Sad News: Ben Hyink

Ben Hyink was a passionate transhumanist and secular activist, and an intern and intern coordinator with the IEET. He helped organize and lead the Humanity+ Student Network (H+SN) and the Chicago chapter of Humanity+, co-wrote the “Humanity+ Student Leadership Guide,”, and was the recipient of the 2007 JBS Haldane award for outstanding Transhumanist Student of the year. Having struggled with depression he ended his life last week.

A graduate of Northwestern University (BA in Philosophy) at the end of his life he was a nursing student at DePaul University.

In lieu of flowers Ben’s parents request that gifts be made to the mental health NGO BringChange2Mind. commemorations can be recorded here

The essays that Ben published with the IEET can be read here.

My (J. Hughes’) personal reflection on Ben was that he was painfully shy in person, but a serious and committed intellectual online. Emails from Ben could be pages long as he worked through a complicated thought process. He was an example of a person who found his fullest potential and audience through electronic media, which made all the more interesting that he was pursuing nursing as a career - he wanted the satisfaction of helping people face-to-face despite the challenge that presented for him. We had recently corresponded about his writing about health care organization and policy for us from the new vantage of his nursing training. His enthusiasm and intellect will be missed.

Ben Hyink



George Dvorsky and Ben Hyink at Transvision 2007



J. Hughes presenting Ben the JBS Haldane Award at Transvision 2007