[ExI] Human Futures: Comment to the Global Spiral!

[Natasha Vita-More]

Help us get the discussion going!  
Comment on the papers and help us get this human futures' discussion/debate
going!  http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/
 
The Global Spiral's current issue is up and awaiting comments from readers
http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/  
 
For those of you who are not aware of The Global Spiral, I'll briefly
explain:  Last June, 6 well-known thinkers wrote about issues of human
enhancement technologies, uploads, the Singularity, posthumans, etc. through
the lends of t <http://metanexus.net/magazine> ranshumanism.
<http://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Default.aspx?PageContentID=27&TabId=126>
Global Spiral, June 2008 (Volume 9, Issue 3) - Special Issue on
Transhumanism .  It is the first of its kind.  The authors were Hava
Tirosh-Samuelson, Ted Peters, Katherine Hayles, Don Ihde, Jean-Pierre Dupuy,
and Andrew Pickering (see below).
 
The problem was that most of the papers were negative about human futures,
and all made assumptive claims that were far from accurate. In response to
the claims, 10 papers were submitted to counter their poorly researched
claims.  
 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10546/Default.aspx>   

The papers in this Responsive are:

 

" <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10685/Default.aspx> True
Transhumanism" by Max More, Ph.D.

" <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10681/Default.aspx> Trite
Truths About Technology: A Reply to Ted Peters" by Russell Blackford, Ph.D.

" <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10687/Default.aspx> In
Defense of Posthuman Dignity" by Nick Bostrom, Ph.D. 

 " <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10688/Default.aspx> Aubrey
de Grey's Declaration, Endorsed by 15 Prestigious Biomedical Experts" by
Aubrey de Grey, PhD.

" <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10689/Default.aspx>
Reproductive Choices: The Glorious Landscape of Assisted Reproductive
Technology" by Amara Graps, Ph.D.

" <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10683/Default.aspx>
Bringing Arts/Sciences and Design Into the Discussion of Transhumanism" by
Natasha Vita-More, PhD. candidate

 " <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10691/Default.aspx>
Transhumanism: Threat or Menace?  A Response to Andrew Pickering" by Michael
LaTorra

 " <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10684/Default.aspx> From
Mind Loading to Mind Cloning - Gene to Meme to Beme:  A Perspective on the
Nature of Humanity" by Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.

 " <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10686/Default.aspx>
Conceptualizing Future Identities" by Sky Marsen, Ph.D.

" <http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10682/Default.aspx> Ship of
Fools: Why Transhumanism is the Best Bet to Prevent the Extinction of
Civilization" by Mark Walker, Ph.D. 


The original papers we responded to are:

 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10547/Default.aspx> Engaging
Transhumanism: The Meaning of Being Human
by Hava Tirosh-Samuelson - "If one accepts that transhumanism is more than
an ideology, indeed a philosophy, one must look carefully at its
understanding of the human, of biology, and of the relationship between
technology and culture."
<http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10547/Default.aspx> more

 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10552/Default.aspx> Of Which
Human Are We Post?
by Don Ihde - "...[O]nly if humans are stupid enough to end up worshiping
the very idols they create, could the fantasized replacement of humans by
machines take place."
<http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10552/Default.aspx> more

 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10544/Default.aspx> Cybernetics
Is An Antihumanism
by Jean-Pierre Dupuy - "For there is no science that does not rest on a
metaphysics, though typically it remains concealed. It is the responsibility
of the philosopher to uncover this metaphysics, and then to subject it to
criticism."  <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10544/Default.aspx>
more

 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10543/Default.aspx> Wrestling
with Transhumanism
by Katherine Hayles - "One need not agree with Francis Fukuyama that
transhumanism is 'the world's most dangerous idea' to appreciate the
critiques of transhumanism enacted in science fiction."
<http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10543/Default.aspx> more

 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10545/Default.aspx> Brains,
Selves and Spirituality in the History of Cybernetics
by Andrew Pickering - "All of the practices and states that I talk about in
my paper are already marginalized in contemporary society-it feels vaguely
embarrassing to talk about them in public. But at least the margins exist,
and one can go there if one likes. The transhumanists would like to engineer
them out of existence entirely and forever. Yes, I'm starting not to like
transhumanism."
<http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10545/Default.aspx> more

 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10546/Default.aspx>
Transhumanism and the Posthuman Future
by Ted Peters - "[T]ranshumanist assumptions regarding progress are naive,
because they fail to operate with an anthropology that is realistic
regarding the human proclivity to turn good into evil...[R]esearchers ...in
genetics and nanotechnology should...maintain constant watchfulness for ways
in which these technologies can become bent toward destructive purposes."
<http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10546/Default.aspx> more

 
 
 <http://metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10546/Default.aspx> 

 


 

 
 

Nlogo1.tif  <http://www.natasha.cc/> Natasha Vita-More

 
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