[extropy-chat] Always On - The case for human enhancement

Giu1i0 Pri5c0 pgptag at gmail.com
Tue Sep 28 10:05:37 UTC 2004


I posted to Always On a short article titled "The case for human
enhancement", with a summary of the Fukuyama's "The World's Most
Dangerous Ideas - Transhumanism" on Foreign Policy and the replies of
Ron Bailey and Nick Bostrom. It is interesting to watch the comments
of readers of a "mainstream" magazine. A few readers have expressed
opinions already, I will be watching the thread.

http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=6130_0_5_0_C

Francis Fukuyama, member of the President's Council on Bioethics and
author of "Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology
Revolution" recently published an article on "The World's Most
Dangerous Ideas - Transhumanism" on Foreign Policy. Replies to
Fukuyama's dark views of technology enabled human enhancement have
been issued by Ron Bailey and Nick Bostrom.
Transhumanists support the development of and access to new
technologies that enable everyone to enjoy better minds, better bodies
and better lives. See the website of the World Transhumanist
Association for more details. Using technology to radically enhance
human capabilities is considered as a realistic medium term option by
the NBIC initiative : "the convergence of nanoscience, biotechnology,
information technology and cognitive science ("NBIC") offers immense
opportunities for the improvement of human abilities, social outcomes,
the nation's productivity and its quality of life; it also represents
a major new frontier in research and development" and similar
initiatives in Europe.
Despite "dismiss transhumanists as some sort of odd cult, nothing more
than science fiction taken too seriously", which used to be the
mainstream attitude, Fukuyama now acknowledges that "the new
procedures and technologies emerging from research laboratories and
hospitals-whether mood-altering drugs, substances to boost muscle mass
or selectively erase memory, prenatal genetic screening, or gene
therapy-can as easily be used to "enhance" the species as to ease or
ameliorate illness". And he provides a very precise and compact
definition of the transhumanist worldview: "as transhumanists see it,
humans must wrest their biological destiny from evolution's blind
process of random variation and adaptation and move to the next stage
as a species".
The issue of technology enabled human enhancement will probably
someday move to the center of a stormy political debate whose outcomes
will impact on the future of the biotechnology and advanced IT
industries, as well as on the future of society at large. Everyone
should start thinking where (s)he stands in this debate. I am in the
"pro-enhancement camp", and wish to know the opinion of Always On
readers. So if you have some time please browse the sources quoted
above and let us know what you think.



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