A radical cyborg shared some of the interview that Extropy Institute's
Exponent conducted with Brian Alexander, a
Wired writer and author of
Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion [From "Exponent Newsletter" (11/15/03)]:
"Exponent: . In your opinion, does transhumanity have a particular political line of thinking that is evident in the underlying values of transhumanists?
BrianAlexander: I do recognize that within transhumanism, and even within extropy, there may be a wide variety of views on political philosophy. Just have a look at the past year on the extrope discussion group! This is a very important question for transhumanists....
...The minds of people are what really count. I think transhumanists have done a generally poor job of addressing fears, concerns, apprehensions of the general public about how biotech will affect people. There's a tendency to look down on such fears with disdain. But when Leon Kass and Francis Fukuyama and others appeal to fears, they talk about culture, society, religion, art, and human relations. People understand these things. This is what "Rapture" is about, really, the culture. The science places it in context but it is not, at heart, a science book. It's about hope. So if I were a transhumanist who wanted to make a difference, I'd research issues like population, resources, environment, social justice, human rights, art and the ways these will or will not be affected. When I give talks, these are the questions people are most interested in.
...transhumanism is now becoming bigger than Extropy or any one organization. I think this is a measure of Extropy's success, but also may mean that in the future extropy comes to be less and less important as the spawn swim on their own. As science catches up to Extropy's ideas, the ideas will spread outward into the general public, as "rapture" shows they already have, and the need for an organization like extropy will pass completely.
Also see
Jim Pethokoukis' interview with Alexander in USNWR online.
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