[ExI] H+ Census- why it matters to know if you matter.

[The Avantguardian]

Does anybody have a clue how many total people are involved in transhumanism-related movements in the United States and worldwide? We have a pretty large Internet presence but there are so many orgs and sites with a lot of lurkers and overlap of membership, so its difficult to estimate actual numbers. Therefore I propose that we conduct an H+ census.
 
This would accomplish a lot of things. First it would give us a benchmark of how much the movement has grown over the years. Also it would give us an idea how much bargaining power we as a movement have in the state capitals of the world and the global marketplace. I think this is an important first step toward us collectively wielding any kind collective influence in society. And I think that we will need to wield collective influence in order to achieve any semblance of the future we all want.
 
To give you an idea of what I mean, the Individual Health Insurance Mandate has been voted into law in the U.S. and is going into effect in 2014. Considering that Obama care was based on Romney-care, and Romney is the media favorite, you can see that the insurance lobby has made engineered a win-win Presidential election for itself.
 
Now if we as a movement continue as we have an unorganized fractious diffuse mess, then those of us who will be affected by the Individual Mandate will have to purchase some over-priced cookie-cutter health insurance policy that we don't really want. If you buy insurance as an individual you get screwed. But if we could organize ourselves into an actual transhumanist bloc of insurance customers, we could get group health rate discounts and other perks. Like maybe a choice between hospice care or cryogenic suspension for the terminally ill. Or we could get a blood glucose meter without having diabetes so you can monitor your blood sugar and prevent yourself from getting diabetes in the first place. Or maybe even get off label-presciptions for enhancement like Ritalin before an exam.    
 
So if somebody has an estimated headcount, please state it. Also if you have ideas on how we could use free Internet resources such as google groups or a social media site to conduct an accurate H+ Census, that would be great.   
 
 

Stuart LaForge


"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - Hunter S. Thompson