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==Criticism==
==Criticism==
Rebekah Elkerton warns that, while technology may introduce opportunities for liberation, wealth inequality has oppressive implications for transhumanist politics, as transhumanist goals rely on access to this technology.<ref name=elkerton-gems-2015>{{cite journal|last=Elkerton|first=Rebekah|title=Collective Snapshots Of Contemporary Feminist (Dis)Courses|url=http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/gems/article/download/5617/5379|format=[[PDF]]|journal=GEMS (Gender, Education, Music, & Society)|date=March 2015|volume=8|issue=3|pages=12–13|quote=Transhumanist goals depend on access to technology and healthcare. Yet access to these resources worldwide is primarily based on wealth; therefore transhumanist enhancements cannot theoretically or practically be distributed equally to all people. [...] While there may be advantages and liberation through some of the opportunities within technology, there is also an increased risk of discriminatory practices and divides within society. Looking forward, feminists will have to continue to weigh the benefits of new transhumanist technologies against the oppressive implications of transhumanist politics.}}</ref> Some transhumanists question the use of politicizing transhumanism, and Truman Chen of the ''Stanford Political Journal'' considers many transhumanist ideals to be anti-political.<ref name=chen-vacuity-stanford-2014>{{cite web|last=Chen|first=Truman|title=The Political Vacuity of Transhumanism|url=http://stanfordpolitics.com/2014/12/the-political-vacuity-of-transhumanism/|website=Stanford Political Journal|date=15 December 2014|quote=Even some transhumanists have criticized the emergence of the Transhumanist Party, questioning the utility of politicizing transhumanist goals. In reality, the ideals the Transhumanist Party embodies are anti-political.}}</ref>
Some transhumanists question the use of politicizing transhumanism, and Truman Chen of the ''Stanford Political Journal'' considers many transhumanist ideals to be anti-political.<ref name=chen-vacuity-stanford-2014>{{cite web|last=Chen|first=Truman|title=The Political Vacuity of Transhumanism|url=http://stanfordpolitics.com/2014/12/the-political-vacuity-of-transhumanism/|website=Stanford Political Journal|date=15 December 2014|quote=Even some transhumanists have criticized the emergence of the Transhumanist Party, questioning the utility of politicizing transhumanist goals. In reality, the ideals the Transhumanist Party embodies are anti-political.}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 00:53, 7 February 2016

Transhumanist politics constitute a political ideology that expresses the belief in technology's potential to perfect the individual.[1] Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan claims that the transhumanism movement aims to improve humanity with technology and science, and he gives life extension and human enhancement as examples of transhumanists' ideas.[2] Jeanine Thweatt-Bates considers it impossible to define transhumanist politics as one set of beliefs, as the transhumanist movement includes opposite political perspectives on the "central issue" of regulating technology.[3] James Hughes has noted the dynamic between left-leaning and right-leaning visions for transhumanism and the future of technology and human enhancement.[citation needed]

History

James Hughes describes transhumanist politics as a part of a three-hundred-year-long history that began in the Age of Enlightenment, when people began to advocate for democracy and individual rights and use science and technology instead of magic and superstition.[4][5] Hughes has also detailed the political currents in transhumanism, particularly the shift around 2009 from socialist transhumanism to libertarian and anarcho-capitalist transhumanism.[5] He claims that the Left was pushed out of the World Transhumanist Association Board of Directors, and that libertarians and Singularitarians have secured a hegemony in the transhumanism community with help from Peter Thiel, but Hughes remains optimistic about a techoprogressive future.[5]

In 2012, when active transhumanist Giuseppe Vatinno was elected into Italian Parliament, New Scientist dubbed him "the world's first transhumanist politician".[6][7] Also in 2012, the Longevity Party, a movement described as "100% transhumanist" by cofounder Maria Konovalenko, began to organize in Russia for building a balloted political party.[8][9] Another Russian programme, the 2045 Initiative was founded in 2012 by billionaire Dmitry Itskov with its own "Evolution 2045" political party advocating life extension and android avatars.[10][11]

In 2013, io9 editor Annalee Newitz suggested building a Space Party devoted to developing space settlements and defending humanity against existential threats.[12] Writing for H+ Magazine in July 2014, futurist Peter Rothman called Gabriel Rothblatt "very possibly the first openly transhumanist political candidate in the United States" when he ran as a candidate for the United States Congress.[13] However, later reports in October of that year by Rothman state "Humanity+ board chair Natasha Vita-More was elected as a Councilperson for the 28th Senatorial District of Los Angeles in 1992 on an openly futurist and transhumanist platform."[14]

In October 2014, Zoltan Istvan announced that he is running in the 2016 United States presidential election under the banner of the "Transhumanist Party."[15][16][17][18] Following Istvan's announcement, groups also using the name "Transhumanist Party" emerged in the United Kingdom[19][20][21] and Germany.[22]

Core values

According to a 2006 study by the European Parliament, transhumanism is the political expression of the ideology that technology should be used to enhance human abilities.[1]

According to Amon Twyman of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), political philosophies which support transhumanism include social futurism, techno-progressivism, techno-libertarianism, and anarcho-transhumanism.[23] Twyman considers such philosophies to collectively constitute political transhumanism.[23]

Democratic transhumanists, also known as technoprogressives,[24][25] support equal access to human enhancement technologies in order to promote social equality and prevent technologies from furthering the divide among socioeconomic classes.[26] However, libertarian transhumanist Ronald Bailey is critical of the democratic transhumanism described by James Hughes.[27][28][29] Jeffrey Bishop wrote that the disagreements among transhumanists regarding individual and community rights is "precisely the tension that philosophical liberalism historically tried to negotiate," but that disagreeing entirely with a posthuman future is a disagreement with the right to choose what humanity will become.[30]

Riccardo Campa wrote that transhumanism can be coupled with many different political, philosophical, and religious views, and that this diversity can be an asset so long as transhumanists do not give priority to existing affiliations over membership with organized transhumanism.[31]

Criticism

Some transhumanists question the use of politicizing transhumanism, and Truman Chen of the Stanford Political Journal considers many transhumanist ideals to be anti-political.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b European Parliament (2006). "Technology Assessment on Converging Technologies" (PDF). ii. Retrieved 12 January 2015. On the one side are the true believers in the potential of technology to make individuals ever more perfect. Transhumanism is a political expression of that. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Istvan, Zoltan (5 May 2014). "Transhumanists and Libertarians Have Much in Common". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 January 2015. Some may find it surprising the rapidly growing international movement of transhumanism -- a field that aims to radically improve and alter the human species using science and technology -- has a significant amount of libertarians actively supporting it. [...] It's these extraordinary ideas of transhumanists -- uploading people's minds into computers, reversing aging in order to live indefinitely, or becoming cyborgs via artificial hearts, synthetic limbs and brain microchip implants -- that often make it seem a far-out type of movement.
  3. ^ Thweatt-Bates, Jeanine (28 June 2013). Cyborg Selves: A Theological Anthropology of the Posthuman. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 1409481832. This diversity within the movement, allowing a scope of political perspectives that includes opposite views on the central issue of technology regulation, makes it impossible to label any single set of political beliefs as 'transhumanist politics.'
  4. ^ Hughes, James (10 April 2009). "Transhumanist politics, 1700 to the near future". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 13 January 2015. The story of transhumanist politics is part of the broader story of the three hundred year-old fight for the Enlightenment. Transhumanism has pre-Enlightenment roots of course, since our earliest ancestors sought to transcend the limitations of the human body, to delay death, and to achieve wisdom. But those aspirations became transhumanism when people began to use science and technology to achieve them instead of magic and spirituality. [...] The Enlightenment argued for democracy and individual rights.
  5. ^ a b c Hughes, James (1 May 2013). "The Politics of Transhumanism and the Techno-Millennial Imagination, 1626-2030". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 13 January 2015. Transhumanism is a modern expression of ancient and transcultural aspirations to radically transform human existence, socially and bodily. Before the Enlightenment these aspirations were only expressed in religious millennialism, magical medicine and spiritual practices. The Enlightenment channeled these desires into projects to use science and technology to improve health, longevity and human abilities, and to use reason to revolutionize society.
  6. ^ Cartlidge, Edwin (18 September 2012). "Meet the world's first transhumanist politician". New Scientist. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  7. ^ Prisco, Giulio (26 August 2012). "Italy elects first transhumanist MP". Kurzweil. Retrieved 26 August 2012. In July, Italy — ironically, a stronghold of the Catholic Church — became the first major Western nation to elect an active transhumanist. Giuseppe Vatinno, a member of the Italian Parliament, ran on a platform of 'politics that strive to improve the human condition, making use of appropriate advanced technologies.'
  8. ^ Konovalenko, Maria (26 July 2012). "Russians organize the "Longevity Party"". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 14 January 2015. On July 19, we made the first step towards the creation of the Longevity Party. [...] Longevity Party is 100% transhumanist party.
  9. ^ Pellissier, Hank (20 August 2012). "Who are the "Longevity Party" Co-Leaders, and What do They Want? (Part 1)". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 14 January 2015. The recently-formed Longevity Party was co-founded by Ilia Stambler of Israel and Maria Konovalenko of Russia.
  10. ^ Dolak, Kevin (27 August 2012). "Technology Human Immortality in 33 Years Claims Dmitry Itskov's 2045 Initiative". Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  11. ^ Eördögh, Fruzsina (7 May 2013). "Russian Billionaire Dmitry Itskov Plans on Becoming Immortal by 2045". Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  12. ^ Newitz, Annalee (24 September 2013). "Do we need a Space Party?". io9. Retrieved 14 January 2015. A Space party might also want to take the lead on dealing with any kind of crises or disasters that come from space, too. Incoming asteroid? The Space party should have a system in place that allows the world's nations to reach a quick decision about how to react. [...] Private companies are trying to get into the business of space mining, space tourism, and even Mars colonization. We need a political party that can advocate for doing all of these things safely, both for humans and for the environments we'll encounter beyond the Earth. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Rothman, Peter (1 July 2014). "Interview: Gabriel Rothblatt Congressional Candidate in Florida's 8th District". Humanity+. Retrieved 13 January 2015. I recently got together with Congressional candidate Gabriel Rothblatt who is very possibly the first openly transhumanist political candidate in the United States.
  14. ^ Rothman, Peter (8 October 2014). "Transhumanism Gets Political". hplusmagazine.com. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  15. ^ Bartlett, Jamie (23 December 2014). "Meet the Transhumanist Party: 'Want to live forever? Vote for me'". The Telegraph. [...] Zoltan decided to form the Transhumanist Party, and run for president in the 2016 US presidential election.
  16. ^ Biederbeck, Max (11 July 2014). "Wird der nächste US-Präsident ein Cyborg sein?". Wired (in German). [Istvan is now trying the same thing: The 41-year-old has established in October the Transhumanist Party USA.]
  17. ^ Kaushik, Preetam (26 February 2015). "Transhumanism in India: Between faith and modernity". Business Insider India. Zoltan Istvan (founder of the US Transhumanist Party and candidate for the 2016 US Presidential election on behalf of this party) says, 'Many transhuman goals, like trying to overcome human death, go against the grain of Western religions and their sacred texts. But Hinduism, Buddhism, and various other Eastern religions can be conducive for transhumanism and its goals.'
  18. ^ Raj, Ajai (6 March 2015). "The Transhumanist Who Would Be President: An interview with Zoltan Istvan". Medium.com/re-form. re:form (ezine). Retrieved 7 March 2015. At most, when we speak of redesigning our lives, we only mean it metaphorically. But to transhumanists, the idea of redesigning oneself is a literal—and imminent—proposition. For Zoltan Istvan, founder and 2016 presidential candidate of the Transhumanist Party, it is also a political one. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ Volpicelli, Gian (14 January 2015). "Transhumanists Are Writing Their Own Manifesto for the UK General Election". Motherboard. Vice. As the UK's 2015 general election approaches, you've probably already made up your mind on who knows best about the economy, who you agree with on foreign policy, and who cuts a more leader-like figure. But did you ever wonder who will deliver immortality sooner? If so, there's good news for you, since that's exactly what the UK Transhumanist Party was created for. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Volpicelli, Gian (27 March 2015). "A Transhumanist Plans to Run for Office in the UK". Motherboard. Vice. Twyman intends to stand as an independent MP for the constituency of Kingston, on the radically pro-technology platform of the Transhumanist Party UK (TPUK), of which he's cofounder and leader. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ Solon, Olivia (10 April 2015). "Cyborg supporting Transhumanist Party appoints first political candidate in UK". Mirror. The newly-launched Transhumanist Party, which supports people who want to become cyborgs, has appointed its first political candidate in the UK.
  22. ^ Benedikter, Roland (4 April 2015). "The Age of Transhumanist Politics – Part II". The Leftist Review. The Transhumanist Party is gaining traction also in other parts of the Western world – mainly in Europe so far. Among them are the Tranhumanist Party of the UK, the Transhumanist Party of Germany (Transhumanistische Partei Deutschland) and others, all currently in the process of foundation.
  23. ^ a b Twyman, Amon (7 October 2014). "Transhumanism and Politics". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. I would suggest that the way forward is to view transhumanism as a kind of political vector, axis, or hub rather than a single party or philosophy. In other words, the different political philosophies supportive of transhumanism (e.g. Social Futurism, Techno-Progressivism, Anarcho-Transhumanism, Techno-Libertarianism etc) should be considered to collectively constitute Political Transhumanism.
  24. ^ Dvorsky, George (31 March 2012). "J. Hughes on democratic transhumanism, personhood, and AI". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 13 January 2015. The term 'democratic transhumanism' distinguishes a biopolitical stance that combines socially liberal or libertarian views (advocating internationalist, secular, free speech, and individual freedom values), with economically egalitarian views (pro-regulation, pro-redistribution, pro-social welfare values), with an openness to the transhuman benefits that science and technology can provide, such as longer lives and expanded abilities. [...] In the last six or seven years the phrase has been supplanted by the descriptor 'technoprogressive' which is used to describe the same basic set of Enlightenment values and policy proposals: Human enhancement technologies, especially anti-aging therapies, should be a priority of publicly financed basic research, be well regulated for safety, and be included in programs of universal health care
  25. ^ Hughes, James; Roux, Marc (24 June 2009). "On Democratic Transhumanism". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 13 January 2015. When I wrote Citizen Cyborg in 2004 we had just begun defining the ideological position that embraced both traditional social democratic values as well as future transhuman possibilities, and we called it 'democratic transhumanism.' Since then, the people in that space have adopted the much more elegant term 'technoprogressive.'
  26. ^ Ferrando, Francesca (2013). "Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms Differences and Relations". Existenz. 8 (2, Fall 2013 ISSN 1932-1066). Retrieved 13 January 2015. Democratic transhumanism calls for an equal access to technological enhancements, which could otherwise be limited to certain socio-political classes and related to economic power, consequently encoding racial and sexual politics.
  27. ^ Bailey, Ronald (2005). "Trans-Human Expressway: Why libertarians will win the future". Retrieved 5 February 2006. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  28. ^ Carrico, Dale (2005). "Bailey on the CybDemite Menace". Retrieved 5 February 2006. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  29. ^ Bailey, Ronald (2009). "Transhumanism and the Limits of Democracy". Retrieved 1 May 2009. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. ^ Bishop, Jeffrey (2010). "Transhumanism, Metaphysics, and the Posthuman God" (PDF). Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. 35 (700–720): 713 and 717. doi:10.1093/jmp/jhq047. Retrieved September 22, 2015. The tension between the individual and the political that we see within trans- humanist philosophies is precisely the tension that philosophical liberalism historically tried to negotiate." and "[T]o question the posthuman future is to question our liberty to become what we will.
  31. ^ Riccardo, Campa (24 June 2009), "Toward a transhumanist politics", Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, The central transhumanist idea of self-directed evolution can be coupled with different political, philosophical and religious opinions. Accordingly, we have observed individuals and groups joining the movement from very different persuasions. On one hand such diversity may be an asset in terms of ideas and stimuli, but on the other hand it may involve a practical paralysis, especially when members give priority to their existing affiliations over their belonging to organized transhumanism.
  32. ^ Chen, Truman (15 December 2014). "The Political Vacuity of Transhumanism". Stanford Political Journal. Even some transhumanists have criticized the emergence of the Transhumanist Party, questioning the utility of politicizing transhumanist goals. In reality, the ideals the Transhumanist Party embodies are anti-political.