[ExI] The Manifesto of Italian Transhumanists

[Bryan Bishop]

On Friday 29 February 2008, estropico wrote:
> Italy (like any other country) is unique. Part of its "uniqueness" is
> the presence of the Vatican and the power of catholic institutions.

What power? Money? They certainly don't have supercomputers, they don't 
have massive research institutions, they don't have neurofarms, the 
only power they have is lots of listeners and a widely distributed 
mental program. What does this power have to do with transhumanism?

> Is this an obstacle to the transhumanist project? Often it is
> (embryonic stem cells), sometimes it isn't (genetically modified
> crops). So, which is the best approach? I don't claim to know, but I

The religious institutions are not doing ES cell nor GMO research.

> see that all mainstream parties, on both the left and right, are
> always very cautious not to upset the "catholic vote", and I see that
> the most anti-catholic (in the political sense) parties are the small

An unfortunate distinction to make ... has little relevance to the 
research and technology issues, except perhaps funding cost, but we're 
increasingly able to do research without financial cost (more "DIY").

> ones. I also see that Italians have a healty tendency to take the
> Vatican's pronouncements with a pinch of salt. How else to explain
> Italy's birthrates (among the lowest in the world), given the Vatican
> stance on contraception? Am I the only one to think that twenty years
> from now Italians will take the same pragmatic approach to
> life-extension therapies?

- Bryan
________________________________________
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/