>(snip)
> In other words, transpersonalists believe the transition to the "The
> Level Above Human" to be becoming one with God, Atman, The Ultimate One,
> The Aliens(?), whereas transhumanists tend to believe the transition to
> the "The Level Above Human" to be in a sense becoming a discrete and
> uniquelly individual "god" or uberman(sp?) ... per say. For the former
> the transition is and ends in itself, whereas for the latter the
> transition is a means for something always greater.
>
> The similarity in names is unfortunate. Personally I find
> transpersonalism repulsive.
>
Yes, this is stated very well. The "disturbing" element that Tony mentioned
may have more to do with stirring up people's misconceptions about
Extropians. Transhumanists and Techno-Immortalist advocates (Cryonicists for
example) are often seen by outsiders as " just another cult", " search for an
eternal" - "a religion based on science" - "leaps of faith", etc. These kind
of views are understandable, unless we correct them decisively.
The major difference in *Extropians* ( Transhumans come in many shapes and
sizes) is the basic objectivist notion that any form of mysticism is anti-
life, deathist and self immolating. IMO, this sets a precendence for dynamic
( as opposed to, I supose, passive or deathist) optimism (this Hale-Bopp
incident is an example of the worst kind of passive optimism I have heard of
to date).
GC
[BTW - Re: Godlike Uberpeople- I liked 'descrete individual' but think that
semantically, God and Uber(over) are misleading because they conjure up
images of cults and political memage of the past...and would prefer new memes
to express improving humans that do not suggest (by proxy) "RULING" over
inferior classes, but rather a progession of personal posthumanity. I like
that creative Extropians are always coining new phrases, and making new
paradigms! Anyone take the bait?]