[ExI] Whatever happened to the transhumanists?

[Giulio Prisco]

Some thoughts on George's piece in my last newsletter:

I find George’s piece good enough but not great. Not great because
it’s centered too much on the messy politics of the here and now.
George says:

“Given the current landscape, it’s my own opinion that self-described
transhumanists should advocate and agitate for full bodily, cognitive,
and reproductive autonomy, while also championing the merits of
scientific discourse. Until these rights are established, it seems a
bit premature to laud the benefits of improved memories or radically
extended lifespans, as sad as it is to have to admit that.”

To me, this sounds like suggesting that transhumanists should become
like those former alcoholics that spend their unhappy days condemning
alcohol and praising the virtues of milk and green tea. Not my thing.
Also, I suspect that George refers to “the merits of scientific
discourse” in a pro-establishment, politically correct sense.

This isn’t really my business, because I have stopped calling myself a
“transhumanist.” Today I call myself a “cosmist” instead.

George gives more space to his ideological cohorts. But there are some
gems in George’s piece. For example, “We need optimism!,” says Anders
Sandberg. We need to think that the future “is going to be awesome
enough to be worth saving, and that we have power to do something
constructive.”

I agree. Thinking of awesome futures (more awesome than even the
wildest dreams of transhumanists) is what makes me get out of bed in
the morning and try to do something good. Otherwise, I would stay in
bed.

In a next newsletter I’ll comment on other parts of George’s piece.

https://www.turingchurch.com/p/more-thoughts-on-determinism-and


On Thu, Aug 4, 2022 at 12:23 AM Tom Nowell via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Ignore the clickbait title that George Dvorsky uses on this gizmodo article, it's a very readable piece on how transhumanist ideas have entered the mainstream without transhumanism being a term on everybody's lips. Good insights from Anders Sandberg, Natasha Vita-More and PJ Manney in there.
>
> Whatever Happened to the Transhumanists? (gizmodo.com.au)
>
> Whatever Happened to the Transhumanists?
>
> Gizmodo is 20 years old! In the summer of 2002, “The Gadgets Weblog” officially launched to cover all of your...
>
>
>
>
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