "Journal of 
Transhumanist Thought" was the first use of "transhumanist," it seemed 
plausible that ExI should have a "Transhumanist FAQ."

The Transhumanist FAQ that we did many years ago was on the transhuman 
mailing list and Alex says it is "open" source as long as it is credited 
(he has the information that he wants people to use.)  The authors of this 
FAQ were several to many.  The FAQ stemmed, I believe, from the 
Transhumanist Principles which are still on the web and which Alex "Sasha' 
Chislenko put together from some of us to many of us working on it.

It was never the property of WTA.  When Nick started WTA I think he used 
these items and they were rewritten over the years.  So, I suppose it all 
boils down to Alex, Sasha, Anders and the rest of us.

Frankly, I don't care who has it or uses it.  I just care that it be 
authentic and reliable for the public.  This cannot be realized if there is 
anger and name calling because it tarnishes the very essence of the two 
pieces of work - the FAQ and the Principles.

That's pretty much it, other than we are working to have a 
Trans-Cooperative "Colloquium" with all transhumanist organizations and 
groups to try to resolve the conflicts and develop a better way of working 
together.

I am concerned that James wants to disassociate WTA's affiliation with ExI.

Take care,

Natasha


Natasha Vita-More
http://www.natasha.cc
----------
President, Extropy Institute  http://www.extropy.org
Founder, Transhumanist Arts & Culture  http://www.transhumanist.biz
http://www.transhuman.org
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