From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Mon Jan 14 2002 - 11:11:45 MST
--> estropico >
> >From: Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se>
> >My claim in the paper was that humanism is integral to the concept
> >transhumanism, and if you leave out the humanism part you are not
> >talking about transhumanism. Part of this is purely semantic, since the
> >humanism part of the term transhumanism ought to signify something.
>
> Yes, it is semantic, but there is a deeper truth here too.
>
> Transhumanism without humanism is not transhumanism, you say - I might
> agree, but that is just an arbitrary definition.
>
> Why do I say that?
>
> We already have various political interpretations of transhumanism as
> described, for instance, in J. Hughes paper and some of those
> interpretations seem to care little for humanism. And lets not forget the
> Russian bolshevik cosmists (clearly among transhumanism's many
> forefathers).
>
> How did that happen, then?
>
> What they all did was exactly what I worry about: they adopted
> what I call the central meme of transhumanism (i.e. it is right to use
> technology to go beyond Homo Sapiens) and dropped the rest.
Here's a thought:
Those in the humanism camp see trans-humanism. Those in the
shackling-ubertech-to-favored-existing-failed-political-model camp see
transhuman-ism.
Funny things, words.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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