[extropy-chat] Dante and Transhuman

[Al Brooks]

The connection between Dante and advanced life extension (which is my shorthand for transhumanism) is too remote for my liking.  How far can we stretch it? perhaps Jesus was the first extropian when he broke the loaves and fishes into enough fragments to feed that large crowd of hungry people two thousand years ago? 
My quota of posts has been reached for the list today, and you don't want a blizzard of back & forth to your email, do you?

"natashavita at earthlink.net" <natashavita at earthlink.net> wrote:
It would take me at least an hour to convey my views and research about the
beginnings of transhumanism and the idea of the transhuman. At this
moment, I only have a few minutes, so I’ll be brief.

In being fair-minded, we need to consider the environment of the time in
which Dante lived, just as we do with today and Huxley's time. Huxley
believed in a "New Divinity" while Dante believed in “philosophical
wisdom.” What this meant to them may not be what it means to us by today’s
standards and language. The bottom line is that both wanted something more
than an ordinary human condition.

Dante: "He was one of the most learned Italian laymen of his day,
intimately familiar with Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy,
theology (he had a special affinity for the thought of Albert the Great and
Thomas Aquinas), and classical literature. His writings reflect this in its
mingling of philosophical and theological language, invoking Aristotle and
the neo-Platonists side by side with the poet of the psalms. Like Aquinas,
Dante wished to summon his audience to the practice of philosophical
wisdom, though by means of truths embedded in his own poetry, rather than
mysteriously embodied in scripture." (Stanford University)

Let us not dismiss of the world and society of Dante and his ideas about
the transhuman. 
Today we can harshly criticize those who have spiritual beliefs, but we
leaned that it is not completely appropriate since spirituality also
includes those who simply want peace of mind. Since the transhumanist
community has grown to include several religious sectors, we cannot defame
Dante or Huxley or any of us for our personal unconventional views.

As such, an afterlife in the far past could possibly equal an afterlife
today, as we know it as technological immortality. In Dante's time, there
were no such things as molecular engineering, cryonics, and the medical and
scientific innovations that we are aware of today that could make our
dreams of a longer life feasible.

There are many steps in the direction of enlightenment, and some of the
footprints belong to Dante.

Natasha Vita-More



		
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