Two questions

O'Regan, Emlyn (Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 13:08:30 +1000

Two questions, for all those who like a debate:

  1. In some sense humans have been augmented since the first person belted someone about the chops with a bit of bone, some hundreds of thousands of years ago. Ever since then, we rely on our civilisation and our technology to achieve what we do, and to be who we are. We are not the same people without it.

Given this (doesn't that come easily!), what is transhumanism? How is a transhuman not merely a human (albeit further augmented). I suspect that the impulses that drive us technologically forward, and which are particularly pronounced in the posts to the Extropians list, to use technology to make magic, are entirely human, and will remain no-matter what we do to ourselves in the future.

2: Some people seem to have an idea that life-extension will propagate out to everybody, regardless of colour or creed, or the size of his/her bank account. Please justify this! Life extension seems particularly prone to being a haven for the wealthy, as I see it, because it is bound to be expensive for a long time. Actually, I find that I can't justify that statement, so please shoot it down.

I am not a good faithful believer in capitalism, and I've never been very interested in making money for its own sake. Now I'm thinking that accumulating wealth may actually be incredibly important, if I'm going to live for some ridiculous span of time (and I am, you know).

Does anyone think I'll be getting life-extension under government health cover?

Emlyn