[extropy-chat] Politics

[Samantha Atkins]

On Dec 27, 2005, at 7:10 PM, Harvey Newstrom wrote:

>
> On Dec 27, 2005, at 8:29 PM, Joseph Bloch wrote:
>
>> I should point out, however, that there is a caveat to my neat and  
>> (to me, anyway) obvious categorization. There are individuals for  
>> whom Transhumanism is only a means to a particular political end,  
>> rather than having PostHumanity as the end in and of itself. That  
>> is, some seem to see Transhumanism as merely the best way to  
>> achieve global Democratic Socialism, or the only way that an  
>> Anarcho-Capitalist society will come about, and thus they focus on  
>> the ideological goal, rather than focusing on the (post-?) 
>> biological goal. Such individuals will continue to pursue their  
>> ideological goals, and their discussions (and, I daresay,  
>> activities) will slant accordingly. Alas.
>
> This last caveat describes virtually every politically-oriented  
> transhumanist I know.  Only those who avoid politics like the  
> plague, or those who keep insisting that transhumanism transcends  
> left-right politics, seem to be really interested in transhumanism  
> itself.

That seems to be an unneeded dichotomy.   Many seem to believe that  
only political structure X is likely to enable us to reach >human  
goals.   Others believe that reaching >human goals alone is not  
sufficient for a future they would wish to inhabit.   Personally I  
agree that left-right politics are meaningless.  I think that only a  
political situation that preserves significant individual freedom  
beyond the rule of even the majority gives our only real hope of the  
outliers being free to act.  Without that I do not believe humanity  
will get to a significantly >human future.   But I don't have a pre- 
ordained political outcome that I simply use transhumanism to advance  
even though I am a devoted libertarian.

- samantha