Volume 1, Issue 2
2nd Quarter, 2006
James Hughes, Ph.D.
page 7 of 8
There are many constituencies to whom we need to reach out as we develop our arguments about why the human enhancement movement, the transhumanist movement, and the movement for the kinds of society that we want to see created, speaks to their concerns. These include:
While all these movements have within them Luddite wings, they also have within them people who are open to the message of technological self-determination and technological empowerment. One example is the disabled Michael Chorost, who wrote a book embracing the notion that he is a cyborg, saying, "I was empowered, I was liberated as a human being, because I had a computer inside my body."
Feminists are beginning to look at India and China and say, "We have concerns about sex selection, but we do not think that all Indian and Chinese women should have their rights to control their own reproduction taken away because of concerns about sex selection. Maybe the right to germinal choice[1] is more important," and so on and so forth. Transgender activists have been some of the first and most courageous body modifiers in our country.
The WTA recently conducted a survey of its members, asking them about their politics and religion. The results illustrate the diversity of the organization. Members include libertarians, conservatives, upwingers, Democrats, U.S. liberals, left anarchists, communists, and not-politicals. It can be difficult at times in our organization to have so much diversity; it is very frothy and we have lots of good arguments. The WTA is not as diverse religiously. It is mostly an atheist movement at this point, but there are Buddhists, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslims.
Democratic Transhumanism
My book, “Citizen Cyborg”, is not only an argument for transhumanism, but also for a particular social democratic stance within transhumanism. The values that we need to embrace are not just the values of liberty, but also the values of solidarity. We must see ourselves as a movement that is trying to create a new polity. We are trying to create a new kind of citizenship, a new way that human beings can relate to each other. It is not just about each person's individual right to go off and become their own personal god, but it is about creating a new society. It is also about trying to assure that we all have equal access to these technologies as soon as possible so that when the Singularity[2] comes and all the cards are thrown up in the air, we have the best possible opportunity for not ending up with an inegalitarian outcome.
We need to embrace the fact that there is a legitimate role for regulation. On the one hand, we do need to be aware that the states and regulators may be on their way out as a way of governing politics. On the other hand, we need to recognize that states, regulation, and egalitarian distribution through collective action still play a necessary role in our society. If we create better means of accomplishing these things in the future, however, I am all for it.
Footnotes
1. Germinal Choice: Sowing the seeds of genius: in search of genetic excellence. The Repository for Germinal Choice is a sperm bank that only takes sperm from high-achieving donors such as Nobel Prize winners. Fortune; 2/3/1997; Brown, Ed. (back to top)
2. The Singularity is a common matter of discussion in transhumanist circles. There is no clear definition, but usually the Singularity is meant as a future time when societal, scientific and economic change is so fast we cannot even imagine what will happen from our present perspective, and when humanity will become posthumanity. Another definition is used in the Extropians FAQ, where it denotes the singular time when technological development will be at its fastest. Of course, there are some who think the whole idea is just technocalyptic dreaming. http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Singularity/ March 23, 2006 5:18PM EST (back to top)