[extropy-chat] Anarcho-Transhumanism

[Brett Paatsch]

Natasha wrote:
  I just received Betterhuman's newsletter.  I can't quite get a pulse on this.  I'm not sure if it is dissing extropy because it called it "optimistic futurism"  which is actually *inaccurate.*  Extropy transhumanist philosophy supports a *rational optimism,*  as extropy is the transhumanist organization that persistently encourages "critical thinking."  

  What do you all think?

  http://www.anarcho-transhumanism.com/
I think the marketplace or meme-space of transhumanism is maturing but not evenly and ExI is one of the institutions in that space. The number of transhumanistically-inclined folk as a proportion of the population does not seem to be greatly increasing, not relative to the speed with which the technology to set up groups and newsletters has become cheaper and easier.  Transhumanism is not mainstream and does not look likely to become mainstream. But the technology, the internet, that
enables it continues. 

Whenever a new entrant comes along, whenever someone discovers they have a voice and want to say something, and the internet gives them a medium, they discover there is competition for the attention of limited numbers of people. So you get a sort of brand-"warring" where the groups or brands try to differentiate themselves to better gather the finite number of "supporters".

If a new group or a brand can encaptulate an old in a definition (especially one that the old one professes or accepts) then the new group or brand can fence in the old and claim the transcension or the rest of the free range for themselves.   This is the problem with isms. The flip side of avoiding getting caught in an ism is that if you don't stand for anything then you don't have much to offer others. 

None of this should be taken as my finding fault with Anarcho-Transhumanism. Or ExI.  Behind the brands are people with ideas. But people with ideas usually want to do something besides just talk for the sake of talking. They usually want to do something to improve the world. Either the whole world or the world as they see it. So we get politics, marketing and competition. 

I haven't thought too deeply about this and I could easily be wrong or missing something even more fundamental.


Regards,
Brett Paatsch





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