[extropy-chat] Raelians

[natashavita at earthlink.net]

Giulio wrote:

> Then I think that:
> The Raelians have 60.000 paying members worldwide and a lot of money.
> All transhumanist associations together have perhaps 300 paying members.
> I wonder what conclusions we should make.

Thank you for posting this Giulio.

The reasonable assumption is that the Raelians are doing something better
to obtain members than transhumanists groups.  But assumptions can be
misleading. First we need to take a look at what constitute the two groups.

The Raelians are a type of religious group, and religious groups tend to
have a higher degree of membership than intellectual organizations. 
Second, the Raelians are not split into varied smaller groups that want to
create new names and independent groups and/or compete against each other.

Let me take this point a step further: There is one Raelian group which
functions as a spiraling network aimed at developing a type of fantastic
reality. Transhumanism is devoted to developing solutions to problems by
fostering change through rationale, critical thinking, and pro-active steps.

Further, transhumanism is split into a variety of beliefs that have
separated themselves from the transhumanist core. Rather than forming
different departments of one group, individuals have created their own
organizations, logos and statements.  At the beginning it was just ExI and
Foresight who worked to share membership and ideas.  Later, WTA, IAC, etc.
came along and developed their own memberships rather than joining ExI and
Foresight.  Herein, the central core of the philosophy splintered off and
became diffused rather than embodied into a core movement.

If transhumanist organizations worked together, rather than apart, then we
would probably have a population in the thousands.  I would like to see
this happen and have encouraged it for years.  I still think we could get a
hell of a lot more accomplished by working together.

On another point there is the assumption that quantity is better than
quality.  I think that the transhumanist community has an amazing high
quality of people.  I think that each principle, from each separate
organization, has many impressive and essential qualities that are
immensely beneficial to transhumanism.

Lastly, an assumption that we must be successful *now* might not be worth
the sweat and tears.  I have spent 20 years in the field of transhumans and
transhumanism and I have seen a slow but steady progression forward.  While
it was enormously frustrating in the 1980s and 1990s to not see ideas
realized, I have come to believe that we are maturing and becoming part of
the mainstream just a little ahead of society now, and we must move outside
the "group" mentality and function within our specific areas of expertise
and do what we can independently of any one group to impress on the world
our ideas.

Being radical and introducing new concepts is exciting, but actually seeing
the concepts forming within society is rewarding.  Perhaps what we may have
to forfeit is getting our personal imprint on the ideas, but who cares in
the long run?  We are here to move the world forward, carefully yet
pro-active.

My best to all,

Natasha Vita-More
President, Extropy Institute
Founder, Transhumanist Arts & Culture
Senior Associate, Foresight Institute
Honorary Vice Chair, WTA
Editorial Advisor, Betterhumans
Member, Immortality Institute
Member, SIAI





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