[extropy-chat] Article on Transhumanism / Posthumanism / Extropy in Free Inquiry magazine

[Matus]

Not sure if this was posted yet, but I don't see it.

The issue of Free Inquiry that came in my mail today featured on its
cover 'Upgrading Humanity: Are People Obsolete?'  This is usual a pretty
good magazine IMHO but I have been more disappointed with it recently.
It is edited by Paul Kurtz, of Skeptical Inquirer fame I believe, and
features frequent articles by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens
among others.  There website is here http://www.secularhumanism.org/
although the article is not available online.  The Author starts by
quoting Nick Bostrom and suggests that by bettering oneself (e.g. seeing
ultra-violet, having perfect picth, etc) that one might no longer be
considered 'human'.  It goes on to mention/quote Kass, McKibbin, and
Joy.  Mentions specifically the Extropy Institute, BetterHUmans, and the
World Transhumanist Association as "a motley crew of serious academics,
journalists, and scientists, cyber self help gurus, nanotech venture
capitalists, polyamorists and gender-benders, cryonics freaks, and
artificial intelligence geeks".  I presume 'freaks' was added to merely
rhyme with 'geeks'  It goes on to childishly imply that Max More
changing his name was an example of the 'sheer goofiness that organized
transhumanism has attracted', skims the surface of the debate of what it
means to be human, points out the false dichotomy presented by the
opposing 'idealogical camps now squaring off' making its strongest point
with "The hard task for transhumanists, then, is the one they haven't
yet taken head-on: making a positive and widely appealing moral case for
their particular vision of the excellent person and the good society"
and "neither should anyone settle for Max More's [answer]: It is not
enough to say that humans should go for more of whatever they go for.
We need to know precisely what we should want more of and why"  

This is the height of absurdity and one of the reasons I continue to
dislike this magazine more and more.  I don't know him, but I would
place a good bet that Max knows why he goes after what he goes after and
doesn't need to justify it to anyone else.  The FI writers pretend to be
ethical columnists more frequently yet are basically moral relativists
disguised as 'free thinking skeptics'  Dissapointing of the skeptic
community, since Shermers rather objective account of the Extropy
institute in a short blurb many years ago in 'Skeptic' is what got me
interested in the group in the first place.  As if transhumanists /
extropians have to prove the moral right of their self ownership instead
of everyone else proving their moral right to tell transhumanists /
extropians how long they get to live.  Not once is the suggestion ever
remotely made that being human is being what we want to be for whatever
reason we might want to, instead we have to know *why* we want something
and to prove it justified to the Mckibbins of the world.  

Additional articles included in the "Upgrading Humanity, should we
become Post-Human feature" are:

"From Regenerative Medicine to Human Design"

"Mann Vs Machine"

"Humanism for Personhood: Against Human-Racism"

I have yet to read these other articles so they may be better, the last
one upon a quick skimming looks promising, I see in it 'The
transhumanist works toward the fullest flowering of all person's
potentials, freeing them from the domination of other people, ensuring
that they are educated, housed, and fed, and that they are empowered to
control their own lives'

Regards,

Michael Dickey