I like the Kevin Kelly camp that sees advanced tech as behaving in a biological manner. In this interpretation, our tech is actually an extension of biology. The statement would be more like, "thank you Mother Nature, now let your progeny take over and speed things up a bit!".
Tim, I presume you mean this metaphorically to mean an appreciation for nature. If meant literally, I would ask which god and also how god can bless a process that isn't a person. Although, come to think of it, people sometimes as their god to "bless this home". I'm not sure how that's supposed to work, unless it actually means the family who live in the home.
As NASA's Chief Space Scientist Wernher Von Braun wrote after he came to America as Germany's top rocket scientist in World War 2 (captured by our allied intelligence service in WW2 the OSS in Operation Paperclip so the Soviets wouldn't win the Space Race) said so well: "My experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?" My Aunt Charlotte Friess (who worked at the Pentagon as the top-secret civilian photographer for the Department of Defense) helped convert the good gentleman genius who worked with Walt Disney to create educational science programs like NASA Spokesman Carl Sagan would do later with the famous COSMOS. Here is a fascinating interview with Von Braun to read and share soon now my good Sir Max. God bless you. Live long and prosper. https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/nazi-rocket-scientist-wernher-von-braun-converted-to-christ-interviewed-by-c-m-ward/
I appreciate the blessing, Tim, even if I don't share the underlying belief. I don't want to get diverted into a discussion of religion and its relation to science here. I'd be happy to do that in a more appropriate place -- I taught philosophy of religion for years. It's not relevant to this essay. Whether nature as it is today is purely the result of a naturalistic process or was initiated or even guided by a god, the result is the same. Our opportunity and responsibility to build on it is the same. Many Christians take the Genesis story as saying (in part) that God gift Earth and everything in it to us and it's up to us to do our best with it.
Please forgive me as I should have informed you already that I am a member of the Mormon Transhumanist Association as a baptized Brother of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with sixteen million members worldwide with Missionaries in over 188 nations for Faith, Hope, and Charity as we become Gods and Goddesses ourselves with Salvation in Science as the inevitable Singularity is near soon now. This is all about our Doctrine to exponentially evolve with eternal progression to endure to the end of eternity to infinity and beyond belief back to the future now as Mankind merges with Machinekind in a superb superior sentient sophisticated symbiotic symbiosis symphony satisfying sensational senses signaling significant signified strategic scientific sweet success Singularity soon as we conquer the Cosmos with our artificially intelligent allies for our most magnificent mutual future forever. Please read all about us in the critically acclaimed article in the prestigious New Yorker Magazine as I hope you find newfound respect for my beliefs that are becoming true facts with every passing day now thanks to intelligent cooperation. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/mormon-transhumanism-and-the-immortality-upgrade
Tim, I'm very familiar with Mormon transhumanists. Thanks to Lincoln Cannon, I spoke at a conference in SLC in 2010 on “Apotheosis and Perpetual Progress”.
That's awesome. Since I am a part-time Professor of Public Speaking in the OZARKS of Missouri, I am grading speeches now and will watch your talk today. I must say that I appreciate your dedication to deft detente Diplomacy to promote respect with logic and reason using the Socratic Method of debate to agree to disagree agreeably. I am now also a good recent friend of Lincoln Cannon and his colleague Carl Youngblood when I traveled to Provo, Utah in the summer of 2022 last year for Brigham Young University (BYU) Education Week with a wide range of speakers spreading scientific salvation and the existence of extraterrestrial advanced alien civilizations in worlds without number across our amazing expanding Universe as we work with wide wonder up the evolutionary technological Kardashev Scale for the far future of humanity where we will win to endure to the end of eternity in eternal bliss. https://futurism.com/the-kardashev-scale-type-i-ii-iii-iv-v-civilization
Max, If you're ever in London, UK I'd love to work with you to record a video version of this in a local photography studio I occasionally use in the style of John Perry Barlow's reading: https://vimeo.com/111576518 Onwards! 👏🏻
Thanks for the long reply. I can see we agree on many many things. The vaccines are nanotech, that’s just a fact, not widely advertised by the pushers. I do look forward to your essay.
The “horrible fantasy version that exists in my head” is the kind of transhumanism that is underway now and so far has killed more people than the holocaust of WWII and harmed countless more. The current estimates are that 20 million people worldwide have been killed by the recent mass nanotechnology vaccine programme which is ongoing. What fantasy? And whose head?
The snivelling rats that I speak of are the likes of Fauci and Bourla who were contracted by the ministry of defence to produce a bioweapon . The nanotechnology of the vaccination-that-cannot-be-named is by definition a bioweapon. See Karen Kingston’s work. She is a biotech insider and analyst who has worked with Pfizer and the likes in legal matters for decades. The contracts and papers clearly delineate the nature of this mRNA technology. Use of this vaccine technology is about to accelerate and will be used for every ‘ill’ facing mankind. This is being sold to us as medical technology and enhancement of the human being and life.
Current science is fixated by immortality, regeneration and external control of biological systems. See Michael Levine’s work, for example. Billions are spent on this kind of research worldwide. The external control is of paramount importance. Klaus Schwab in the ethics section of WEF nanotechnology document states that if the administration of nanotechnology to humans is deemed necessary in the interests of national security, then it will be given: this is the removal of consent under emergency use authorisation. The medical-industrial-complex is far larger than the military-industrial-complex.
The UK.gov paper “Human Augmentation- The Dawn of a New Paradigm” states that AI governance and leadership is not discussed in that paper. Government by AI? AI leadership? At what point will the transhumanists who want human augmentation to progress read these papers and pay attention to what is happening around them?
What flaws do you talk of? Senescence? Death? Recycling of matter through the earth to reappear in new forms and configurations? Where is the flaw?
What are these redundant organs you mention? I’ve yet to meet with a redundant organ in all my years of practice. I’ve not met any medical or scientific colleague talk about redundant organs.
Depression, anxiety, rage - these are human responses to the system that we live in.
Transhumanism is either part of posthumanism or the antecedent to posthumanism. As I understand it, to the posthumanist being human is but a notion, without status or a special place in the order of things. For this you’d have to eradicate subjective experience. As far as I see the transhumanism that is practiced - it is that humans are supremely special, have the potential to be as gods, is an extreme vanity or simply a fantasy at worst. How do you square the emerging technologies that are so lethal, with their use in human augmentation? Why do you relegate the transhumanism that is emerging now to the “NWO” and an evil fantasy. Do you not want to be dealing with these political realities? Will the transhumanists not discuss what is happening? Re AI, as transhumanists, do you feel you have an influence on the use of AI? Are we as humans included in making decisions about AI and our futures?
How does your transhumanism differ from the transhumanism of the “NWO” ?
I am not against augmentation per se: I prescribe and practice afterall. But the kind of augmentation we are undergoing now is clandestine, coercive and experimental and ultimately lethal - bringing premature death and disease. Any cognitive warfare paper will tell you that the current domain of war is the human and the battlefield is the mind. Let the great challenges of transhumanism improve the conditions in which humans exist so that they might reach their full potential. Or is the implied admission that improving conditions for humans is neither desirable nor possible. Those that can afford it and consent to experimentation hope to leap away from the stinking morass of humankind. Or is this transhumanist movement, especially the cryogenics faction, a kind of insurance policy?
I am in awe of Mother Nature. Our schemes are borne of us and are as part of Mother Nature as anything. To deny that fear does not play a part in driving any human effort to survive is disingenuous.
Have you read anything that I’ve written other than (possibly) the piece you’re commenting on?
First of all, don’t confuse me with Yuval Harari. From the little I’ve seen, he is saying nothing original but is saying things that I find worrying. He is part of the global elite, having major influence with Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum. He is loved by Gates, Obama, Zuckerberg – none of whom would look so favorably on me.
I suspect some of his disturbing comments are being taken out of context. From the little I’ve read or listened to I am disturbed by his talk of elites hacking human beings and then saying nothing about this being bad. He does talk about using crises as a change to change people and “make things more manageable”. This is scary. “Elites may gain the power to reengineer the future of life itself.” Again with the elites. “We agreed to be surveilled all the time.” No, we damn well do not!
I’m opposed to “The Great Reset” plan of the WEF. It’s more authoritarianism. It promotes crony capitalism (as opposed to free market capitalism that I support), a coercive program of pushing all things defined as “green”, pushing ESG, and an intensification of using “climate change” to push people into accepting less energy, less reliable energy, and numerous controls in the name of warding off a non-existent climate crisis.
It is true that there are some transhumanists who may fit your mental model quite well. The Technoprogressives are the most prominent example. These differ considerably in their social, economic, and political views from we O.G. transhumanists. Most transhumanists are libertarian or classical liberal or not far from those views.
“The kind of transhumanism that is underway now and so far has killed more people than the holocaust of WWII and harmed countless more.” I don’t believe that the vaccines have killed that many but I do think they have been pushed too hard. Ironically, I’ve long criticized the FDA for slowing drug development and enormously raising its costs. In the case of a new type of vaccine, mRNA-based, they bypassed the usual requirements. This seems backward. We were told the mRNA Covid vaccinate prevented transmission. That turned out to be completely false. Either they were lying or they made statements that were wildly too confident given our lack of experience with a new type of vaccine. All through the Covid experience, we have been told the “trust the science”, which translates to me as “don’t question, just accept what OUR scientists are telling you.”
The Covid vaccines were promoted far too widely, even after we knew that the danger to young, reasonably healthy people was small. I am and have always been opposed to compulsory Covid vaccination and to closing businesses. I also believe that the Covid vaccine kills some people. I haven’t looked into it to know how many but I’d be amazed if it was anything like as high as the 20 million you claim. I’ve seen some excess numbers for the years following vaccination that look odd and concerning, but I haven’t checked carefully to determine whether the vaccines may be responsible. (By the way, mRNA technology is not nanotechnology.) I did get the initial shots based on the information available at the time, but I have declined the boosters. The bad effects of these vaccines may well be worse than officials claim and it is disturbing that there has been a concerted effort to crush anyone who questions them. In general, I’m strongly pro-vaccine. We have essentially eradicated several diseases and greatly reduced the burden of others. The Covid vaccines do not deserve the same level of unthinking support given the new technology, the relative lack of testing, and the growing evidence of problems. In the end, I support each individual’s right to choose whether or not to take even a new, not well tested vaccine.
Anyway, this has nothing to do with transhumanism. Not all uses of technology are transhumanist.
“The snivelling rats that I speak of are the likes of Fauci and Bourla.” Okay, it’s a bit over the top but I’ll forgive you the use of term since you aren’t claiming it applies to people like me. I dislike Fauci and the CDC intensely. They have lied to us for years and demanded that we accept what they say, in Fauci’s case because he IS the Science. (That’s Science capitalized as opposed to real science which requires openness to criticism and testing and bows to no centralized authority.) I have criticized Fauci not only in comments on other people’s essays, but in an essay of my own. It’s on my former (barely seen) blog. I’ve been thinking of updating and adding to it and posting it here on Substack.
“Current science is fixated by immortality, regeneration and external control of biological systems.” I wish that were true! The life extension industry, although finally getting some funding, is still miniscule. All the big money continues to go into standard drug creation. Only on the edges are we seeing more promising investments and investigations.
“The external control is of paramount importance. Klaus Schwab in the ethics section of WEF nanotechnology document states that if the administration of nanotechnology to humans is deemed necessary in the interests of national security, then it will be given: this is the removal of consent under emergency use authorisation.” You have to separate the WEF types from transhumanism. I’m very aware of the additional controls that elites are pushing on us with the excuses of “crises” such as climate change, Covid, gender fantasy, and now AI. I’m also aware of the increasing censorship efforts by the elites, as revealed in detail by reporters such as Michael Shellenberg and Matt Tabibi.
Redundant organs: I didn’t use that term but I did refer to leftover organs that have no function. Of course, I was talking about the appendix. To be fair, it’s possible that it does have a function relating to gut bacteria but it’s clearly not essential since people do fine without one. Don’t get hung up on that. My point was that the human body, as a product of blind evolution, has all kinds of weaknesses that we could improve upon. I have had two major spinal problems – despite being an active person who is in good shape. My lower back is shaped in such a way as to make it uncomfortable to stand for long. I cannot do deadlifts, no matter how strictly, without risking injury. My eyes are far from 20/20. Don’t tell me that’s not a flaw. And our senses are extremely limited compared to those of some other animals.
“Depression, anxiety, rage - these are human responses to the system that we live in.” To some extent, I agree. Progressives are especially prone to depression and anxiety as several people have demonstrated. That political ideology promotes victimhood as a badge of honor, dismisses personal responsibility, blames others for everything, and encourages anger. However, I’m talking about anxiety, depression, rage, as well as dementia that afflict many people due to an accident of biology. There is only so much you can do to improve those conditions by your thoughts and actions. As I have written many, many times, my form of transhumanism is not focused on abolishing all suffering and difficulty. It IS in favor of abolishing involuntary, chronic, debilitating misery that has no benefit. Again, I stress, use of medical technologies to treat these conditions should be voluntary.
“Re AI, as transhumanists, do you feel you have an influence on the use of AI? Are we as humans included in making decisions about AI and our futures?” This tells me that you have not read much of my blog, since I’ve addressed AI multiple times.
This reply is already too long. I’m going to have to write an essay for this blog systematically distinguishing transhumanism as I see it and as I largely created, and the kind of technocratic, coercive, elitist transhumanism that you seem to be attacking.
I take issue with this idea that we are somehow ‘flawed’. What’s so terrible about death? What’s so terrible about the humility and wisdom gained through the very tough aspects of life?
What is this, to be immortal? Invulnerable? Directed by self/replicating intelligence? This is the thinking of psychopaths.
My guess is that THIS is a side show for the clandestine transhumanism that we are undergoing right now. No consent No BALLS to tell everyone what’s happening, no accountability. Snivelling little rats shrinking away from their part in a genocide and disablement of people.
It’s fear that drives transhumanism, a deep dark pathological fear of Mother Nature. “We will be as gods”. This is the new slavery, the new feudalism. But it’s those who worship at the feet of the AI demiurge and the fantasies of being gods who are the slaves.
You are confusing real transhumanism with some kind of horrible fantasy version that exists in your head -- and that's being propagated by people who apparently think all transhumanist are part of the globalist new world order.
Of course we are flawed. How can any sane person think otherwise. Many, many people suffer from depression, anxiety, and rage -- with roots in our biology. We are very poor at reasoning. We have left over organs with no current function that can kill us if they go bad. And on and on.
You are making up the idea that transhumanists want to abolish all difficulty and the wisdom that comes from dealing with it. Perhaps that describes David Pearce but hardly anyone else. My own approach is quite Nietzschean, seeking greater and grander challenges and growing stronger and wiser by confronting them.
I don't see literal immortality as an option. (Unless our current physics is seriously wrong.) For me, the transhumanist goal is being able to choose how long you live. I don't think you understand what a psychopath is.
What are you talking about in mentioning "no consent"? The transhumanist principle of morphological freedom specifically emphasizes the critical principle of individual choice in adopting any technology or its application. "Genocide"? WTF are you talking about? New technologies are helping people survive things that killed them. Disablement of people? Quite the opposite. Transhumanism is all about enhancement.
Calling us "sniveling little rats" is not going to encourage anyone to listen to you. Any more of that, and you will be banned here.
It's a serious error in reasoning to conclude that transhumanists *fear* nature because they want to improve on it. It's fear that drives people like you. Fear of change, fear of developments that challenges your long-standing, ingrained belief systems. Transhumanists are not worshipping at the feet of AI (by way, AI don't have feet). We see AI as an enormously powerful technology with potentially massive benefits and also risks (I see the risks as getting too much attention but other transhumanists disagree).
If that's your view, fine. But it's not at all the attitude in my essay. I express appreciation for the remarkable process that, over many millions of years, resulted in the glorious but flawed beings that are humans. Evolution got us this far. It's our opportunity and responsibility to take it from here.
I like the Kevin Kelly camp that sees advanced tech as behaving in a biological manner. In this interpretation, our tech is actually an extension of biology. The statement would be more like, "thank you Mother Nature, now let your progeny take over and speed things up a bit!".
And Mother Nature can hardly complain about our impatience when it was she who gave us brains capable of conceptual thought!
Word! Now let's make her proud and get the next part right!
God Bless Mother Nature! 🖖
Tim, I presume you mean this metaphorically to mean an appreciation for nature. If meant literally, I would ask which god and also how god can bless a process that isn't a person. Although, come to think of it, people sometimes as their god to "bless this home". I'm not sure how that's supposed to work, unless it actually means the family who live in the home.
As NASA's Chief Space Scientist Wernher Von Braun wrote after he came to America as Germany's top rocket scientist in World War 2 (captured by our allied intelligence service in WW2 the OSS in Operation Paperclip so the Soviets wouldn't win the Space Race) said so well: "My experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?" My Aunt Charlotte Friess (who worked at the Pentagon as the top-secret civilian photographer for the Department of Defense) helped convert the good gentleman genius who worked with Walt Disney to create educational science programs like NASA Spokesman Carl Sagan would do later with the famous COSMOS. Here is a fascinating interview with Von Braun to read and share soon now my good Sir Max. God bless you. Live long and prosper. https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/nazi-rocket-scientist-wernher-von-braun-converted-to-christ-interviewed-by-c-m-ward/
I appreciate the blessing, Tim, even if I don't share the underlying belief. I don't want to get diverted into a discussion of religion and its relation to science here. I'd be happy to do that in a more appropriate place -- I taught philosophy of religion for years. It's not relevant to this essay. Whether nature as it is today is purely the result of a naturalistic process or was initiated or even guided by a god, the result is the same. Our opportunity and responsibility to build on it is the same. Many Christians take the Genesis story as saying (in part) that God gift Earth and everything in it to us and it's up to us to do our best with it.
Please forgive me as I should have informed you already that I am a member of the Mormon Transhumanist Association as a baptized Brother of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with sixteen million members worldwide with Missionaries in over 188 nations for Faith, Hope, and Charity as we become Gods and Goddesses ourselves with Salvation in Science as the inevitable Singularity is near soon now. This is all about our Doctrine to exponentially evolve with eternal progression to endure to the end of eternity to infinity and beyond belief back to the future now as Mankind merges with Machinekind in a superb superior sentient sophisticated symbiotic symbiosis symphony satisfying sensational senses signaling significant signified strategic scientific sweet success Singularity soon as we conquer the Cosmos with our artificially intelligent allies for our most magnificent mutual future forever. Please read all about us in the critically acclaimed article in the prestigious New Yorker Magazine as I hope you find newfound respect for my beliefs that are becoming true facts with every passing day now thanks to intelligent cooperation. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/mormon-transhumanism-and-the-immortality-upgrade
Tim, I'm very familiar with Mormon transhumanists. Thanks to Lincoln Cannon, I spoke at a conference in SLC in 2010 on “Apotheosis and Perpetual Progress”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWILNddsatA
I'm happy to work together with you for our common goals.
That's awesome. Since I am a part-time Professor of Public Speaking in the OZARKS of Missouri, I am grading speeches now and will watch your talk today. I must say that I appreciate your dedication to deft detente Diplomacy to promote respect with logic and reason using the Socratic Method of debate to agree to disagree agreeably. I am now also a good recent friend of Lincoln Cannon and his colleague Carl Youngblood when I traveled to Provo, Utah in the summer of 2022 last year for Brigham Young University (BYU) Education Week with a wide range of speakers spreading scientific salvation and the existence of extraterrestrial advanced alien civilizations in worlds without number across our amazing expanding Universe as we work with wide wonder up the evolutionary technological Kardashev Scale for the far future of humanity where we will win to endure to the end of eternity in eternal bliss. https://futurism.com/the-kardashev-scale-type-i-ii-iii-iv-v-civilization
Have a read of this, Max. I’d like to know your thoughts.
https://josephsansone.substack.com/p/draft-ban-the-jab-county-ordinance
Max, If you're ever in London, UK I'd love to work with you to record a video version of this in a local photography studio I occasionally use in the style of John Perry Barlow's reading: https://vimeo.com/111576518 Onwards! 👏🏻
That has been suggested before and I'd really like to do it! I'll check out the link and keep in touch about London. I'll also send this via email.
Here’s something that may interest you..
https://rumble.com/v2zudz0-how-they-hook-up-human-bodies-to-the-internet-of-things.html
Thanks for the long reply. I can see we agree on many many things. The vaccines are nanotech, that’s just a fact, not widely advertised by the pushers. I do look forward to your essay.
The “horrible fantasy version that exists in my head” is the kind of transhumanism that is underway now and so far has killed more people than the holocaust of WWII and harmed countless more. The current estimates are that 20 million people worldwide have been killed by the recent mass nanotechnology vaccine programme which is ongoing. What fantasy? And whose head?
The snivelling rats that I speak of are the likes of Fauci and Bourla who were contracted by the ministry of defence to produce a bioweapon . The nanotechnology of the vaccination-that-cannot-be-named is by definition a bioweapon. See Karen Kingston’s work. She is a biotech insider and analyst who has worked with Pfizer and the likes in legal matters for decades. The contracts and papers clearly delineate the nature of this mRNA technology. Use of this vaccine technology is about to accelerate and will be used for every ‘ill’ facing mankind. This is being sold to us as medical technology and enhancement of the human being and life.
Current science is fixated by immortality, regeneration and external control of biological systems. See Michael Levine’s work, for example. Billions are spent on this kind of research worldwide. The external control is of paramount importance. Klaus Schwab in the ethics section of WEF nanotechnology document states that if the administration of nanotechnology to humans is deemed necessary in the interests of national security, then it will be given: this is the removal of consent under emergency use authorisation. The medical-industrial-complex is far larger than the military-industrial-complex.
The UK.gov paper “Human Augmentation- The Dawn of a New Paradigm” states that AI governance and leadership is not discussed in that paper. Government by AI? AI leadership? At what point will the transhumanists who want human augmentation to progress read these papers and pay attention to what is happening around them?
What flaws do you talk of? Senescence? Death? Recycling of matter through the earth to reappear in new forms and configurations? Where is the flaw?
What are these redundant organs you mention? I’ve yet to meet with a redundant organ in all my years of practice. I’ve not met any medical or scientific colleague talk about redundant organs.
Depression, anxiety, rage - these are human responses to the system that we live in.
Transhumanism is either part of posthumanism or the antecedent to posthumanism. As I understand it, to the posthumanist being human is but a notion, without status or a special place in the order of things. For this you’d have to eradicate subjective experience. As far as I see the transhumanism that is practiced - it is that humans are supremely special, have the potential to be as gods, is an extreme vanity or simply a fantasy at worst. How do you square the emerging technologies that are so lethal, with their use in human augmentation? Why do you relegate the transhumanism that is emerging now to the “NWO” and an evil fantasy. Do you not want to be dealing with these political realities? Will the transhumanists not discuss what is happening? Re AI, as transhumanists, do you feel you have an influence on the use of AI? Are we as humans included in making decisions about AI and our futures?
How does your transhumanism differ from the transhumanism of the “NWO” ?
I am not against augmentation per se: I prescribe and practice afterall. But the kind of augmentation we are undergoing now is clandestine, coercive and experimental and ultimately lethal - bringing premature death and disease. Any cognitive warfare paper will tell you that the current domain of war is the human and the battlefield is the mind. Let the great challenges of transhumanism improve the conditions in which humans exist so that they might reach their full potential. Or is the implied admission that improving conditions for humans is neither desirable nor possible. Those that can afford it and consent to experimentation hope to leap away from the stinking morass of humankind. Or is this transhumanist movement, especially the cryogenics faction, a kind of insurance policy?
I am in awe of Mother Nature. Our schemes are borne of us and are as part of Mother Nature as anything. To deny that fear does not play a part in driving any human effort to survive is disingenuous.
Have you read anything that I’ve written other than (possibly) the piece you’re commenting on?
First of all, don’t confuse me with Yuval Harari. From the little I’ve seen, he is saying nothing original but is saying things that I find worrying. He is part of the global elite, having major influence with Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum. He is loved by Gates, Obama, Zuckerberg – none of whom would look so favorably on me.
I suspect some of his disturbing comments are being taken out of context. From the little I’ve read or listened to I am disturbed by his talk of elites hacking human beings and then saying nothing about this being bad. He does talk about using crises as a change to change people and “make things more manageable”. This is scary. “Elites may gain the power to reengineer the future of life itself.” Again with the elites. “We agreed to be surveilled all the time.” No, we damn well do not!
I’m opposed to “The Great Reset” plan of the WEF. It’s more authoritarianism. It promotes crony capitalism (as opposed to free market capitalism that I support), a coercive program of pushing all things defined as “green”, pushing ESG, and an intensification of using “climate change” to push people into accepting less energy, less reliable energy, and numerous controls in the name of warding off a non-existent climate crisis.
It is true that there are some transhumanists who may fit your mental model quite well. The Technoprogressives are the most prominent example. These differ considerably in their social, economic, and political views from we O.G. transhumanists. Most transhumanists are libertarian or classical liberal or not far from those views.
“The kind of transhumanism that is underway now and so far has killed more people than the holocaust of WWII and harmed countless more.” I don’t believe that the vaccines have killed that many but I do think they have been pushed too hard. Ironically, I’ve long criticized the FDA for slowing drug development and enormously raising its costs. In the case of a new type of vaccine, mRNA-based, they bypassed the usual requirements. This seems backward. We were told the mRNA Covid vaccinate prevented transmission. That turned out to be completely false. Either they were lying or they made statements that were wildly too confident given our lack of experience with a new type of vaccine. All through the Covid experience, we have been told the “trust the science”, which translates to me as “don’t question, just accept what OUR scientists are telling you.”
The Covid vaccines were promoted far too widely, even after we knew that the danger to young, reasonably healthy people was small. I am and have always been opposed to compulsory Covid vaccination and to closing businesses. I also believe that the Covid vaccine kills some people. I haven’t looked into it to know how many but I’d be amazed if it was anything like as high as the 20 million you claim. I’ve seen some excess numbers for the years following vaccination that look odd and concerning, but I haven’t checked carefully to determine whether the vaccines may be responsible. (By the way, mRNA technology is not nanotechnology.) I did get the initial shots based on the information available at the time, but I have declined the boosters. The bad effects of these vaccines may well be worse than officials claim and it is disturbing that there has been a concerted effort to crush anyone who questions them. In general, I’m strongly pro-vaccine. We have essentially eradicated several diseases and greatly reduced the burden of others. The Covid vaccines do not deserve the same level of unthinking support given the new technology, the relative lack of testing, and the growing evidence of problems. In the end, I support each individual’s right to choose whether or not to take even a new, not well tested vaccine.
Anyway, this has nothing to do with transhumanism. Not all uses of technology are transhumanist.
“The snivelling rats that I speak of are the likes of Fauci and Bourla.” Okay, it’s a bit over the top but I’ll forgive you the use of term since you aren’t claiming it applies to people like me. I dislike Fauci and the CDC intensely. They have lied to us for years and demanded that we accept what they say, in Fauci’s case because he IS the Science. (That’s Science capitalized as opposed to real science which requires openness to criticism and testing and bows to no centralized authority.) I have criticized Fauci not only in comments on other people’s essays, but in an essay of my own. It’s on my former (barely seen) blog. I’ve been thinking of updating and adding to it and posting it here on Substack.
“Current science is fixated by immortality, regeneration and external control of biological systems.” I wish that were true! The life extension industry, although finally getting some funding, is still miniscule. All the big money continues to go into standard drug creation. Only on the edges are we seeing more promising investments and investigations.
“The external control is of paramount importance. Klaus Schwab in the ethics section of WEF nanotechnology document states that if the administration of nanotechnology to humans is deemed necessary in the interests of national security, then it will be given: this is the removal of consent under emergency use authorisation.” You have to separate the WEF types from transhumanism. I’m very aware of the additional controls that elites are pushing on us with the excuses of “crises” such as climate change, Covid, gender fantasy, and now AI. I’m also aware of the increasing censorship efforts by the elites, as revealed in detail by reporters such as Michael Shellenberg and Matt Tabibi.
Redundant organs: I didn’t use that term but I did refer to leftover organs that have no function. Of course, I was talking about the appendix. To be fair, it’s possible that it does have a function relating to gut bacteria but it’s clearly not essential since people do fine without one. Don’t get hung up on that. My point was that the human body, as a product of blind evolution, has all kinds of weaknesses that we could improve upon. I have had two major spinal problems – despite being an active person who is in good shape. My lower back is shaped in such a way as to make it uncomfortable to stand for long. I cannot do deadlifts, no matter how strictly, without risking injury. My eyes are far from 20/20. Don’t tell me that’s not a flaw. And our senses are extremely limited compared to those of some other animals.
“Depression, anxiety, rage - these are human responses to the system that we live in.” To some extent, I agree. Progressives are especially prone to depression and anxiety as several people have demonstrated. That political ideology promotes victimhood as a badge of honor, dismisses personal responsibility, blames others for everything, and encourages anger. However, I’m talking about anxiety, depression, rage, as well as dementia that afflict many people due to an accident of biology. There is only so much you can do to improve those conditions by your thoughts and actions. As I have written many, many times, my form of transhumanism is not focused on abolishing all suffering and difficulty. It IS in favor of abolishing involuntary, chronic, debilitating misery that has no benefit. Again, I stress, use of medical technologies to treat these conditions should be voluntary.
“Re AI, as transhumanists, do you feel you have an influence on the use of AI? Are we as humans included in making decisions about AI and our futures?” This tells me that you have not read much of my blog, since I’ve addressed AI multiple times.
This reply is already too long. I’m going to have to write an essay for this blog systematically distinguishing transhumanism as I see it and as I largely created, and the kind of technocratic, coercive, elitist transhumanism that you seem to be attacking.
I take issue with this idea that we are somehow ‘flawed’. What’s so terrible about death? What’s so terrible about the humility and wisdom gained through the very tough aspects of life?
What is this, to be immortal? Invulnerable? Directed by self/replicating intelligence? This is the thinking of psychopaths.
My guess is that THIS is a side show for the clandestine transhumanism that we are undergoing right now. No consent No BALLS to tell everyone what’s happening, no accountability. Snivelling little rats shrinking away from their part in a genocide and disablement of people.
It’s fear that drives transhumanism, a deep dark pathological fear of Mother Nature. “We will be as gods”. This is the new slavery, the new feudalism. But it’s those who worship at the feet of the AI demiurge and the fantasies of being gods who are the slaves.
You are confusing real transhumanism with some kind of horrible fantasy version that exists in your head -- and that's being propagated by people who apparently think all transhumanist are part of the globalist new world order.
Of course we are flawed. How can any sane person think otherwise. Many, many people suffer from depression, anxiety, and rage -- with roots in our biology. We are very poor at reasoning. We have left over organs with no current function that can kill us if they go bad. And on and on.
You are making up the idea that transhumanists want to abolish all difficulty and the wisdom that comes from dealing with it. Perhaps that describes David Pearce but hardly anyone else. My own approach is quite Nietzschean, seeking greater and grander challenges and growing stronger and wiser by confronting them.
I don't see literal immortality as an option. (Unless our current physics is seriously wrong.) For me, the transhumanist goal is being able to choose how long you live. I don't think you understand what a psychopath is.
What are you talking about in mentioning "no consent"? The transhumanist principle of morphological freedom specifically emphasizes the critical principle of individual choice in adopting any technology or its application. "Genocide"? WTF are you talking about? New technologies are helping people survive things that killed them. Disablement of people? Quite the opposite. Transhumanism is all about enhancement.
Calling us "sniveling little rats" is not going to encourage anyone to listen to you. Any more of that, and you will be banned here.
It's a serious error in reasoning to conclude that transhumanists *fear* nature because they want to improve on it. It's fear that drives people like you. Fear of change, fear of developments that challenges your long-standing, ingrained belief systems. Transhumanists are not worshipping at the feet of AI (by way, AI don't have feet). We see AI as an enormously powerful technology with potentially massive benefits and also risks (I see the risks as getting too much attention but other transhumanists disagree).
Yeah, F.U. Mother Nature, you did a pretty mediocre job, we’ll show you how to do it better. Right!?
If that's your view, fine. But it's not at all the attitude in my essay. I express appreciation for the remarkable process that, over many millions of years, resulted in the glorious but flawed beings that are humans. Evolution got us this far. It's our opportunity and responsibility to take it from here.