[ExI] The pope vs transhumanism

[John Grigg]

Anders, will you be sending a copy of this to the Vatican?  I would love to
think that there is at least a small chance that the pope will actually
read your rebuttal to his statement.


John




On Tue, Dec 25, 2012 at 3:37 AM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:

> Isn't it nice to have a high status, well-read and consistent enemy to
> fight against? The pope spoke out against gay marriage because it threatens
> human essence:
>
> People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their
>> bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They
>> deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to
>> them, but that they make it for themselves. The manipulation of nature,
>> which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes
>> man's fundamental choice where he himself is concerned.
>>
>
> I ended up writing an essay analyzing the argument, showing how it links
> up with criticisms of transhumanism. Spending Christmas Eve arguing that
> the pope is wrong about metaphysics and ethics is quite fun, if tiring:
>
> http://www.aleph.se/andart/**archives/2012/12/benedict_vs_**
> mirandola_how_gay_rights_and_**transhumanism_are_related.html<http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2012/12/benedict_vs_mirandola_how_gay_rights_and_transhumanism_are_related.html>
>
>
>
> --
> Anders Sandberg
> Future of Humanity Institute
> Oxford University
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> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
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>
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