[extropy-chat] Fwd: SURVIVAL: An impulse behind transhumanism?

[Samantha Atkins]

On Jul 3, 2006, at 12:45 PM, nvitamore at austin.rr.com wrote:

>
> From: Samantha Atkins sjatkins at mac.com
>
>> Mere survival does not say much about the development of
>> transhumanism or most ideologies.  Humans in large numbers have
>> sacrificed even survival to their ideologies.
>
> For these people, survival means their ideology survives, not  
> themselves.
> Survival does have a different impacts and meanings and is not  
> necessarily
> synonymous with overcoming physical death.  For many the body is  
> just a
> vehicle and the spirit survives the body.

You seem to be working hard for the survival as defining impulse  
behind transhumanism to survive.  :-)  Having a vision of what is  
possible in one's art, work, world etc. that becomes by choice the  
meaning of one's life is one view on the multi-varied purposes and  
impulses that drive us.   Saying that having such a purpose is still  
just survival seems to me to miss much too much.

>
>> So it seems clear that
>> 'survival' is a poor candidate by itself.  It also leaves open a
>> question or two such as "survival as what and on what terms"?
>
> For transhumanists survival is based on the motivation to overcome  
> death.
>

For most transhumanists I know much more than merely overcoming their  
personal death is at stake and drives their being  transhumanist.

>> If we say transhumanism is about survival others will cry out that  
>> their
>> survival as themselves and the survival of what they care most about
>> requires them to utterly oppose us.
>
> I don’t think transhumanism is interested in interfering with other's
> beliefs as long as those beliefs do not impinge on transhumanism.

My point there is that mere survival is not very motivating to a lot  
of people (including transhumanists) without much more being said  
about the shape that survival will/may likely take.    Would I say  
choose survival in some virtual hell realm?   No, I would not.

- samantha