[extropy-chat] Article: Who would not seize the chance to live to be 150?

[Dirk Bruere]

On 2/9/06, Neil H. <neuronexmachina at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Another article mentioning transhumanism, this time from the Financial
> Times. I've quoted a bit below:
>
> http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8230ef1a-9847-11da-816b-0000779e2340.html
>
> But equally significant are the ripples of interest that Mr de Grey is
> generating outside the scientific community. He has rapidly emerged as the
> British figurehead of a new political movement, which has steadily been
> gaining ground on both sides of the Atlantic. This movement is known as
> transhumanism, and its central belief is that advances in science and
> technology will liberate us from the constraints of illness and ageing and
> enable us to live longer, healthier lives.
>
> In its more modest form, trans­humanism advocates the embrace of new
> technologies, such as smart drugs, cosmetic surgery and gene therapy, which
> can enhance our physical and mental capabilities and make us "better than
> well". At the more radical end of the spectrum, you find futurists such as
> Ray Kurzweil, whose recent book *The Singularity is Near*, argues that:
> "Ultimately we will merge with our technology . . . By the mid 2040s, the
> non-biological portion of our intelligence will be billions of times more
> capable than the biological portion."
>
> Such predictions have provoked a fierce reaction, both from religious and
> cultural conservatives, who see trans­humanism as an assault on human
> nature, and from the liberal left, which sounds alarm bells about the
> implications for equality and human rights. Francis Fukuyama, the US
> academic, has described transhumanism as "the world's most dangerous idea".
> ...
>
> The big question is who will bring human enhancement and life extension
> into the mainstream. Politicians and business leaders, who are already
> struggling to cope with rising pensions and healthcare costs, may be
> understandably reluctant to speculate about a world in which we all live
> (and work?) well into our second century.
>

I caught the tail end of a fairly serious  BBC Radio 4 prog a few days ago
(Start the Week) where life extension technology, as a term, was casually
thrown out by one (non transhumanist) speaker. Interestingly, the only
comment elicited concened access to such technology. It looks like aspects
of Transhumanism are moving beyond the 'is it possible' to 'what happens
when' amongst the educated general public.

Dirk
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