[ExI] Is Transhumanism Coercive?

[natasha at natasha.cc]

   Quoting Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>:

> On 21 October 2011 17:21, Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:
>
>> Sorry for top posting. Anders is right.  In fact, I have read several
>> dissertations expressly on "transhumanism". My phd is most definitely on
>> transhumanism, although my advisors were strongly opposed to me using
>> transhumanism in the title.
>
> Transhumanism ultimately is a philosophy, which of course can and should be
> learned, as for any other school of thought, by investigating its history
> and the positions expressed by its authors and representatives, and I have
> helped myself a student to prepare a doctorate thesis on the subject.

   Yes and it will become a part of the Humanities curriculum.  
Likewise, there are numerous PhD dissertations on Postmodernism. (In  
fact, the postmodernist rhetoric in academics is so strong that  
coursework is essential.)

   Bty, Our book /The Transhumanist Reader/ will be coming out next  
year, in time for the fall 2012 coursework.

   > Transhumanism-relevant technologies or trends are of course an altogether
> different subject, which can hardly be reduced to a single research field.

   Not necessarily.  Transhumanist technologies are endemic to  
transhumanism, without which there would be no transhumanism.  (I  
mean, how the heck are we supposed to expand life onto non-biological  
systems without technology?)  I suppose one could say that  
postmodernism's technology is the written word, while transhumanism's  
technology is evolution.)

   There have been a lot of efforts for scholars to create a field out  
of posthumanism, but it is so intertwined with postmodernism that it  
never really happened.  This is where transhumanism comes to the  
rescue!  Transhumanism has an opportunity to get scholars out of the  
postmodernist train wreck and into some critical thinking, problem  
solving, practicability /AND /visionary ideation.

   Natasha



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