[extropy-chat] Nano: Distancing itself from Transhumanism

[natashavita at earthlink.net]

"MELDING OF NANO, BIO, INFO AND COGNO OPENS NEW LEGAL HORIZONS" 
By Jack Mason, Small Times Correspondent 

A small quote that caught my eye:

"Such prognostications are currently more speculation than science. Indeed,
during a panel on legal and ethical issues, Roco jumped to his feet to
distance the NBIC mission from any connection to the 'transhumanist'
philosophy that supports overcoming biological limitations through
technology. While some of the vision for NBIC may bleed over into a fringe
interested in "posthuman" civilization, talk of cyborgs and mutants is
presumably not good for winning support and funding for sober science. 

"In fact, Roco emphasized that upgrading human beings and culture over the
next two decades through interdisciplinary science must be done in a way
"that respects human dignity." How that idea gets parsed as the debate
moves ahead remains an open question."

Does anyone know Jason Mason or Zack Lynch, executive director of the
Neurosociety Institute?

I think the issue here is the misinformation that transhumanist are not
proponents of "human dignity."  We need to deal with this type of erroneous
view.  Where did it start?  This type of misinformation is similar to other
things said about "extropians" over the years which was not true, and today
is being said about "transhumanists" which is not true.  I'm afraid that
all transhumanists are going to have to work together in the coming years,
rather than pointing a figure at any one organization for being the culprit.

As I said years ago, and continue to state, the most productive way to deal
with gossip and bad press, from outside transhumanism and *also* inside
transhumanism is to set the record straight.  ExI got some disingenuous bad
press from insider political positioning a few years ago, which took time
to eradicate.  It does us little, if any, good to hack away at our
community by making public statements that affect *all of us.*  

The underlying values of transhumanism is based on "human dignity," thus
the concept of transhumanism. It is because of our dignity and respect for
our humanity that we become transhumanists.  Transhumanism is a next step
toward improving the "human condition."

We need more papers, more talks, more articles about why human dignity is
essential for our future and how this can be applied to the transhumanist
worldview.

Natasha



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