Transhumanist Rollcall/Survey

I just wanted to know how many ATSers consider themselves "Transhumanists" and what drew you to this ideology?

Also how many of you are technically a "Transhuman". Main qualification for such a thing is you had a procedure done to improve yourself in some respect wether it's Lasik eye surgury(successfully improving vision beyond 20/20), Implant or Genetic modification. I know very few fall into the latter category(so far) but it would be interesting to learn who has got what done.

As for me, I was drawn to Transhumanism due to it's roots in 3 ideologies that I believe in, Secular Humanism, Futurism and Rationalism.

[edit on 1-2-2006 by sardion2000]

I consider myself to be a transhumanist.

What drew me to it, well I always sorta was, what I mean is, I always believed that we should use science/technology to improve ourselves, mentaly and physically.
What I do like about it, apart from being what I believe/think, in transhumanism, there are not many limits on science/technology.



NOTE: If part or all of my post does not make sense, sorry. I'm half asleep currently.

C'mon I know there are more then 2 Transhumanists on ATS!?!

Well I do not know if I qualify or not. 3 years ago I had a corneal transplant to improve my eyesight as I suffer from a somewhat rare degenerative eye disease called Keratoconus

I guess so, erm sort of heh.

Okay this has been bugging me, why did someone tag this thread as "fake"?

Count me in.

Transhumanism is, if you ask me, the only logical next step in human evolution.

Technological development has taken the place of biological evolution; I am confident that this idea will be proven over the next few centuries.

It will be hundreds of thousands of years before the DNA of Homo sapiens sapiens has undergone any meaningful changes, and we have retarded this process even further by doing away with the vast majority of natural selection within our species. Therefore, the only viable way to go from here is to improve ourselves-- we can do it better, faster, and far more efficiently than nature.

Okay this has been bugging me, why did someone tag this thread as "fake"?

Probably because they were/are a close minded individual who considers anything outside there little world to be fake.

Transhumanism is, if you ask me, the only logical next step in human evolution.

You mean that in the most general terms, right?
Sorry, it would have bugged me if I did'nt ask.

You mean that in the most general terms, right?
Sorry, it would have bugged me if I did'nt ask.

Well, insofar as 'evolution' means the improvement over time of a given species, and not a discrete process... I see evolution (thus far) as being the result of natural selection, but I also believe that the term can be applied to other methods of improving our lot as biological entities.

And yes, I do believe that Transhumanist technology is the next logical step in this development; I don't guess too many of us are willing to sit around and wait for nature to get the job done.

I still can't quite figure out what it is...

Can you give me more examples? I mean is is someone who has implants, for example? Piercings? Cosmetic surgery? A prosthetic?

Or is it someone who believes in using science to better ourselves, through, for example, stem cell technology?

I'm sorry, but this is the first time I've heard the term.

So I'm probably not one...

Benevolent,

A transhumanist is a person who believes that we as a species can and should better ourselves through the advent of science and technology, such as cybernetic and genetic engineering, to name some of the more known things.


The Parallelogram,

I did'nt mean evolution, I mean when you said trnashumanism, waht I was asking, was if you were using transhumanism in general when saying that it's the logical next step, I agree by the way, but what I was getting at, is you could'nt say transhumanism is one complete phase of evolution, since it would/will be more like an advancement, and splitting of the species into many seperate more advanced forms,
E.G Homo Cyberneticus (Cyborg), Homo Geneticus (Enhanced genome) etc.

A Transhumanist is someone who basicall accepts the belief structure of Transhumanism. Transhumanism is an Idological merging of two belief structure, Secular Humanism and Futurism. We believe that Humans as we stand right now are well Imperfect is not that right word as Perfection is an illusion, but we believe that we should take hold of evolution by the scruff of it's neck and start to push our collective species forward again as Natural Selection is pretty much a moot force with Humanity now.

It's more then just Improving humanity through Genetics, Biological Engineering(different then genetics but similiar), Nanotechnology, Cybernetics, Artificial Intelligence and Life extension, it's how we deal and react to these technologies. We see the future rushing in on us and we believe that we need a roadmap in order to traverse it safely. We do not want a repeat of the 20th century Eugenics projects as we all know how they turned out.

Most Transhumanists believe that this technology should not be forced upon the individual and that it should only be undertaken by a consenting adult who fully understands the ramifications of his/her actions in seeking to improve their own body/mind.

Some of us yearn for a body that can live for hundreds of years and withstand the rigors of Space Exploration while others yearn to be able to have a Photographic Memory and an Intellect several orders of magnitude greater then the smartest Human today.

There is really no one correct definition of the actual term as we come in many stripes and colors and are non-denominational and welcome people of faith as well as atheists. Unfortunately most of us are White Male Atheists which is a problem we have to rectify if we're going to be seen as an inclusive group of like minded individuals.

My brand of TSism is something called Transhuman Anarchism. It's rather new and ununified right now but our numbers are growing.

Political Freedom: Against the tyranny of government.
Economic Freedom: Against the tyranny of capitalism.
Biological Freedom: Against the tyranny of genes.

There are the basic freedoms that are near and dear to my heart.

Here is the one book that made me a Transhumanist and also set me towards the path to becoming an Engineer.

www.foresight.org...

Here is a guide on the values of alot of Transhumanists. I don't agree with it 100% but it gave me some idea on what this Ideology is all about.

www.nickbostrom.com...

I end with some quotes pertinent to this discussion.

Peter Kropotkin
True progress lies in the direction of decentralization, both territorial and functional, in the development of the spirit of local and personal initiative, and of free federation from the simple to the compound, in lieu of the present hierarchy from the centre to the periphery.

A picture describing on what I see as a fools paradise.

Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence, and the gift of revulsion against its implications.

Richard Dawkins
Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something which no other species has ever aspired to.

Jeremy Bentham
Dream not that men will move their little finger to serve you, unless their advantage in so doing be obvious to them. Men never did so, and never will, while human nature is made of its present materials.

Edward O. Wilson
Homo sapiens, the first truly free species, is about to decommission natural selection, the force that made us. Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.

George Orwell
So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing.

Voltaire
Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

Eventually most of Sentient Society will be made of Transitional Humans diverging into multiple species. Will it lead to Utopia? I hope not. Why? Here is the definition of a Utopia.

Utopia
An ideal place or state. Any vision of a socially and politically perfect society. From Greek roots, it derives its meaning from the words outopia, meaning "no place" and eutopia, meaning " a place where everything is right." In a sense, a utopian land in fiction becomes both a place that never quite existed as it is portrayed and a place where everything seems perfect. It is an imagined world.

Make what you will of this.

[edit on 15-2-2006 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by iori_komei

I did'nt mean evolution, I mean when you said trnashumanism, waht I was asking, was if you were using transhumanism in general when saying that it's the logical next step, I agree by the way, but what I was getting at, is you could'nt say transhumanism is one complete phase of evolution, since it would/will be more like an advancement, and splitting of the species into many seperate more advanced forms,
E.G Homo Cyberneticus (Cyborg), Homo Geneticus (Enhanced genome) etc.

Oh, yes, that's what I meant, Transhumanist technology in general; I don't see a discrete label being applied to all branches of Transhumans. I think we'd keep the 'Homo sapiens' thing around, since, even in the case of genetic manipulation, we'd still technically share the same base DNA with our ancestors.

So I think the addition of technology to the human body will supplant biological evolution, or in any case render it all but moot... of course, the technology we apply in this way will run the full gamut of forms and applications, so I tend to look at all of it as falling under the label of Transhumanism.

Yup I agree. This is not a pointless post.

It's a /bump Sorry mods.

I've believed in Transhumanism for a long time but never knew it had a name until quite recently. I see no reason why we should be afraid to improve ourselves beyond what biology had planned for us. Anything else is archaic primitivism in my opinion. If history shows anything its that it is written by those who embrace progress and don't cling to antiquated notions regarding technology.

I guess because I have asthma and bad knees I realize just how much better my life would be if I could swap out my defective parts for superior replacements.

Im pretty sure Im down with it. I mean im influenced by the Heinlein Sci-fi and kinda hope for the empowerment of individuals thru technology..but Im not exactly opposed to the free market..still there are huge economic issues with such fundamentally altered people so maybe some period of anarchy would even be necessary in transition to some new form of social cohesion. Ill get lasik as soon as I can afford to, nanos when available and will voluntarily extend my life thru technology for as long as my mind can handle the stresses of existence.

Originally posted by boogyman
I guess because I have asthma and bad knees I realize just how much better my life would be if I could swap out my defective parts for superior replacements.

Yeah, Asthma does suck doesn't it... my wrists are fairly fragile as well, will probably get carple tunnel in the next 20 years... eyesight usually starts to go at around mid 30s in the males in my family, so hopefully by then there will be corrective procedures available, though I'm willing to wait until they perfect the stuff. Thanks for the responses, I'd thought this thread had died.