H+ , yea or nay

[JBeukema]

Just curious as to everyone's thought on post- and transhumanism. Yea or nay and why?

 

[Si modo]

I dunno. But I am pro protons.

 

[kwc57]

Skynet

 

[strollingbones]

i have given it tought...as in borg's etc...how much of a person can be artifical now? survival is a strong instinct and if you can improve your life with science why not? we already are doing it...artificial limbs that sense nerve impluses and mimic movement. pacemakers to regular the heart....electric probs for seizures and turrets.

then one has to deal with the issue of a 'superior race' due to engeneering

 

[JBeukema]

then one has to deal with the issue of a 'superior race' due to engeneering

No more than we now have a super race thanks to improved medicine and nutrition. I see no reason to believe these technologies will lead to anything other than greater diversity and variation among those who embrace it, as they each seek to fulfill their own visions.

 

[hjmick]

then one has to deal with the issue of a 'superior race' due to engeneering

No more than we now have a super race thanks to improved medicine and nutrition. I see no reason to believe these technologies will lead to anything other than greater diversity and variation among those who embrace it, as they each seek to fulfill their own visions.

Really? A "super race thanks to improved medicine and nutrition?" I think just the opposite is true. Due to improved medicine and care as well as nutrition, I am convinced there are more stupid people in the world today. Doctors today are better able to save the lives of the terminally stupid. Actions that would have once culled them from the herd are now mere inconveniences.

 

[JBeukema]

You seem to have somehow read my post as saying the opposite of what it said

My argument is that cybernetics and, to a lesser extent, transhumanism would have the same effects as modern medicine- the preservation of both desirable and less desirable persons.

 

[lizzie]

Nay- I like my humans flawed and imperfect, as it adds interest and character into the equation.

 

[xotoxi]

H+ , yea or nay

I'm thinking more along the lines of H-minus.

 

[Big Fitz]

After spending time working on a shared post human transapient fiction universe with others from across the world (love the internet) I came to a realization...

Only communists and atheists believe in transhumanism.

I approached it as an interesting sci fi setting because it was fairly hard science fiction that nobody worth a damn was writing nowadays. But after delving into some of Vernor Vinge's work and other "luminaries", I realized... yeah. It's a crap theory where they essentially create their god.

But after spending 3 years working on the project and every single solution they had built into the setting led to post-scarcity hedonic collectivism till someone somehow transcended into a messianic Nietzschian Ubermensch and ruled them all... perfectly... I realized I wasn't in the right place anymore. Human beings were only viewed as jungian archetypes with no personal drive, imperfection and self interest (enlightened or otherwise). They were viewed as insects... kinda like how many of the other creators viewed other people I think.

So, no. Transhumanism is the new atheist/collectivist figure of god in the philosopher and soon the machine if it is to be believed. But like most sci fi (particularly bad sci fi) it will end up in the 'amusing but wrong' pile soon enough.

 

[Big Fitz]

and here for H+ I was hoping for a breast cup debate.

 

[Old Rocks]

It's all about possibilities;

Anders Transhuman Page

 

[JBeukema]

Only communists and atheists believe in transhumanism.

Fail.

What do you call the perfect new bodies many strains of Christianity associate with the Second Coming, where those who were sick will be well and fit in New Jerusalem?

a messianic Nietzschian Ubermensch

have you ever actually read Also Spracht Zarathustra?

 

[JBeukema]

It's all about possibilities;

Anders Transhuman Page

Visual prosthesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BBC NEWS | Health | Brain chip reads man's thoughts ; Paralysed man sends e-mail by thought : Nature News

Michael J. Black: Neural Prosthesis Research Projects

http://www.vis.caltech.edu/Press/PDFs of journal articles/Press/Artifficial limbs wired.pdf

 

[Big Fitz]

And just in case someone's wondering why I don't respond to the posts from JBullshit and Ole Crocks... I've long ago put them on ignore, but couldn't help comment to other people on this thread even though it was started by someone on my ignore list.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

then one has to deal with the issue of a 'superior race' due to engeneering

No more than we now have a super race thanks to improved medicine and nutrition. I see no reason to believe these technologies will lead to anything other than greater diversity and variation among those who embrace it, as they each seek to fulfill their own visions.

Really? A "super race thanks to improved medicine and nutrition?" I think just the opposite is true. Due to improved medicine and care as well as nutrition, I am convinced there are more stupid people in the world today. Doctors today are better able to save the lives of the terminally stupid. Actions that would have once culled them from the herd are now mere inconveniences.

I think the OP more than proves your point.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Only communists and atheists believe in transhumanism.

Fail.

What do you call the perfect new bodies many strains of Christianity associate with the Second Coming, where those who were sick will be well and fit in New Jerusalem?

Pre-humanism. Our bodies will be restored to the perfect state in which they were created.

Nice try though, even if you again showed your total inability to comprehend complex concepts.

 

[Big Fitz]

Only communists and atheists believe in transhumanism.

Fail.

What do you call the perfect new bodies many strains of Christianity associate with the Second Coming, where those who were sick will be well and fit in New Jerusalem?

Pre-humanism. Our bodies will be restored to the perfect state in which they were created.

Nice try though, even if you again showed your total inability to comprehend complex concepts.

And Pre-humanism as you put it is man made by God, not man improved by self. It's an endemic meme among those who believe themselves to be divine unto themselves. Very common among atheists and lunatics like Shirley McClaine.

It is theorized by some religious scholars that Adam was 'superhuman' before he fell in sin. Some also theorize that the world itself was drastically different before the Flood and Garden of Eden stages of humanity, if you follow the Biblical order of events.

I dunno what to make of it. I do know that intellectual bootstrapping ourselves to a new level of collective consciousness, or ubermensch (yes the mispelling is deliberate) is pipedream.

 

[JBeukema]

Pre-humanism. Our bodies will be restored to the perfect state in which they were created.

Really? You'll be a blostocyst?

pre is still trans-, by the way