Political ideology
Transhumanist politics constitutes a group of political ideologies that generally express the belief in improving human individuals through science and technology.
The term "transhumanism" with its present meaning was popularised by Julian Huxley's 1957 essay of that name.[1]
Natasha Vita-More was elected as a Councilperson for the 28th Senatorial District of Los Angeles in 1992. She ran with the Green Party, but on a personal platform of "transhumanism". She quit after a year, saying her party was "too neurotically geared toward environmentalism".[2][3]
James Hughes identifies the "neoliberal" Extropy Institute, founded by philosopher Max More and developed in the 1990s, as the first organized advocates for transhumanism. And he identifies the late-1990s formation of the World Transhumanist Association (WTA), a European organization which later was renamed to Humanity+ (H+), as partly a reaction to the free market perspective of the "Extropians". Per Hughes, "[t]he WTA included both social democrats and neoliberals around a liberal democratic definition of transhumanism, codified in the Transhumanist Declaration."[4][5] Hughes has also detailed the political currents in transhumanism, particularly the shift around 2009 from socialist transhumanism to libertarian and anarcho-capitalist transhumanism.[5] He claims that the left was pushed out of the World Transhumanist Association Board of Directors, and that libertarians and Singularitarians have secured a hegemony in the transhumanism community with help from Peter Thiel, but Hughes remains optimistic about a techno-progressive future.[5]
In 2012, the Longevity Party, a movement described as "100% transhumanist" by cofounder Maria Konovalenko,[6] began to organize in Russia for building a balloted political party.[7] Another Russian programme, the 2045 Initiative was founded in 2012 by billionaire Dmitry Itskov with its own proposed "Evolution 2045" political party advocating life extension and android avatars.[8][9]
In October 2013, the political party Alianza Futurista ALFA was founded in Spain with transhumanist goals and ideals inscribed in its statutes.[10]
In October 2014, Zoltan Istvan announced that he would be running in the 2016 United States presidential election under the banner of the "Transhumanist Party."[11] By November 2019, the Party claimed 880 members, with Gennady Stolyarov II as chair.[12]
Other groups using the name "Transhumanist Party" exist in the United Kingdom[13][14][15] and Germany.[16]
According to a 2006 study by the European Parliament, transhumanism is the political expression of the ideology that technology and science should be used to enhance human abilities.[17]
According to Amon Twyman of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), political philosophies which support transhumanism include social futurism, techno-progressivism, techno-libertarianism, and anarcho-transhumanism. Twyman considers such philosophies to collectively constitute political transhumanism.[18]
Techno-progressives, also known as Democratic transhumanists,[19][20] support equal access to human enhancement technologies in order to promote social equality and prevent technologies from furthering the divide among socioeconomic classes.[21] However, libertarian transhumanist Ronald Bailey is critical of the democratic transhumanism described by James Hughes.[22][23] Jeffrey Bishop wrote that the disagreements among transhumanists regarding individual and community rights is "precisely the tension that philosophical liberalism historically tried to negotiate," but that disagreeing entirely with a posthuman future is a disagreement with the right to choose what humanity will become.[24] Woody Evans has supported placing posthuman rights in a continuum with animal rights and human rights.[25]
Riccardo Campa wrote that transhumanism can be coupled with many different political, philosophical, and religious views, and that this diversity can be an asset so long as transhumanists do not give priority to existing affiliations over membership with organized transhumanism.[26]
Truman Chen of the Stanford Political Journal considers many transhumanist ideals to be anti-political.[27]
Anarcho-transhumanism is a philosophy synthesizing anarchism with transhumanism that is concerned with both social and physical freedom respectively.[29] Anarcho-transhumanists define freedom as the expansion of one's own ability to experience the world around them.[30] Anarcho-transhumanists may advocate various praxis to advance their ideals, including computer hacking, three-dimensional printing, or biohacking.[31][29]
The philosophy draws heavily from the individualist anarchism of William Godwin, Max Stirner and Voltairine de Cleyre[32] as well as the cyberfeminism presented by Donna Haraway in A Cyborg Manifesto.[33] Anarcho-transhumanist thought looks at issues surrounding bodily autonomy,[34] disability,[35] gender,[34][29] neurodiversity,[36] queer theory,[37] science,[38] free software,[29] and sexuality[39] whilst presenting critiques through anarchist and transhumanist lens of ableism,[36] cisheteropatriarchy[34] and primitivism.[40] Much of early anarcho-transhumanist thought was a response to anarcho-primitivism. Anarcho-transhumanism may be interpreted either as criticism of, or an extension of humanism, because it challenges what being human means.[29]
Anarcho-transhumanists also criticise non-anarchist forms of transhumanism such as democratic transhumanism and libertarian transhumanism as incoherent and unsurvivable due to their preservation of the state. They view such instruments of power as inherently unethical and incompatible with the acceleration of social and material freedom for all individuals.[41] Anarcho-transhumanism is generally anti-capitalist, arguing capitalist accumulation of wealth would lead to dystopia while partnered with transhumanism, instead advocating for equal access to advanced technologies that enable morphological freedom and space travel.[42][43]
Anarcho-transhumanist philosopher William Gillis has advocated for a 'social singularity', or a transformation in humanity's morals, to complement the technological singularity. This social singularity will ensure that no coercion will be required to maintain order in a future society where people are likely to have access to lethal forms of technology.[44]
Democratic transhumanism, a term coined by James Hughes in 2002, refers to the stance of transhumanists (advocates for the development and use of human enhancement technologies) who espouse liberal, social, and/or radical democratic political views.[45][46][47][48]
According to Hughes, the ideology "stems from the assertion that human beings will generally be happier when they take rational control of the natural and social forces that control their lives."[46][49]The ethical foundation of democratic transhumanism rests upon rule utilitarianism and non-anthropocentric personhood theory.[50] Democratic transhumanists support equal access to human enhancement technologies in order to promote social equality and to prevent technologies from furthering the divide among the socioeconomic classes.[51]While raising objections both to right-wing and left-wing bioconservatism, and libertarian transhumanism, Hughes aims to encourage democratic transhumanists and their potential progressive allies to unite as a new social movement and influence biopolitical public policy.[46][48]
An attempt to expand the middle ground between technorealism and techno-utopianism, democratic transhumanism can be seen as a radical form of techno-progressivism.[52] Appearing several times in Hughes' work, the term "radical" (from Latin rdx, rdc-, root) is used as an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the root or going to the root. His central thesis is that emerging technologies and radical democracy can help citizens overcome some of the root causes of inequalities of power.[46]
According to Hughes, the terms techno-progressivism and democratic transhumanism both refer to the same set of Enlightenment values and principles; however, the term technoprogressive has replaced the use of the word democratic transhumanism.[53][54]
Hughes has identified 15 "left futurist" or "left techno-utopian" trends and projects that could be incorporated into democratic transhumanism:
These are notable individuals who have identified themselves, or have been identified by Hughes, as advocates of democratic transhumanism:[55]
Science journalist Ronald Bailey wrote a review of Citizen Cyborg in his online column for Reason magazine in which he offered a critique of democratic transhumanism and a defense of libertarian transhumanism.[22][23]
Critical theorist Dale Carrico defended democratic transhumanism from Bailey's criticism.[56] However, he would later criticize democratic transhumanism himself on technoprogressive grounds.[57]
Libertarian transhumanism is a political ideology synthesizing libertarianism and transhumanism.[45]
Self-identified libertarian transhumanists, such as Ronald Bailey of Reason magazine and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, are advocates of the asserted "right to human enhancement" who argue that the free market is the best guarantor of this right, claiming that it produces greater prosperity and personal freedom than other economic systems.[58][59]
Libertarian transhumanists believe that the principle of self-ownership is the most fundamental idea from which both libertarianism and transhumanism stem. They are rational egoists and ethical egoists who embrace the prospect of using emerging technologies to enhance human capacities, which they believe stems from the self-interested application of reason and will in the context of the individual freedom to achieve a posthuman state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.[60] They extend this rational and ethical egoism to advocate a form of "biolibertarianism".[58]
As strong civil libertarians, libertarian transhumanists hold that any attempt to limit or suppress the asserted right to human enhancement is a violation of civil rights and civil liberties. However, as strong economic libertarians, they also reject proposed public policies of government-regulated and -insured human enhancement technologies, which are advocated by democratic transhumanists, because they fear that any state intervention will steer or limit their choices.[23][61]
Extropianism, the earliest current of transhumanist thought defined in 1988 by philosopher Max More, initially included an anarcho-capitalist interpretation of the concept of "spontaneous order" in its principles, which states that a free market economy achieves a more efficient allocation of societal resources than any planned or mixed economy could achieve. In 2000, while revising the principles of Extropy, More seemed to be abandoning libertarianism in favor of modern liberalism and anticipatory democracy. However, many Extropians remained libertarian transhumanists.[45]
Critiques of the techno-utopianism of libertarian transhumanists from progressive cultural critics include Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron's 1995 essay The Californian Ideology; Mark Dery's 1996 book Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century; and Paulina Borsook's 2000 book Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High-Tech.
Barbrook argues that libertarian transhumanists are proponents of the Californian Ideology who embrace the goal of reactionary modernism: economic growth without social mobility.[62] According to Barbrook, libertarian transhumanists are unwittingly appropriating the theoretical legacy of Stalinist communism by substituting, among other concepts, the "vanguard party" with the "digerati", and the "new Soviet man" with the "posthuman".[63] Dery coined the dismissive phrase "body-loathing" to describe the attitude of libertarian transhumanists and those in the cyberculture who want to escape from their "meat puppet" through mind uploading into cyberspace.[64] Borsook asserts that libertarian transhumanists indulge in a subculture of selfishness, elitism, and escapism.[65]
Sociologist James Hughes is the most militant critic of libertarian transhumanism. While articulating "democratic transhumanism" as a sociopolitical program in his 2004 book Citizen Cyborg,[48] Hughes sought to convince libertarian transhumanists to embrace social democracy by arguing that:
Klaus-Gerd Giesen, a German political scientist specializing in the philosophy of technology, wrote a critique of the libertarianism he imputes to all transhumanists. While pointing out that the works of Austrian School economist Friedrich Hayek figure in practically all of the recommended reading lists of Extropians, he argues that transhumanists, convinced of the sole virtues of the free market, advocate an unabashed inegalitarianism and merciless meritocracy which can be reduced in reality to a biological fetish. He is especially critical of their promotion of a science-fictional liberal eugenics, virulently opposed to any political regulation of human genetics, where the consumerist model presides over their ideology. Giesen concludes that the despair of finding social and political solutions to today's sociopolitical problems incites transhumanists to reduce everything to the hereditary gene, as a fantasy of omnipotence to be found within the individual, even if it means transforming the subject (human) to a new draft (posthuman).[66]
See the article here:
Transhumanist politics - Wikipedia
- Lucid Dreaming & Dreamwork / Sinister Technology & the Paranormal - Coast To Coast AM - January 29th, 2024 [January 29th, 2024]
- AI Up Mi Duck: An Interactive Fiction Game Exploring ... - LeftLion - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Double bill: Vis Motrix & Atlas da Boca at Tipperary Dance ... - The Journal of Music - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Can Elon Musk make the human spirit immortal with a robot? - CNE.news - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Artists revved up by Creative Engine grants - Geelong Times - Geelong Times - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- How to face the climate crisis with Spinoza and self-knowledge - Aeon - August 24th, 2023 [August 24th, 2023]
- To be human is to be animal | Eric T. Olsen - IAI - August 20th, 2023 [August 20th, 2023]
- Transhumanism, AI, Singularity - How far is too far? - Fallbrook / Bonsall Villlage News - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- How 'cyborg feminism' confuses technology with women's progress - Washington Examiner - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- Reconnecting With Beans To Take The Power Back Over Our Food ... - ARC2020 - May 10th, 2023 [May 10th, 2023]
- The Great Nonsense of The Great Reset - LewRockwell - January 27th, 2023 [January 27th, 2023]
- The US Government and Its Military Have Declared War on ... - LewRockwell - January 27th, 2023 [January 27th, 2023]
- Tech for Me, but Not for Thee: Psalm 8 Meets Transhumanism - January 27th, 2023 [January 27th, 2023]
- What is transhumanism? Can humans and technology meld together? - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- Should We Fear the Future? The Philosophy of Transhumanism - TheCollector - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- Situation Update, Nov 1, 2022 - The transhumanism demonic AI takeover ... - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Dr. Tau Braun and the Health Ranger talk transhumanism, AI infiltration ... - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]
- Ancient Wisdom in Medicine / AI & Transhumanism | Coast to Coast AM - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]
- Fact check: False claim Biden's executive order limits human rights - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Transfection to Transhumanism - Part 1 - rumble.com - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- After Being Canceled, She Pivoted to Journalism - Daily Signal - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Steve Bannon throws support behind Alex Jones: "They're trying to break you as a man and they're trying to break your incredible... - August 10th, 2022 [August 10th, 2022]
- Elon Musk and a warning of dystopian future of AI: What is digital and biological computing? - DailyO - August 10th, 2022 [August 10th, 2022]
- The Myth of the Modern Self | Carl R. Trueman - First Things - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- Transhumanism: Evil Force Behind the NWO :: By Jonathan Brentner - July 13th, 2022 [July 13th, 2022]
- The Myth of Bodily Autonomy | Gene Veith - Patheos - July 13th, 2022 [July 13th, 2022]
- Barbara Marx Hubbard: Godmother of Transhumanism and Synthetic Spirituality - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- Simulacra in the Growing Armory of Thanatos - CounterPunch - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- Transhumanism: The Evil Force Behind the New World Order Jonathan ... - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Future Humans: Four Ways We May, or May Not, Evolve - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Crimes of the Future Explained: Transhumanism, Surgery as Sex, and Humanity's Frightening Evolution - Signal Horizon - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- A Turning Point in History Stand with Us - The Desert Review - May 31st, 2022 [May 31st, 2022]
- Sex-bots and foil hats: reconfiguring what it means to be human - Sydney Morning Herald - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Global Artificial Intelligence in Big Data Analytics and IoT Markets, 2022-2027: Focus on Data Capture, Information and Decision Support Services -... - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- What is transhumanism and how does it affect you? | World ... - April 29th, 2022 [April 29th, 2022]
- The Impossibility of Christian Transhumanism | Evolution News - April 29th, 2022 [April 29th, 2022]
- TV adaptation of The Wild airs brochure on March 16th - Vaughan Today - April 29th, 2022 [April 29th, 2022]
- The Impossibility of Christian Transhumanism | Wesley J. Smith - First Things - March 26th, 2022 [March 26th, 2022]
- Transhumanism: The Plot to Control Your Life! Jonathan ... - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- What is Technocracy and why does it matter? Hint ... - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- Transitions Film Festival 2022 Using The Power Of Film For Positive Future Change - scenestr - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk Noir Sports Fiction, Anyone? - The Crozet Gazette - February 5th, 2022 [February 5th, 2022]
- Replicas: on Rai 2 first tv the sci-fi with Keanu Reeves - D1SoftballNews.com - February 3rd, 2022 [February 3rd, 2022]
- Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea? - Reason.com - January 21st, 2022 [January 21st, 2022]
- Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Twenty-First Century ... - January 21st, 2022 [January 21st, 2022]
- Canadian Government Openly Embraces Transhumanism | Truth11.com - January 21st, 2022 [January 21st, 2022]
- Global Transhumanism Markets Report 2021 - Transformational Growth in Biological, Health, and Wellness Augmentation will Enable the Rise of Human 2.0... - December 15th, 2021 [December 15th, 2021]
- The best video games of 2021, and what to buy - Sydney Morning Herald - December 15th, 2021 [December 15th, 2021]
- Gene-editing, Moderna, and transhumanism | Christina Lin ... - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- Yuval Noah Harari Believes This Simple Story Can Save the Planet - The New York Times - November 9th, 2021 [November 9th, 2021]
- Authoritarianism and the Cybernetic Episteme, or the Progressive Disappearance of Everything on Earth - Journal #122 November 2021 - E-Flux - November 9th, 2021 [November 9th, 2021]
- Faith in -196C: pioneers of resurrection a photo essay - The Guardian - November 1st, 2021 [November 1st, 2021]
- WISekeys Founder and CEO Carlos Moreira was Interviewed by Steve Bannon on Warroom.org About The transHuman Code Bestseller Book and the Need to... - November 1st, 2021 [November 1st, 2021]
- Six books to read this winter - Maclean's - November 1st, 2021 [November 1st, 2021]
- Transhumanism - reddit - October 21st, 2021 [October 21st, 2021]
- COVID19, The Great Reset, and Transhumanism Thuletide - October 21st, 2021 [October 21st, 2021]
- Dr. Carrie Madej Covid Shots, DNA and Transhumanism ... - October 21st, 2021 [October 21st, 2021]
- Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov - Wikipedia - October 21st, 2021 [October 21st, 2021]
- No, the Moderna and Pfizer RNA vaccines for COVID-19 will ... - October 21st, 2021 [October 21st, 2021]
- Transhumanists Gather In Spain To Plan Global Transformation - The Federalist - October 15th, 2021 [October 15th, 2021]
- Neurotechnology: The brain wired for healthcare - ITWeb - September 16th, 2021 [September 16th, 2021]
- The afterlife is having a moment. 'Beyond' will help Christians and nonbelievers alike discuss what lies beyond the grave. - America Magazine - September 14th, 2021 [September 14th, 2021]
- more and more humans are born with an extra artery in the arm CVBJ - Central Valley Business Journal - August 30th, 2021 [August 30th, 2021]
- "My concern is that companies are anticipating the metaverse" - Release - Tech News Inc - August 16th, 2021 [August 16th, 2021]
- Crypto leaders are obsessed with life extension. Here's why Cointelegraph Magazine - Cointelegraph - August 14th, 2021 [August 14th, 2021]
- 'Glitchpunk' Available On Steam Early Access - Trailer - WorthPlaying.com - August 11th, 2021 [August 11th, 2021]
- Technologies that change human nature must be treated with caution - Illinoisnewstoday.com - June 30th, 2021 [June 30th, 2021]
- Technology changing human nature must be treated with caution - Independent Australia - June 30th, 2021 [June 30th, 2021]
- Microdosing, And The Gentrification Of Psychedelic Culture. A Conversation With Sociologist Dimitrios Liokaftos - Forbes - June 30th, 2021 [June 30th, 2021]
- JG and the Robots Unveil AI-Driven Audiovisual for "Im Thomas Dolby" - EDM.com - June 30th, 2021 [June 30th, 2021]
- Neil Mackay's Big Read: The dawn of transhumanism - conversations with Dr David Eagleman, the scientist creating a world of real superhumans in his... - June 28th, 2021 [June 28th, 2021]
- A brief history of transhumanism, which imagines a future of perfection, immortality - Firstpost - May 20th, 2021 [May 20th, 2021]
- Into the Darkness Latest Trailer is All About the Double Barrel Shotgun - VRFocus - May 20th, 2021 [May 20th, 2021]
- Disinformation in a time of Covid-19: Weekly Trends in South Africa - Daily Maverick - May 20th, 2021 [May 20th, 2021]
- Elon Musk's Neuralink Has the Tech to Create Super Exotic Dinosaurs - Science Times - April 11th, 2021 [April 11th, 2021]
- Dr. Carrie Madej: COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are transhumanism ... - March 20th, 2021 [March 20th, 2021]
- Agenda 21 How Would You Like to be Forced into a Human ... - March 20th, 2021 [March 20th, 2021]
- In single-player, Disintegration feels like the real Halo 2 to me - Eurogamer.net - March 16th, 2021 [March 16th, 2021]
- Law professor's book examines legal actions impacting future generations | University of Hawaii System News - UH System Current News - February 25th, 2021 [February 25th, 2021]
- Entrepreneur Samuel Cardillo and the Story of Geospatial Intelligence Firm Shadowbreak Intl - Benzinga - February 25th, 2021 [February 25th, 2021]