-
The Issue Of Transcendence
I finally made it to see the movie Transcendence, sadly I was in an empty theater. Personally, I was quite pleased with the movie and I am not shocked that it could not catch the attention of the general public. In my opinion, it is an accurate assessment on how evolved scientists would behave, how people who are afraid of technology will behave, and everyone knows damn right well, you could count on the good ole USA to behave exactly as the movie predicts. In many ways, this was a nice option for the Singularity, the concept that we can heal and repair anything is a wonderful thought and a beautiful goal.…
-
Spreading the Word That Death is Wrong – The Rational Argumentator
Author: Gennady Stolyarov II Who could have thought a month ago that an illustrated children’s book on indefinite life extension would become a fiercely, passionately discussed phenomenon not just in transhumanist and futurist circles, but on mainstream publications and forums? And yet that is exactly what has happened to Death is Wrong – certainly the most influential and provocative of all of my endeavors to date. I am thrilled that it is precisely my pursuit of this most fundamental and precious goal – preservation of the life of every innocent individual – that has achieved greater public exposure, controversy included, than anything else I have ever done. Our Indiegogo fundraiser…
-
Help Teach 1000 Children That Death is Wrong – Indiegogo Fundraiser
Author: Gennady Stolyarov II This is the description of my ambitious new project in conjunction with MILE – the Movement for Indefinite Life Extension – to distribute 1000 copies of Death is Wrong to children, free of cost to them. You can visit the Indiegogo project page and contribute here. Project Description Who are you and what are you trying to do? I am an actuary, author, philosopher, futurist, and advocate of indefinite life extension. I have published The Rational Argumentator, an online magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress, since 2002. You can find out more about me here. For this project, I am partnering with the Movement for…
-
Transhumanist Ideas Need to Evolve for Mainstream Popularity
Why do you (transhumanists in general) care if mainstream thinking in modern civilization cares about ‘Transhumanism’? If you talk to random people on the street about transhumanism, you will get eye-squinting and other strange responses. For the most part, the response will be negative. Transhumanism is not anywhere close to anything the average person cares about. However, if you could back a few decades and ask someone about being ‘Green’ you would get a similar response to what you get now regarding ‘Transhumanism.’ In general, we all seem to agree that Transhumanism by itself is mostly a secular idea; that we as humans can be more than what we are,…
-
Transhumanism and Mind Uploading Are Not the Same
Author: Gennady Stolyarov II In what is perhaps the most absurd attack on transhumanism to date, Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com equates this broad philosophy and movement with “the entire idea that you can ‘upload your mind to a computer’” and further posits that the only kind of possible mind uploading is the destructive kind, where the original, biological organism ceases to exist. Adams goes so far as calling transhumanism a “death cult much like the infamous Heaven’s Gate cult led by Marshal Applewhite.” I will not devote this essay to refuting any of Adams’s arguments against destructive mind uploading, because no serious transhumanist thinker of whom I am aware endorses…
-
Why I Wrote a Children’s Book on Indefinite Life Extension
Author: Gennady Stolyarov II My greatest fear about the future is not of technology running out of control or posing existential risks to humankind. Rather, my greatest fear is that, in the year 2045, I will be 58 years old and already marked by notable signs of senescence, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking my morning coffee, and wondering, “What happened to that Singularity we were promised by now? Why did it not come to pass? Why does the world of 2045 look pretty much like the world of 2013, with only a few cosmetic differences?” My greatest fear is that, as I stare into that mug of coffee, I…
-
Does Enhanced Human Equal Transhuman?
Author : Armand Vespertine Human enhancement and Transhumanism are common topics for futurists, and the two terms are often treated as if they’re interchangeable. While there is certainly overlap between the two concepts, and by definition a Transhuman would have to be the beneficiary of Human enhancement, does Human enhancement automatically make you Transhuman? If Human beings choose to enhance or otherwise modify themselves with future technology, at what point could they no longer be thought of as Humans? What difference, if any, is there between an enhanced Human and a Transhuman? Does simply receiving an enhancement, any enhancement, render you no longer Human? In my humble opinion, the answer is obviously no. Most of us in the developed world have…
