[ExI] The Paradox of the Posthuman

[Stefano Vaj]

2009/7/27 Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc>

>  Does the author use the terms "transhuman" or "transhumanism"?   Probably
> not.  But please tell me I am wrong.
>

Yes, she does. She even quotes Max a few times.

How do you suggest that Julie Clarke could be beneficial to transhumanism?
>

Directly beneficial? I do not know. Unless perhaps in the sense of "there is
no such thing as bad press". :-)

But her biases do not seem so strong. In fact, I think that she for one
would be prepared to accept that a few of her criticisms originate from
misconceptions.

The basic idea of the book, for instance, is that there is a paradox if not
a contradiction between seeking human optimality through technology and the
inevitable hybridisation (human-animal, human-machine, human-god) that such
choice brings along. Now, I think that many, if not most transhumanists
would be quite prepared to accept such a "hybridisation" and the rupture of
the "humanist" paradigm it may imply, so that the "contradiction" denounced
is more apparent than real.

But the important angle of course is that she shows a certain insight of
transhumanist history and logical consequences, and even illustrate some
reflections thereof in pop culture which may not be too apparent even for
us. See the extensive discussion of the undertext in, e.g.,  *Alien
Resurrection*.


>  What book are you referring to on transhumanism and biopolitics?
>

*Biopolitica. Il nuovo paradigma *(http://www.biopolitica.it). Didn't I give
you a copy when we met?

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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