Pellissier Appointed as IEET Affiliate Scholar

We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Hank Pellissier as an Affiliate Scholar of the IEET.

Hank is already well-known to readers of our blog as one of our most prolific and provocative writers. He has, in fact, authored dozens of often-controversial transhumanist / futurist articles for the IEET, H+ Magazine, the World Future Society, and other publications, occasionally under his nom de plume, “Hank Hyena.” He lectured at the H+ Summit in Harvard on “Global Transhumanism,” he co-authored the “Extropist Manifesto,” and his e-book entitled Transhuman Conversion: the Pre-Singularity Era 2010-2040 will be available in August 2011.

A journalist, Hank is the “Local Intelligence” columnist for the New York Times (San Francisco edition) and a frequent contributor to GreatSchools.org. Past work includes a daily column for Salon.com (“Naked World”), two columns for SfGate.com (“Urban Animal” and “Odd Barkings”), and a monthly column for SF Metropolitan (“Frisco Utopia”), plus numerous features.

Hank has also performed edgy solo shows; the SF Chronicle labeled him, “San Francisco’s performance art bad boy.” His poetry is anthologized in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, he’s been a SF Poetry Slam co-champion, and his performance pieces have toured eleven states and six international countries.

As an events producer, Hank instigated the SF DADA Festival, the SF Buddhist Festival, the Bay Area Muslim Performance Festival, the world’s first Atheist Film Festival, and North Beach Street Utopia. He also ran the “Hyena Comedy Institute” for five years, training stand-ups and producing 80+ shows.

Additionally, he founded The Kids’ Co-op Inc., a non-profit that launched two SF preschools and donated funds, food, and school supplies to ten foreign locales, primarily the Philippines, where seven hectares of agricultural land were purchased to enable a Mangyan village to self-subsist. Academically, he has a BA in History and an MA in Humanities/Religious Studies.

Hank enjoys forecasting trends, illustrating scenarios, and propounding solutions, on topics such as shifting demographics, feminism, culture, economics, urban planning, social organization, religion, sexuality, gender, food, and health/longevity issues. His hobbies include traveling and exercising with his triathlete wife and two hyperactive daughters, but mostly, he prefers to just research, write, and argue online with readers who dispute his essay’s contentions. He’s available for freelance writing assignments and speaking engagements.

A sampling of Hank’s articles: