From: estropico > (estropico@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Jan 15 2002 - 06:40:50 MST
A few more thoughts on politics, if I may…
There is a business-speak term, which I cannot remember, for the situation
where a small company with a novel product or service is not the one to reap
the full benefits of its own innovativity. Bigger, older, more established
companies swoop-in once they realise the potential of the innovation and
succeed in making it a commercial success thanks to their established
networks, organisation, etc.
It’s quite possible that transhumanists will, one day, find themselves in
the position of that small company… (of course, this refers to the central
meme of transhumanism – let’s call it CMT for short – i.e. it is right to
use technology to improve on Homo Sapiens).
All developed societies have a political arena organised along a
centre-left/centre-right divide (plus various appendages). These are the
bigger, older, more established political entities that might, one day,
approriate the CMT.
There will be splits on this subject within both sides, as there are now on
a number of issues (also, significant sections will be *against* the CMT);
one side might be marginally more open to adopt it than the other; different
interpretations of it will appear, but at the end, the centre will win (as
it always does under normal circumstances in a democracy) and a common-sense
implementation of the CMT will become the norm (that is, unless the
religious/biological fundamentalists prevail and conquer the centre).
Our political goal, then, should be to make sure the political centre-ground
comes to absorb and accept the CMT, within the existing framework of liberal
democracy.
It’s called going mainstream.
* * *
There is a risk of re-inventing the wheel here, by trying to mould our
awareness of future technological possibilities onto existing political
ideologies (no transhumanist is promoting any wholly novel *political* idea,
as far as I can see).
Furhtermore, we risk putting off potential CMT supporters by espousing
minority political views (they must be minority views for some reason, after
all...)
Am I proposing an apolitical form of transhumanism, then?
Quite the opposite: I am proposing he introdution of the CMT on the centre
stage of politics and its acceptance by all sides to the point that it is
taken for granted.
In other words, the CMT-transhumanisation of all political thought.
Cheers,
Fabio
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