The IEET would like to re-introduce one of our contributors, Vladimir De Thézier.
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My name is Vladimir De Thézier.
Born in Montreal, I am a Haitian-Canadian man who prefers to be called a “North American” to acknowledge all the cultures which have influenced me. I’ve always felt that if one doesn’t indulge in national, ethnic or racial pride, one can avoid the cognitive dissonance brought upon by national, ethnic or racial shame.
I read widely as a youth, which nurtured my life-long rationalism and cosmopolitanism. However, at the age of 17, my alienation from apolitism and atheism drove me to a 10-year search for meaning. I explored a variety of ideologies and religions (from social anarchism to Co-Freemasonry!) but gradually became disillusioned with each of them.
My study of, and dismay at, the consequences of both nationalism and capitalism made me choose international social democracy as my political philosophy; while my introduction to neurotheology, which explains the evolutionary and neuro-psychological origins of spirituality, made me conclude that agnostic posthumanism was the only intellectually honest position for me to take.
In 2002, my aspiring work in hyperlink film screenwriting, and growing interest in the promises and dangers of emerging technologies, led me to embrace efforts by a new generation of futurists to expand the middle ground between technorealism and techno-utopianism as the most comprehensive synthesis of my goals.
As a technoprogressive social entrepreneur, I am currently developing Technoliberation, a project which supports conversation, collaboration, organization, and debate among liberal, social, and radical democrats from around the world all of whom share the sense that emerging, converging, disruptive global technological developments threaten unprecedented harm while they promise unprecedented emancipation for humanity. I want to stimulate citizens to think about the ways in which technology provokes us to rethink and reimagine the left wing of the possible.
As a technoprogressive creative professional, I am aware of the power of the media to create great social change. My goal is to deliver compelling entertainment through films and documentaries that will inspire audiences to get involved in the issues that affect us all.
But what does a technoprogressive believe you ask?
I can only speak for myself when I say that I believe democracy is a human invention and a political “technology” which historically is still very young and whose power and potential has neither been fully understood nor realized. As a human invention, it is imperfect and will always be but it also can be improved, just as a car or computer or, using a better analogy, a software programme, can be upgraded.
Politics is like the ”Operating System” of society and to remain free and prosperous, it is to our advantage, in addition to being our civic duty, to constantly improve democracy as the least worst of all possible political “Operating Systems”.
As a technoprogressive, I believe that we must continue tweaking the political technology of democracy to defuse our most pressing local, national and global problems. Otherwise, the realization that the barbarians have been within our gates all along will occur with the disorienting abruptness of a detonation.
Vladimir De Thézier is a social entrepreneur and creative professional. He served as Special Projects Manager for the IEET from January 2006 to December 2007. He writes the technoscience-focused progressive blog
Vangarde. De Thézier is currently developing
Technoliberation, a project which stimulates citizens to think about the ways in which technology provokes us to rethink and reimagine the left wing of the possible.
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