J. Hughes conducted a third survey of the World Transhumanist Association members in December. More than 700 transhumanists respondend this year, up from the 2005 and 2003 surveys. The full report is available here. One of the questions asked was which political label the members identified with. Since the IEET is the principal promoter of the term “technoprogressive” it was a gratifying surprise that fully 16% of the WTA members now identify themselves as “technoprogressives.”
Other than political identities, not much else changed in the biopolitical attitudes. There was still the same high level of consensus on the ten biopolitics questions that the WTA offered as a self-diagnostic in 2005 for whether one is a transhumanist or not. More 95% of transhumanists agree with five or more of these questions, and half of the transhumanists agreed with all ten:
Ten “Are you a Transhumanist?” Questions
Yeses
95% Do you believe that people have a right to use technology to extend their mental and physical (including reproductive) capacities and to improve their control over their own lives?
95% [Noes] Do you think human genetic engineering is wrong because it is “playing God”?
94% Do you think that by being generally open and embracing of new technology we have a better chance of turning it to our advantage than if we try to ban or prohibit it?
93% Do you expect human progress to result from human accomplishment rather than divine intervention, grace, or redemption?
93% Do you think it would be a good thing if people could become many times more intelligent than they currently are?
87% Do you think it would be a good thing if people could live (in good health) for hundreds of years or longer?*
83% Do you believe women should have the right to terminate their pregnancies?
82% Does your ethical code advocate the well-being of all sentient beings, whether in artificial intellects, humans, posthumans, or non- human animals?
80% Would you consider having your mind uploaded to computers if it was the only way you could continue as a conscious person?
77% Should parents be able to have children through cloning once the technology is safe?
* “In good health” was added in 2007
Link
IEET Blog