[extropy-chat] Dante and Transhuman

[Natasha Vita-More]

Your hyperbole just isn't interesting to me.

Natasha

At 02:25 PM 11/17/2004, you wrote:
>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 natur! al 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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Natasha Vita-More
http://www.natasha.cc
[_______________________________________________
President, Extropy Institute http://www.extropy.org
[_____________________________________________________
Founder, Transhumanist Arts & Culture http://www.transhumanist.biz
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