Interesting analysis as always, Corwyn!
When thinking of how the changed technological and economical climate
has affected the environmentalist movement, it makes sense to think
about how it has affected transhumanism. Compare the transhumanism of
the 80's and early 90's with today, and you see many changes there
too. The old megascale projects and grand space colonisation plans
have been replaced by bottom-up nanotech and infotech processes, just
to point at an obvious example.
One could argue that the religionising of the environment is the
result of many people being spoiled to some extent by a long period of
peace, prosperity and good environment - it is always possible to
demand a bit more than we have right now, and it often seems
reasonable. Especially when people are not aware of the complex web of
economic, social and technological relations that make up our society.
Why have all those nasty nuclear power plants when we have electricity
in the wall socket?
I think transhumanism can do a great deal of good by pointing at these
interrelations, making people realise that they cannot have (say)
advanced medicine without genetic engineering or a complex chemical
infrastructure or their favorite foreign foods without a globalised
market (or introduced species at home). This is the practical part,
but we should not be afraid of dealing with the ethical/spiritual side
too - we must be able to make a convincing argument for the ethics of
our ideas. Let's remind people that we are not just children of
Mother Earth but of Father Sun too - and in the long run we might want
to visit him.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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