[ExI] Are transhumanists becoming the bad guys?

[Natasha natashavita-more.com]

I have to disagree. I am not and never have been an atheist. The reason is that I do not know what a God could be if the religious dogma were not present.  I do not agree with religious groups and their self-absorbed entitlement to what they think of as their God. However, outside of this I have no idea what God could really be.

So, I do not respect religious dogma formed by religious worshiping, but I do not claim there is absolutely and unequivocally no semblance of what God could be. I do not know what c9onsciousness is either.

Natasha

________________________________
From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> on behalf of Darin Sunley via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 3:50 PM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Cc: Darin Sunley <dsunley at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ExI] Are transhumanists becoming the bad guys?

We have been in for some time, and are heading into, an extended period of massive societal change and economic uncertainty. Per Keith Henson, this triggers a deep-seated gene complex that turns people unreasonably xenophobic. Any group radically different from one's own becomes intrinsically suspect just on general principles.

I've been active on this list and other transhumanist-adjacent circles since the mid-90s. And even with the general principles set aside, some of the substance of those complaints is, broadly speaking, true. Transhumanists are still, and really always have been, at best, mildly hostile to traditional conceptions of spirituality and religion. The Venn diagram between transhumanism and New Atheism in the 90's was almost a pair of concentric circles. Not all online atheists were transhumanists, but virtually all transhumanists were atheist, frequently aggressively so.

On Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 3:37 PM efc--- via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org<mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>> wrote:
Hello list,

The other day I was listening to a conspiracy pod and all of a sudden, I
heard a medium talk about how the transhumanists want to
eradicate all spiritual values and merge humanity with the machine.

In my own home cooked transhumanist version, transhumanists are
optimistic, life affirming people who are solving problems with
science and technology.

So when did transhumanists start to become the bad guys in conspiracy
circles? Did anyone of you encounter this in real life or in
virtual life?

Curious shift in narrative that completely passed me by and caught me by
surprise.

Best regards,
Daniel


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