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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=265250804-09092010>Well said.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=265250804-09092010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=265250804-09092010>Thank you.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=265250804-09092010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=265250804-09092010>Natasha</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Freestyle Script'; COLOR: #404040; FONT-SIZE: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 191"><A
href="http://www.natasha.cc/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #404040; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 191"><FONT size=2
face=Arial>Natasha Vita-More</FONT></SPAN></A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> transvisioncc@googlegroups.com
[mailto:transvisioncc@googlegroups.com] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Philippe Van
Nedervelde<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 08, 2010 10:57 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
transvisioncc@googlegroups.com<BR><B>Cc:</B> ExI chat list; World Transhumanist
Association Discussion List; extrobritannia@yahoogroups.com;
euro-transhumanists@googlegroups.com;
cosmic-engineers@googlegroups.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [transvisioncc]
(Mis)understanding Transhumanism: TransVision 2010 Presentation by Miriam Ji
Sun<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>When outsiders read this, it will give them the impression that
transhumanism either is or has become a motley, disorganized grab-bag of
unclearly overlapping philosophies and ideologies and/or that the word
'transhumanism' is or has become a signifier so unclear / imprecise /
too-much-encompassing in its meaning as to be or have become effectively
useless... as a label... or otherwise.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>That's a problem. Certainly for this here text... and possibly also for the
disparate collection of meanings still referred to by the probably increasingly
inaccurate or at least mis-representative signifier 'transhumanism'.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>"H+" works pretty well as a symbol for it, but generally fails as a
replacement for the word 'transhumanism' in discourse, certainly for discourse
involving outsiders.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Does this suggest it is (high) time for some intra-H+ semantic clean-up...
to (re-)clarify what 'transhumanism' does (not) mean and stand for? Perhaps the
meaning(s) should revert to meaning(s) closer to its roots? </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>~ Philip ~ <BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>P.S. Natasha, is your talk on Deconstructing Transhumanism up somewhere?
URL? I'd love to read / see / hear it.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 7:31 PM, Giulio Prisco <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:giulio@gmail.com">giulio@gmail.com</A>></SPAN>
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>(Mis)understanding Transhumanism: TransVision 2010
Presentation by Miriam Ji Sun<BR><A
href="http://transvision2010.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/misunderstanding-transhumanism-transvision-2010-presentation-by-miriam-ji-sun/"
target=_blank>http://transvision2010.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/misunderstanding-transhumanism-transvision-2010-presentation-by-miriam-ji-sun/</A><BR><BR>Transhumansism
is a complex and still evolving philosophy that cuts<BR>across a variety of
philosophies and ways of life and even<BR>incorporated views from its critics.
Therefore, transhumanism can not<BR>be understood in a one-dimensional way.
When trying to interpret and<BR>understand transhumanism many people tend to
only focus on specific<BR>aspects that also relate to familiar concepts.
However, transhumanism<BR>is full of seeming contradictions if taking commonly
known thought<BR>schools, philosophies and ideologies as basis.<BR><BR>It is
neither modern nor post-modern, but it nonetheless contains<BR>elements of
“grand narratives” and “deconstructionism”. It is future<BR>oriented but has
its roots in the past enlightenment era.<BR>Transhumanism is individualistic
but global and secular but also<BR>spiritual.<BR><BR>My argumentation would be
that transhumanism should be better viewed<BR>as a new concept with new
arrangements, interpretations and<BR>standpoints than in comparison to already
known concepts. It is also<BR>important to look at the whole picture and
interconnections between<BR>the different elements that make up the core of
transhumanist thought.<BR>If this is not done, one can easily get to
contradicting conclusions<BR>like stating that transhumanism is pluralistic,
multicultural and<BR>social democratic while at the same time “fascist”,
atheist as well as<BR>religious, technology-utopian and at the same time
concerned with<BR>existential risks, ancient, modern and post-modern. Also
other<BR>criticism like transhumanism being male-dominated can not be seen
as<BR>allegation: it is open for everyone, but it is of course related to
a<BR>rather specific set of interests, but should we force people to
join<BR>in order to improve the quota?<BR><BR>My final thoughts will deal with
the question if transhumanism may be<BR>better understood from an Asian
philosophical tradition that is better<BR>able to incorporate seeming
contradictions (or not even seeing this as<BR>contradiction) that from a
Western perspective?<BR><BR>As a conclusion I would say that that is not one
“transhumanism” since<BR>there is no real code or even doctrine. Even the
views about commonly<BR>shared ideas like HET, life extension, cryonics
‘uploading’, AI,<BR>risks, ‘posthumans’ and the concept of the ‘singularity’
are varying.<BR>Thus I would say that transhumanists go deeper into thinking
about the<BR>future than some other foresighters (especially those focussing
on<BR>rather shot-term business or policy issues), share a common view
that<BR>the human condition can be improved through means of science
and<BR>technology, that science is the best available method to
understand<BR>the world in the context of engineering purposes and technology
can<BR>and should be furthered, developed and actively supported to
improve<BR>the life and living conditions of humanity (and the environment
humans<BR>live in).<BR><BR>Transhumansim can be seen as a new dimension that
crosses through<BR>(nearly) all political views and societal choices and thus
even people<BR>with very different social or political views (e.g.
entrepreneurs and<BR>socialists as well as believers and atheists) can
embrace<BR>transhumanism.<BR><BR>Miriam Ji Sun is a professional strategic
foresight researcher and<BR>futurist volunteer being active in NGOs and
several foresight-related<BR>networks. She has obtained her phD in sociology
with an<BR>interdisciplinary-oriented thesis about robotics and AI and did
her<BR>master thesis in political science on a topic in biopolitics. Now
Ji<BR>Sun is specialising in emerging technologies (e.g. NBIC,
biomedical<BR>engineering, Human Enhancement Technologies (HET), advanced
robotics<BR>and AI, synthetic biology), future issues (e.g. megatrends,
weak<BR>signals, Grand Challenges), ethical, legal and social perception
of<BR>emerging technologies, vision assessment, transhumanism and
foresight<BR>methodology.<BR><BR>TransVision 2010 is a global transhumanist
conference and community<BR>convention, organized by several transhumanist
activists, groups and<BR>organizations, under the executive leadership of the
Italian<BR>Transhumanist Association (AIT) and with the collaboration of
an<BR>Advisory Board. The event will take place on October 22, 23 and
24,<BR>2010 in Milan, Italy with many options for remote online
access.<BR><BR>Register now <A
href="http://transvision2010.wordpress.com/registration/"
target=_blank>http://transvision2010.wordpress.com/registration/</A><BR><BR>post
links to Twitter, your blogs and websites, and add your name to<BR>the
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