[extropy-chat] Transhumanism next week on Radio Netherlands

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

Each week the English language service of Radio Netherlands presents
Amsterdam Forum - a current affairs discussion programme hosted by
Andy Clark. Listeners from over 60 countries have taken part, sending
in questions and comments for the show.
Next week: World's most dangerous idea?
Human enhancement the key to eternal life.
Want to live forever? Well, who knows, maybe you can. At least if the
boldest claims of a movement known as transhumanism prove to be true.
Transhumanists want to liberate the human race from its biological
constraints and they say this will be possible by using advances being
made in biotechnology.
Human enhancement is key to the philosophy with radical life
extensions, hundreds of years, thousands even, being made possible by
employing the latest techniques.
Proponents of transhumanism say nanotechnology will allow humans to
radically rebuild and extend their bodies - this will be done with the
help of  'nanobots' - tiny robots smaller than human blood cells that
will travel around the body fixing DNA errors, fighting poisons and
expanding intelligence.
Science fiction? Not necessarily so, even the critics admit that much
of the research being done in biotechnology can be as readily turned
to human enhancement as it can to human repair.
Transhumanist also say in the future protection against fatal
accidents could be offered by 'mind uploading' - making a back up copy
of the content of your brain to be re-used in a new brain in case of
the worst.
And if the technology is developing a little more slowly than planned
there's always 'cryonics' - freezing your body after death to be
thawed out a few decades later when science has the 'nanobots' ready
to go.
Leading US author and political thinker Francis Fukuyama, who's also a
member of the US President's Council on Bioethics, has described
transhumanism as the world's most dangerous idea - fearing it will
undermine humanity's underlying equality of rights.
But what do you think? Is transhumanism to be feared or should the
goal of transcending our current physical limitations be one that we
embrace?
Have your say:
Our panellists:
Dr. James Hughes Ph.D. teaches Health Policy at Trinity College in
Hartford, Connecticut, and serves as Trinity's Associate Director of
Institutional Research and Planning. Dr. Hughes also serves as the
Executive Director of the World Transhumanist Association. He's also
the author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to
the Redesigned Human of the Future.
The other speaker is yet to be confirmed.
http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/amsterdamforum/041129af