[extropy-chat] Nano: Distancing itself from Transhumanism

Adrian Tymes wingcat at pacbell.net
Wed May 19 22:15:41 UTC 2004


> "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."

<sigh>  Not that he'll probably ever hear this
question, but...

"If, as seems very likely, preserving 'human
dignity' and giving people healthier, fuller lives
are incompatible goals, then wouldn't choosing on
someone else's behalf to preserve their 'dignity' at
the cost of letting them slide into Alzheimer's or
physical decrepity, and then to death, be ethically
equivalent to murdering them to preserve their
'dignity'?"

> 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?

With the mythical notion that there is any dignity in
uncured but "natural" ill health?



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