[ExI] transhumanism as a philosophy

John Grigg possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com
Wed Jun 23 08:31:48 UTC 2010


Giulio Prisco wrote:
Believe me Natasha, I perfectly understand your reaction. But Damien's
"accusation" is not an accusation, but a statement of fact.

It is a fact that Max has not been as publicly and visibly active as
he used to be. It is a fact that the Extropy Institute has been closed
down for a long time now. It is a fact that the old issues of
"Extropy: A Journal of Transhumanist Thought" cannot be found online.
BTW I am sure you have seen RU Sirius' "Mondo 2000 History Project",
perhaps we should do something similar for Extropy.

It is a fact that others have taken advantage of the perceived absence
of Max and the Extropy Institute, and promoted their favorite
interpretation of transhumanism as _the_ interpretation of
transhumanism. I and many others are not satisfied with this. There
are certainly many exciting transhumanist projects around, but without
the central hub that the Extropy Institute represented.
>>>

Natasha Vita-More wrote:
I have been a big cheerleader and a pain in the neck to get Max up and
running again and I am clearly and most definitely not in denial about
his absence and the absence of all the frick'n hard work. THAT IS A
FACT.
>>>

Whew!!! lol  I admit to scratching my head when the Extropy Institute
officially closed it's doors and said it's goals had been achieved.
But I am very grateful for this list and my continued association with
Max and Natasha.   I only got to attend one Extropy conference
(Extropy 5) and dearly wish there were more to come.  I realize the
WTA (errrr...., I mean H+)   has some excellent gatherings, but give
me that old-time Extropian religion! hee

Giulio Prisco continued:
The question is, how to recover the spirit and practical organization
of a few years ago.
>>>

I agree.  And with Natasha's ever increasingly high profile on the
conference speaker circuit, and Max's great skill as a diplomatic
debater (I've seen him in action), we should start having Extropy
Conferences again.  An Extropy Institute website reboot (maybe
something along the lines of what H+ or the Imminst are doing) would
be a good way to galvanize interest in a resurrected ExI.  But I do
hope the Extropy mailing list never goes away, because it's one of my
very favorite internet watering holes.

John  : )

P.S.  We will need everyone to buy ExI memberships and/or have an
extremely wealthy patron to fund things.  And I want a quantum
computer decoder ring in exchange for joining up!



On 6/22/10, udend05 at aol.com <udend05 at aol.com> wrote:
>
>>What I kept talking about was its status as *formal* philosophy.
>
> A fourth tier? Oh dear.
>
>
> But I think I agree again: a 'formal' philosophy sounds like something
> studied, published and debated in the usual circles. The first suggestion
> that pops into my mind is akin to Dickie's 'Institutional' definition of art
> - that an artifact becomes art when it is placed in a context (say, a
> gallery). Would a 'formal' philosophy be one, then, that is in such a
> context - i.e., a univeristy? As such, would not Bostrom's research centre
> at Oxford not count towards that definition? (T
>
>
> Anything other than the above would seem to suggest 'formal' was a synonym
> of 'systematic'. Or am I missing your point, Damien? What do you mean by
> formal?
>
>
> Another thing, tangentially: perhaps a reason for the slowness of
> transhumanism's development into a formal or systematic philosophy is to do
> with the fact that so much attention has been paid recently to the notion of
> existential risk and the possibility/probability of the kinds of technology
> conceived. Let's face it, is there a precedent for a philosophy having to
> cover so much territory and being linked with such experiential ideas (that
> are in constant flux - with apologies to Heraclitus)? These are exciting
> times: we are on the threshold of something entirely new on many levels.
>
>
> I'm off to read the Reader, kids willing. (Talking of whom... they have
> injections today - another good reason to hope for a time when gene-therapy
> rids us of the need for these invasive, painful and tortuous methods.)
>
>
> Best,
> Damian U.
>
>



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