[ExI] The Singularity is Nearer

[Stefano Vaj]

On Mon, 29 Jul 2024 at 16:51, <citizencyborg at gmail.com> wrote:

> My latest in IEET Substack:
>
>
>
> *Transhumanist but Transphobic?*
>
> Why are some people excited about brain implants and life extension but
> freaked out by transgender therapies?
>
>
>
> https://ieet.substack.com/p/transhumanist-but-transphobic
>
>
>
"Therapies" here is the crucial word. We have extensive historical
experience in the Old World of therapies aimed at preserving the castratos'
voices from the ravages of puberty, or at keeping the Sultan's janissaries
focused, loyal, and undistracted by sexual urges or subject to the
seductions of harem dwellers. Of course, all in the best interest of the
patient.

Granted, what is "healthy" and "enhancing" is a matter of definitions and a
culturally-defined concept. But *some* social (and legal) norms on the
subject are unavoidable, arbitrary as they may be, and one wonders about
inflicting lifelong, irreversible sterility and anorgasmia on minors who
are legally unable to consent to a tattoo.

I believe that this should be at the very least open to discussion.

Certainly, consenting, informed, unconditioned adults as far as I am
concerned may legally do whatever they like with their body, even though it
should be equally legit to criticise their choices.

On the other hand, I would have little to object to, for example, a sex
change performed by a head transplant, where the patient would, in fact,
profit from a fully operational body, and even less to one taking place
through mind uploading to a body of the opposite sex.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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