Cosmic Engineers Defend Transhumanism’s Radicalism

The Order of Cosmic Engineers are a group of transhumanists who are focused on “turning this universe into a ‘magical’ realm.” They focus on building their activity in online virtual reality worlds. They include IEET Board member Giulio Prisco and IEET advisor Martine Rothblatt. They have recently issued the “YES! to Transhumanism” statement which is a call to arms for defense of radical transhumanism against pressures to downplay the more challenging and futuristic aspects of the transhumanist perspective.

Am I the only one who thinks ‘Conservatism Plus’ is both oxymoronic and ironic?  H+ is at it’s core the very opposite of conservatism.  Perhaps they should simply call themselves Extropians 2, or neo-Extropians, or some such.  Ironic, in that it has been my experience going as far back as1991, that my left leanings put me in the deep minority within the transhumanist community.  Perhaps it is my ignorance of current transhumanist political demographics that confuse my understand C+ perceptions.  Does the transhumanist community lean left these days?

Check it out Paul: This is the politics question from a survey of transhumanists we’ve done since 2003:

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/tph07wta/

The full report is avaliable here:

http://transhumanism.org/resources/WTASurvey2007.pdf

Alas, I hadn’t read this manifesto as of this morning (my time) when I posted a longish piece over on Sentient Developments ... where I’m a guest blogger at the moment. My piece, which has been republished on this site, could almost be a reply to the manifesto, or position statement, but was not written with that intention.

Behind both pieces there is a debate that goes on and on, for good reasons - and I think it’s healthy that there are these different viewpoints being expressed.

Hi Russell - As one of the authors of this manifesto, I certainly agree that “it’s healthy that there are these different viewpoints being expressed”. I just read your new piece, which is very interesting. I think there is a time and a place for moderate and responsible transhumanism, and there is a time and a place for radical and visionary transhumanism. Each can be more appropriate for given issue and audience. Having viewpoints distributed across a wide range is healthy.

Transhumanists have always sought personal improvement; to free themselves from all the limitations of biology; to radically upgrade their mental and physical faculties; and to beat a path to the stars.

This is what transhumanism is. What it has always been. This is what transhumanism ought to continue to be.

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