Subject: [extropy-chat] The Edmonton Sun on transhumanism

From: Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 12:40:31 +0200

The Edmonton Sun has an article on
transhumanism<http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2005/04/25/1011850-sun.html>.
The article is not negative, and certainly not as bad as other articles that 
we have seen. At the same time it illustrates the danger of quotes taken out 
of context. The statement "transhumanists fundamentally reject the idea of 
human nature", taken out of context, can be interpreted very bad. I would 
say, transhumanists fundamentally reject the idea that human nature is fixed 
and cannot be improved for the well-being of humans.
Excerpts: More people take advantage of new technologies to expand what the 
human body can do. "We're already a cyborg society," says Simon Smith, 
founder of the webzine BetterHumans and devotee of another 21st-century ism: 
transhumanism. Think of transhumanism as the logical outcome of a 
gadget-obsessed society. You know someone (or are someone) who can't leave 
the house without a cellphone, IPod and Blackberry. Transhumanists see a 
future in which people will incorporate that technology into their bodies - 
become digital. And it doesn't stop there."We fundamentally reject the idea 
of human nature," said James Hughes, executive director of the World 
Transhumanist Association and author of Citizen Cyborg.
Transhumanists identify a few preconditions for the future they want: a 
public willing to use science to tinker with their bodies and minds, 
technology that links the central nervous system to machines, and genetic 
techniques that expand physical abilities.
Transhumanists see humanity transcending biology by uploading consciousness 
into a computer and becoming both "virtual" and immortal - the sort of idea 
that gives nervous fits to traditionalists. Political economist Francis 
Fukuyama, a member of the U.S. President's Council on Bioethics, recently 
damned transhumanism as the "world's most dangerous idea."
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