Devil Theory
Member
TRANSHUMANISM & EXTROPIANISM:
a thread.
Welcome, GAF.
For quite some time, I’ve largely been exploring the ideas around extropianism and transhumanism, and have discovered that the online community around these principles is relatively thin, if not non-existent in group presence. I’ve decided to start this thread with the intention of beginning a strong discussion around these ethics / ideals, and any futurist theories; whether biological or environmental.
Definitions:
Transhumanism;
Transhumanism, abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as study the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. They predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".
Extropianism:
Extropianism, also referred to as the philosophy of Extropy, is an evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition. Extropians believe that advances in science and technology will some day let people live indefinitely. An extropian may wish to contribute to this goal, e.g. by doing research and development or volunteering to test new technology.
Extropianism describes a pragmatic consilience of transhumanist thought guided by a proactionary approach to human evolution and progress.
--
The most recent example of these ideas that was the most interesting, for me, was Deus Ex: Human Revolution. A broad subject with many moral quandaries that the game tackles impressively and fairly accurately -- here amongst the number of other media that portray it (TH) in either positive or negative light:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Gattaca
Blade Runner
Matrix
Ghost In The Shell
Halo
Crysis
BioShock
to name a few.
The ideas surrounding these movements can also sometimes connect with aspects of Abolitionism, which is;
“...the bioethical school and movement that endorses the use of biotechnology to maximize happiness and eliminate suffering. “Abolition” is used for the name of this movement, in the context of “the abolition of suffering". Abolitionists propose paradise engineering, i,e., the use of technologies like psychopharmaceuticals and genetic engineering to eliminate even the possibility of painful sensations and emotions.”
I myself have become accustomed to think this way -- many of my friends and former colleagues, and some family, have begun to share a more optimistic and positive approach to this kind of belief and thinking, that eventually, the technological advancements of society will inevitably be able to lead down this path to life extension. Even thinking about the progress made by tech companies within the past 10 years, or even 5, is astonishing depending on the direction you look (mobile devices, iPads, Google Glass, etc.).
I’ve heard many things surrounding life extension, anything from tiny nano-machines invading your bloodstream to fix any ailments or weaknesses in your physical body (i.e. Parasites Lost episode from Futurama), to pills that can reverse aging, to Deus-Ex-style augmentations that will enable a person to live only partially as their old squishy self, and take on a more transformative, Terminator-inspired form (sans weaponry).
Below are a few (of the very few) transhumanist-centered websites or newsletters, etc. that I found:
http://humanityplus.org
http://hplusmagazine.com
http://www.longecity.org/forum/
http://ieet.org (Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies)
http://intelligence.org (Machine Intelligence Research Institute; AI development)
http://www.centauri-dreams.org (space travel, past and future)
http://txchnologist.com (near term technologies)
http://www.technologyreview.com (near term technologies)
http://www.fightaging.org (anti-aging)
http://www.kurzweilai.net (singularity related news)
http://lesswrong.com (human rationality)
Another aspect of all of this is a new movement called "Quantified Self" - which is described as "...a movement to incorporate technology into data acquisition on aspects of a person's daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed, quality of surrounding air), states (e.g. mood, arousal, blood oxygen levels), and performance (mental and physical). Such self-monitoring and self-sensing, which combines wearable sensors (EEG, ECG, video, etc.) and wearable computing, is also known as lifelogging or sousveillance."
"This movement was kicked off by WIRED editors Kevin Kelly and Gary Wolf, and has since become popular in geeky/health-conscious enclaves around the US. As an example, one favorite area of discussion among QS is whether eating large amounts of butter enhances intelligence."
http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/03/20/progress-in-personalized-medicine-metamed-more/
The interesting point of this is that by focusing solely on the medical treatments we currently have, and maximizing our health in various aspects now (organic lifestyle, for example) - we will have a substitute humanist outlook and process, and hopefully, live long enough to just catch the very beginning stages of either age reversal and life extension beyond what is considered normal by today's standards. I'm hopeful that by the time I'm old and decrepit (or not); we have something established and working, in some form.
Now, in the same vein of Deus-Ex, let's pose some questions;
1. Do you believe this at all possible to any extent? If so, how far do you think we can go, and if not, why?
2. Would you be in favor of being able to alter humanity at the core of what makes us "human"?
3. How long do you think this will take for us to achieve?
4. What personal moral issues do you have (if any) with this movement?
5. If given the chance, would you alter your mind or body (abolitionist theme) to reduce pain? Or, simply augment?
6. If this became possible, how would it affect world religions?
7. Is this possible without severe class warfare, i.e., the rich advancing their state, the poor behind left behind?
8. Can you think of any solutions?
Technological Evolution
Top Ten Transhumanist Technologies
The aforementioned Google Glass is one exciting piece of technology that I believe truly brings us closer to this type of society, and will enable us to accomplish more and be more efficient in the long run as the technology progresses. I do believe that one day we could achieve something like immortality; unless greed and otherwise infantile political selfishness or religious metaphysics halts scientific progress like it has been doing for quite some time. I remain hopeful for my grandchildren, however.
I apologize if I bored anyone, but please, do share your thoughts, and any information, articles/books, or links you may have.
a thread.
Welcome, GAF.
For quite some time, I’ve largely been exploring the ideas around extropianism and transhumanism, and have discovered that the online community around these principles is relatively thin, if not non-existent in group presence. I’ve decided to start this thread with the intention of beginning a strong discussion around these ethics / ideals, and any futurist theories; whether biological or environmental.
Definitions:
Transhumanism;
Transhumanism, abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as study the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. They predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".
Extropianism:
Extropianism, also referred to as the philosophy of Extropy, is an evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition. Extropians believe that advances in science and technology will some day let people live indefinitely. An extropian may wish to contribute to this goal, e.g. by doing research and development or volunteering to test new technology.
Extropianism describes a pragmatic consilience of transhumanist thought guided by a proactionary approach to human evolution and progress.
--
The most recent example of these ideas that was the most interesting, for me, was Deus Ex: Human Revolution. A broad subject with many moral quandaries that the game tackles impressively and fairly accurately -- here amongst the number of other media that portray it (TH) in either positive or negative light:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Gattaca
Blade Runner
Matrix
Ghost In The Shell
Halo
Crysis
BioShock
to name a few.
The ideas surrounding these movements can also sometimes connect with aspects of Abolitionism, which is;
“...the bioethical school and movement that endorses the use of biotechnology to maximize happiness and eliminate suffering. “Abolition” is used for the name of this movement, in the context of “the abolition of suffering". Abolitionists propose paradise engineering, i,e., the use of technologies like psychopharmaceuticals and genetic engineering to eliminate even the possibility of painful sensations and emotions.”
I myself have become accustomed to think this way -- many of my friends and former colleagues, and some family, have begun to share a more optimistic and positive approach to this kind of belief and thinking, that eventually, the technological advancements of society will inevitably be able to lead down this path to life extension. Even thinking about the progress made by tech companies within the past 10 years, or even 5, is astonishing depending on the direction you look (mobile devices, iPads, Google Glass, etc.).
I’ve heard many things surrounding life extension, anything from tiny nano-machines invading your bloodstream to fix any ailments or weaknesses in your physical body (i.e. Parasites Lost episode from Futurama), to pills that can reverse aging, to Deus-Ex-style augmentations that will enable a person to live only partially as their old squishy self, and take on a more transformative, Terminator-inspired form (sans weaponry).
Below are a few (of the very few) transhumanist-centered websites or newsletters, etc. that I found:
http://humanityplus.org
http://hplusmagazine.com
http://www.longecity.org/forum/
http://ieet.org (Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies)
http://intelligence.org (Machine Intelligence Research Institute; AI development)
http://www.centauri-dreams.org (space travel, past and future)
http://txchnologist.com (near term technologies)
http://www.technologyreview.com (near term technologies)
http://www.fightaging.org (anti-aging)
http://www.kurzweilai.net (singularity related news)
http://lesswrong.com (human rationality)
Another aspect of all of this is a new movement called "Quantified Self" - which is described as "...a movement to incorporate technology into data acquisition on aspects of a person's daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed, quality of surrounding air), states (e.g. mood, arousal, blood oxygen levels), and performance (mental and physical). Such self-monitoring and self-sensing, which combines wearable sensors (EEG, ECG, video, etc.) and wearable computing, is also known as lifelogging or sousveillance."
"This movement was kicked off by WIRED editors Kevin Kelly and Gary Wolf, and has since become popular in geeky/health-conscious enclaves around the US. As an example, one favorite area of discussion among QS is whether eating large amounts of butter enhances intelligence."
http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/03/20/progress-in-personalized-medicine-metamed-more/
The interesting point of this is that by focusing solely on the medical treatments we currently have, and maximizing our health in various aspects now (organic lifestyle, for example) - we will have a substitute humanist outlook and process, and hopefully, live long enough to just catch the very beginning stages of either age reversal and life extension beyond what is considered normal by today's standards. I'm hopeful that by the time I'm old and decrepit (or not); we have something established and working, in some form.
Now, in the same vein of Deus-Ex, let's pose some questions;
1. Do you believe this at all possible to any extent? If so, how far do you think we can go, and if not, why?
2. Would you be in favor of being able to alter humanity at the core of what makes us "human"?
3. How long do you think this will take for us to achieve?
4. What personal moral issues do you have (if any) with this movement?
5. If given the chance, would you alter your mind or body (abolitionist theme) to reduce pain? Or, simply augment?
6. If this became possible, how would it affect world religions?
7. Is this possible without severe class warfare, i.e., the rich advancing their state, the poor behind left behind?
8. Can you think of any solutions?
Technological Evolution
Top Ten Transhumanist Technologies
The aforementioned Google Glass is one exciting piece of technology that I believe truly brings us closer to this type of society, and will enable us to accomplish more and be more efficient in the long run as the technology progresses. I do believe that one day we could achieve something like immortality; unless greed and otherwise infantile political selfishness or religious metaphysics halts scientific progress like it has been doing for quite some time. I remain hopeful for my grandchildren, however.
I apologize if I bored anyone, but please, do share your thoughts, and any information, articles/books, or links you may have.
