[extropy-chat] Questions About Real People

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Kristen Young <ladydisdain1984 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 1.	What first attracted you to transhumanism?

It is one of the few philosophies left that has not succumbed to
post-modernist BS and pessimist/nihilist cynicism about the future of
humanity and the potential of technological progress.

Because it is so closely wedded to the sci-fi literary genre, it imbues
the sense of hope for the future that most SF posesses, even in most
dystopian examples of 'warning fiction'. Transhumanism also is the
proper inheritor of the classical humanists, while the modern humanist
movement has devolved into anti-human and anti-future luddist nihilism.

> 2.	To you, what is transhumanism’s most important principle?

That technology, properly applied, can solve any problem, and that
technological progress follows an exponential growth curve that means
problems of a previous technological generation can be quickly fixed by
future generations.

> 3.	Do you identify with a specific branch of transhumanism?  Which?

Classical extropianism, radically anarcho-capitalist libertarianism

4.	Whose writings on transhumanism, or related principles and topics,
have most greatly influenced you?

Robert Heinlein, Vernor Vinge, David Brin, David Friedman, Damien
Broderick, Ray Kurzweil, Eliezer Yudkowski, Anders Sandberg, TO Morrow,
Robert Bradbury, Thielhard des Chardins

 5.	Do you have a religious affiliation?  If yes, which religion and
 how strongly do you adhere to it?  If no, were you formerly?  If you
were formerly religious, what caused you to change?

Raised Roman Catholic. Gotten away from it as it doesn't seem to be
able to keep up with the times, and it treats its people too
condescendingly. More of an agnostic these days, though the
"Emmanetization of the Eschaton" theology of Fr. Thielhard des Chardins
does strike a chord as a very transhumanist oriented theology, and the
"Simulation Argument" theories of Nick Bostrom and Robin Hanson build
on a rougly deist view of the universe.

> 6.	What sort of impact does transhumanism have on your daily life? 
> Your life in general?

Seeing how important the next few decades are going to be for the
individual liberties that will be needed to keep the transhumanist
future from becoming dystopian, and the fact that truly free places in
the world are currently nearly non-existent, I've become dedicated to
helping the Free State Project become successful in making New
Hampshire into a truly Free State, where transhuman technologies can be
developed free of government repression.


=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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