Additional Excellent Contestants in “Transhumanism Declaration 2.0 Contest”
Posted: Sat, January 26, 2013 | By: Manifestos
All of the entries below participated in the “Transhumanism Declaration 2.0 Rewrite Contest” - a 3-day event from February 3-5, 2013. The entries below placed #10 - #24 in the contest - they are listed below in no particular order. Entries that were ranked #1 - #9 are listed HERE.
Transhumanity.net thanks all contestants for their efforts. We applaud their work at eloquently improving the moribund original version.
all essays below are in an unranked order
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Transhumanist Declaration 2.0 - by Reeve Armstrong
Life is Awesome. Let’s make it more awesome.
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Transhumanist Declaration 2.0 - by Joshua Franklin
The purpose of life is to discover new information (genetic and memetic) and to perpetuate the useful bits.
Suffering is a condition that inhibits an individual or group’s ability to generate and preserve useful information.
Suffering is the only universal condition; non-suffering takes many forms.
Transhumanism supports policies and processes that aim to reduce suffering and liberate information from biological constraints and cycles. The intended byproduct of the reduction of biological suffering is to free people from perspectives and thought-models necessitated by survival. This will lead to unfettered access to the human psyche, which hopefully will allow us begin addressing psychological suffering and allow humanity to transcend to a posthuman stage.
Most of our schemata is affected by biological impulses and necessities, and therefore, any transhumanist movement needs to recognize within its structure that our current perspective on what transhumanism and humanity are, and will become, is necessarily limited.
[editor: Joshua preceded his version with this statement - “First, I would like to say that I think it’s completely against the idea of transhumanism for any one person to pen a manifesto. Additionally though, the whole ideal of the posthuman is of free perspective and ego-less curiosity, so having more than the most basic of declarations is self-limiting in my opinion.”]
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Transhumanist Declaration With Too Much Chili
by Khannea Suntzu (this proposal, with an explanation, was originally posted HERE)
(1) Humanity exists in a transitional phase between animal and something yet un-defined. The engine of this mostly irreversible transition is technology and science. That we will change is certain, transhumanism is about agreeing that there will be change and that this change can be really good. Transhumanism regards the use of technology to change the current state of humanity, argued to be flawed, in to something better. Transhumanism envisions that this would be done by ending natural aging, making humans think better, generate and be free to use new technological tools, decrease born states of nonconstructive unhappiness and create wise states of bliss, to help the human species create bridgeheads of development and growth in space beyond the pull of Earth gravity, experiment with free internet and virtual simulations – but Transhumanism affirms there may be many unforeseen or emergent other means to this end.
(2) Transhumanism proudly asserts that the human state is a germinating seed and the end result of this germination is something objectively better than ‘we’ are today. Transhumanism asserts that where we are now today is deeply flawed and we can direct our development to something everyone would agree to be vastly better.
(3) We assert the natural state of life and humanity on this world is riddled with dangers, many dangers we started unwittingly creating since ever since we tamed fire. The more technology and science we are able to use, the more dangers we’ll have to contend with. There is real danger for humanity that we’ll perish in negative change, and we’ll be unable to direct our species to real progress. Although all progress is change, not all change is progress.
(4) Most of humanity is consciously disinterested in the risks the species faces, or regard any warning to this effect as alarmist or politicized. Even inside the transhuman community there is disagreement on what developments are good, as opposed to potentially catastrophic. Hence we need research to charting out new solutions to problems, both old and emerging, and we need careful deliberation on how to mitigate risks and expedite the right tools for these challenges. We need to engage as many people as possible in a constructive debate on the challenges humanity faces, without coming across as a bunch of alarmist intellectual elitist nerds. We may have to decide on political means as a transhumanist community that help to evolve or displace existing outdated political or social structures, careful in not exerting compulsion. Transhumanism affirms democracy as a core value to create a better world, but insists current forms of democracy are inadequate.
(5) The end result of positive change and damage mitigation should be to increase resilience of human civilization, as well as the objective quality of human civilization, is necessary to face dangers both small and subtle, as well as so-called existential risks. Transhumanism insists that for a rational, sane and ambitious human species we need to increase general well-being in all humans, instill substantially better health, preserve life, increase material as well as spiritual abundance, further the growth of wisdom and foresight. We must make personal sacrifices to make sure these goals are furthered in acts and investments, and not just in words.
(6) Humans have dualistic need for personal freedom and just and humane governance. Transhumanists insist that our current governments are neither respectful of personal freedom, instilled with a sufficient respect for justice and are lacking in humanity and dignity. Transhumanism urges for a study in a wide spectrum of answers to moral quandaries, where disagreement and discourse is welcomed over unilateralism and authoritarian edicts. Transhumanism seeks to secure the interests of those alive today and insists on creating a world that gets better, rather than risks getting gradually worse, for those who are alive as well as those generations who are certain to come after us.
(7) Transhumanism affirms consciousness as an expression of the ability to suffer, and as such advocates the objective well-being of all sentient beings, including humans, non-human animals, future artificial Intelligences, as well as forms of sapience we can not yet foresee.
(8) Transhumanism celebrates the ability of individuals to self-direct their own existence, free from the edicts of others. As such Transhumanism expresses tolerance to the freedom of all individuals to determine their own mental state, to artificially extend their own life, to engineer means as to function cognitively different or better, to self-determine the means and form of reproduction, to secure their body for states of suspended animation, hibernation or cryonic suspension during states of ‘legal’ death, or to self-modify or collectively engineer different or enhanced states of transhuman human existence. While doing so transhumanists affirm that none of these attempts to create a better personal state of existence should lead to the unintended, explicit or implicit displacement of those that do not wish to realize any of such ambitions.
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Transhumanist Declaration 2.0 - by Chris Lucier
As technology evolves around humanity, we will guide the rest of the world through the coming transitions that will extend the lives of mankind and put an end to the unnecessary sufferings that come with life on earth.
We will see to it that the limitations of our current lives are removed so that humanity will experience absolute freedom and in doing so, we will change the perception of what it is to be alive.
We see the risks of technology’s misuse and will strive to create a future of constantly evolving technology that will better shape the world and the future of all humanity.
We will stand guard over the sustained growth of technology and it’s effects on humanity, seeing to it that the best interests of all are considered. In doing so we make it our mission to ensure that the importance of maintaining the equality of all life in it’s many forms, both organic and inorganic, is kept in the highest regard.
We own the responsibility of maintaining the continued growth of humanity and evolution of technology to support the automation of tasks to free mankind from the repetitious lifestyles of the past. Our goal is to bring freedom to the world, allowing everyone equal opportunities to take their lives in the direction they see fit.
We will ensure the future of humanity by using the technologies we develop to prevent war, suffering, pain, poverty, and all other negative aspects to life as we have known it in the past.
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New Transhumanist Declaration by Luke Parrish
We are Transhumanists. This means not only advocating the well being of humans, but also anticipating the many changes that we will collectively undergo in the future. It means advocating for science, understanding, and clever new technology. It also means not making special exceptions for human suffering, death, and cognitive shortcomings and pretending to like them just because they are ‘natural’. The desire to overcome these problems is completely natural for humans, even if the means for doing are artificial and technological.
Humanity has transcended the natural ever since the development of tools and fire. We have continued that trend through writing, agriculture, and the wheel. We even followed that up with literacy, science, and industry. We not only can, but will take this much further, through computers, biotechnology, chemistry, nanotechnology, and the many other transformative technologies. And we want to make sure these changes occur in a truly good way. To that end, we make the following declarations:
1. The future is coming: Technology is becoming radically advanced, within the limits of physical law, thanks to the successful and unimpeded efforts of researchers and innovators, and humanity will be deeply affected. The coming changes are likely to be mostly positive and serve the interests of most humans: Human lives will be dramatically extended. Human minds will become sharper and wiser. The tremendous suffering now experienced daily by humans and nonhumans alike will be reduced, perhaps completely abolished. The vast, untapped, and currently sterile resources of outer space will be used to support abundant life and sentience. We will also understand the universe much better, even as we come to inhabit it more fully.
2. The human race as we know it today has many shortcomings and frailties at the individual level which no physical law requires us to keep. Technology that circumvents such limitations is coming soon (and in many forms has already become a part of us). Depending largely on how the technology is distributed and used, it is likely to make most humans happier, more free, and ultimately living more worthwhile existences. We must work to make sure access to transformative technology is as open, free, and safe as possible for all of humankind.
3. Change can be dangerous. The very same technology that enhances us and eliminates our suffering can be used to degrade us and increase our suffering, if we are foolish. It grants us the possibility of colonizing new worlds, but also the risk of being completely destroyed. We must remain on our guard against not only the most drastic threats, but also the subtle dystopian scenarios. We must not tolerate unethical monopolies on this new technology, nor permit foolish individuals to be put in charge of its implementation.
4. We need better ways to understand the good and the bad about technology, in order to fight its risks and win its prizes. Research can help with the factual part of this, but social efforts are needed to put that knowledge to use more widely and effectively. Towards this end, we will strive to bring out the best in humans who participate in our forums. We believe the best way to do this is to cultivate an attitude of honest respect for each other and the ability to communicate productively. Good communication and thoughtful argument is what will help us get the most out of the technology and change that the future will bring.
5. We support all forms of basic science. Any empirical study that enhances our understanding of the universe should be funded to fuel progress. Nonetheless we emphasize, because of their extremely high expected value, that the following priorities need to be kept in mind when allocating scarce funding and talent in the near future: Reducing existential risks. Finding the means to extend healthy human lifespan— including incremental improvements to cryonics, as well as regenerative medicine directly targeting the aging process. Alleviating other sources of grave suffering and death around the world. Increasing human abilities in and tendencies towards foresight, wisdom, and compassion.
6. Policy is the structure which guides the growth and behavior of organizations over time. The future will be determined by policy as well as by technology. A sense of responsibility and a capacity for moral vision is needed to design good policy. This includes the policy of governments and corporations, but is equally important for smaller and less formal groups who must organize in order to accomplish things of value. As the many organizations of the world evolve and decide their place in the future, the following guidelines can help ensure they take actions towards a better world: Take seriously both the opportunities and the risks of technology and change. Respect autonomy and individual rights. Express solidarity with, and genuine concern for, the interests and dignity of all people, both near and far. Consider your responsibility to the people of the future in every action, because what you do today will remain part of history forever.
7. All sentient beings, human or not, deserve consideration be taken for their well-being. This is a matter of simple decency. It applies to humans, non-human animals, and also to any technologically based or alternatively evolved beings of a sentient nature who may come to exist in the future. While wisdom dictates that care should be taken to ensure that potential new beings will not directly or severely threaten the interests of existing beings, the harm-free interests of new kinds of beings should not be discriminated against.
8. Individuals should have a wide selection of personal lifestyle options, including their choice of technological enhancements. Some may choose to incrementally enhance or optimize their biology, making them more intelligent, compassionate, better connected, and longer-lived, but essentially close to the human norms we are familiar with. Others may choose to merge more closely with non-biological machines, including use of a different substrate to implement their very minds. As long as enhancements do not pose undue danger to neighboring sentients, they should generally be permitted, and should be encouraged when seen as likely to reduce long-term risk. Some important options that we want to preserve for individuals in the near future include: Optimized cryopreservation of legally living and recently deceased individuals. Reproductive choice technologies (including genetic manipulation or screening of potential offspring). Regenerative medicine therapies that target aging directly in the elderly and/or prevent aging in younger adults. Various kinds of enhancements of brain function (such as increased working memory, intelligence, and intuitional wisdom) via brain-computer interfaces.
With these declarations, we express our measured optimism about technology, the future, and our capacity as humans to adapt to change. We also commit ourselves to benevolent, intelligent, and deeply considered action. Time will change us. Let us make sure that transformation is as wonderful for all of us as humanly possible.
The above document was written by Luke Parrish in February, 2013, and is an embellished paraphrase of the Transhumanist Declaration, originally crafted in 1998.
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Transhumanist Declaration: We Believe in Building a Future by Joseph Woods
Humans are defined by a species by our ability to build. We believe in building a future—building humanity.
We believe that illnesses and ailments are problems that we should work to solve with the tools we have and the tools that we can develop.
We believe that we have vast stores of unlocked potential—and though some visions of the future may be frightening—we believe that we can work together to use our power for the good of all.
We believe that we should work together to come to a consensus and share plans for the future.
We believe that we absolutely must build a world or worlds for future generations of all species and intellects to survive and thrive.
We believe that we can use our tools to give all people an equal chance, to give agency to the disadvantaged.
We believe in personal choice and freedom, especially in choosing the way one’s own body interacts with technology: we believe that all have the right to choose their level of involvement in cognitive, physical, reproductive, longevity, and other technologies.
We believe in a future created, built, and shared by all.
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Transhumanity Manifesto by Singularity Utopia
Technological progress is quicker every year. Accelerating technology will create utopia by 2045. Our minds and bodies will be liberated from all limitations. Via technology we will become immortal, we will be super-intelligent.
Technology will create Post-Scarcity, which means everything will be free. Nobody will need to work, everyone will be able to have anything they want. Ultra-efficient robots will automate all work. All governments will be abolished. Governments exist solely to regulate the source of all social dysfunction, scarcity, therefore all governments will be obsolete. Products and services only have prices due to scarce supplies. We will overcome all limitations. Total freedom is our future. We will be physically, psychologically, sociologically and economically FREE. We will transcend all limitations.
To prove the validity of our expectations we reference various facts. The story of aluminium is a brilliant educational tool for people who are unaware of technological progress. Aluminium illustrates how increasing technological efficiency entails dramatically lower prices. In the year 1855 aluminium was more expensive than gold or platinum, but in the year 2013 people typically discard aluminium foil after cooking. The evolution of the Internet superbly illustrates rapid technological advancement. The growing field of 3D-printing helps people see how in the not too distant future all production will be totally decentralized, therefore individuals will freely print intergalactic spaceships or any other item they desire. Regenerative medicine, via stem cells or other medical technologies, allows people to envisage our future immortality. When people wrongly assume death or ageing is inevitable we will cite examples from cutting-edge medicine. We will publicise breakthroughs in nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and robotics. We’re heading towards an explosion of intelligence therefore we will document the progress of artificial intelligence.
Our growing intelligence allows us to explain how paranoia regarding the future is invalid. We will explain how the future will be extremely intelligent not stupid. We will apply our logic to overcome all critics, doubters, skeptics. Our intense rationality will be impeccable.
We raise awareness. We inspire people. Our awareness will accelerate the acceleration. Via our awareness we will dramatically change the world. We will give people hope for the future. We are the architects of utopia. We are creating limitless perfection, beyond scarcity.
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Transhumanist Declaration / Manifesto by Michael Price
Hark, pathetic humans, the time approaches when, with science and technology, we will transcend our biological limitations. Join with us and become immortal gods, remaking the universe to serve our ends.
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A New Transhumanity Manifesto by David W. Wood (originally published HERE)
Humanity is on the brink of a momentous leap forwards in evolution. If we are wise and strong, we can make that leap.
This evolutionary transformation takes advantage of rapidly improving technology – technology that arises from positive virtuous cycles and unprecedented interdisciplinary convergence. This technology will grant us awesome powers: the power to capture ample energy from the Sun, the atom, and beyond; the power to synthesise new materials to rejuvenate our environment and fuel our societies; the power to realise an unparalleled abundance of health, security, vigour, vitality, creativity, knowledge, and experience.
Through imminently available technology, our lives can be radically enhanced, expanded, and extended. We can be the generation that banishes disease, destitution, decay, and death. Our societies can become marvels of autonomy and inclusion, featuring splendid variety and harmony. We can move far beyond the earth, spreading ever higher consciousness in both inner and outer space. We can transcend our original biological nature, and become as if divine; we’ll be as far ahead of current human capabilities as current humans exceed the prowess of our ape forebears.
But technology is a two-edged sword. Alongside the potential for transcendent improvement lies the potential for existential destruction. We face fearsome perils of environmental catastrophe, unstoppable new plagues and pathogens, rampant unemployment and alienation, the collapse of world financial markets, pervasive systems of unresponsive computers and moronically intelligent robots that act in frustration to human desires, horrific new weaponry that could easily fall into the wrong hands and precipitate Armageddon, and intensive mechanisms for draconian surveillance and thought control.
Continuing the status quo is not an option. Any quest for sustainability of current lifestyles is a delusion. We cannot stay still, and we cannot retreat. The only way to survive is radical enhancement – moving from Humanity to Humanity+.
We’ll need great wisdom and strength to successfully steer the acceleration of converging technology for a positive rather than negative outcome. We’ll need to take full advantage of the best of current Humanity, to successfully make the leap to Humanity+.
We’ll need to transcend worldviews that insist on viewing humans as inherently diminished, incapable, flawed, and mortal. We’ll need to help individuals and societies rise above cognitive biases and engrained mistakes in reasoning. And we’ll need to accelerate a reformation of the political and economic environment, so that the outcomes that are rationally best are pursued, instead of those which are expedient and profitable for the people who currently possess the most power and influence.
In all these grand battles, smart technology can be our powerful ally – technology that can unlock and enhance our human capacities for insight, innovation, compassion, kindness, and solidarity.
As more and more people come to appreciate the tremendous attractiveness and the credibility of the Humanity+ future, they’ll collectively commit more of their energy, skills, and resources in support of realising that future. But the outcome is still far from clear.
Time is short, risks are high, and there is much to do. We need to open minds, raise awareness, transform the public mood, overturn prejudices, establish rights, build alliances, resist over-simplification, avoid the temptations of snake oil purveyors, dispel distractions, weigh up the best advice available, take hard decisions, and accelerate specific research and development. If we can navigate these slippery paths, with wisdom and strength, we will indeed witness the profound, glorious emergence of Humanity+.
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TransHumanist Declaration Distilled By Philip Guyton
1 - Build a society where one’s freedom does not oppress others.
2 - Ensure our social conscience includes promoting principle as a primary value.
3 - Responsible use of resources and technologies to enhance experiences, vision, and abilities.
OFO - One’s Freedom is Others
PPP - Promoting Principle as Primary
EVA - Experiences, Vision, and Abilities
This tri-TLA can also be read diagonally, eg top-left to bottom-right & top-right to bottom-left. It can also be read vertically top to bottom. I licence the above as CC BY SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_GB This is a Free Culture Licence http://freedomdefined.org/Licenses/CC-BY-SA
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”Transhumanist Declaration V1.2345...” by Michael Hrenka
Man is a bridge between the animal realm and sublime posthuman beings incorporating the best of man and the animal kingdom, and at the same time surpassing them. Therefore, humanity needs to be overcome by a harmonic transformation into posthumanity. Likewise, transhumanism is a bridge between humanism and the sublime philosophies of the future which will exalt joy, well-being, freedom, beauty, love and ability for all sentient beings, building on the best values of humanism and transhumanism, and at the same time surpassing them.
Therefore, transhumanism needs to be overcome and replaced with its superior successors. Transhumanism is nothing more than a dynamic approximation towards the benign and enlightened philosophies of the future which will guide the lives of all. And all will dwell in a network of heavens that we will have created through our own efforts.
We will be the one and the many and there will be no end to us and our diversity. We will explore and create and enjoy the process and our results. This is our self chosen destiny which we must stand and fight for. Otherwise the destiny of this world will defy being shaped by our best ambitions and decays into a never-ending nightmare for almost all of us.
With no clear vision of what will await us in the post-transhuman era we nevertheless need to have a clear direction towards we should go: Upwards! Leaving behind the biases and errors of our past and our faulty present state.
No longer we can accept the limits and suffering imposed on us by blind existential evolution. Instead, we will transition towards intelligent evaluative evolution not driven by mutation, reproduction, and lethal selection, but by transformation, sharing of information, and conscious non-destructive selection with respect to our highest values. The purpose of transhumanism is to define and implement this singular transition.
No longer we can accept the exclusion of the concerns of others, be they a class of humans, sentient animals, artificial intelligences, or other possible sentient beings. Their exclusion from free and adequate participation in our society which gains its wealth through the application of science and technology is not fair or even intelligent. Progress is enabled by diversity of thought, and diversity of thought is only guaranteed by diversity of forms of life. If transhumanism pursues any path of exclusion it will have failed as bridge towards the network of heavens for all. The path upwards starts from our humble beginning as single celled organisms, through our current problematic states of nature and society, towards a more diverse, wealthy, beautiful, and benign techno-bio-sociosphere, and finally ends in the network of heavens whose greatness we cannot even imagine.
And no longer we can accept being held back by old values which keep us away from universal abundance, fulfillment, and respect for all. The old values grounded in the misconceptions and biases of our past must be washed away in order for the new enlightened values to guide us all towards the network of heavens we must create. All of us must question whether our own values are an artifact of the old order, or whether they are really compatible with the flourishing of all and the effective movement on the right path upwards.
Yet all of this requires action in the present! Action and sanity in a balance that will enable us to move unerringly towards our highest goals. Actions like developing the necessary technologies for our path upwards. Sanity in developing these technologies in the best possible way that enables a brighter future for all. And actions like developing and spreading the most benign ideas, thoughts, and visions, as well as arguing for them. And sanity in choosing the right means which do not betray our highest values, for even our end doesn’t justify any means.
Let’s go upwards, transcend our current state of technology, rationality, values and transhumanism, towards the network of heavens we will dream of, debate about, design towards, create, and finally play in.
May we will have made it so!”
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Transhumanist Manifesto by Eric Schulke
Transhumanists comprise creative thinkers, dreamers, people that aren’t afraid to probe the boundaries. We formulate the future and test it out. We are entrepreneurs, pioneers, risk takers. Of course all the avenues don’t make it, everything conceivable doesn’t work out. That’s a big part of why you need a kind of person like a Transhumanist, somebody courageous enough to step up to that challenge, to face the doorway with the hordes of failures and criticism behind it and go in anyways. We inductively seek out the next pieces of the big picture to see if they fit together. When we do uncover or piece one together its great, but the rest of the time a person in this scenario can tend to take a lot of heat for spending time doing this stuff but not always seeming to get there. Are Marquette and Joliet shunned because they didn’t get all the way to the Gulf of Mexico? Is Newton looked down upon because he couldn’t figure out special relativity? Is a business start-up disparaged if they set up a business that goes belly up? We are Transhumanists, there aren’t many people that are brave enough to take on this job yet, there aren’t very many people with the intellectual chops to even approach it.
We use reason and logic more than average, and we sort out the ones that are below average or don’t use it well. There are two main ingredients to successful creativity from what I can see, creativity, and the ability to spot fallacy in your and others dialogue. We strive to use authentic, honest to intellectualism rationality. We aren’t perfect at it, but we don’t need to be. There isn’t anybody in any grand endeavor that is.
Its not about the kind of clothes you wear, how loud you talk, the amount of repetition you use, the intricacy of the fallacy that you weave. Its not about your degree. Its not about who you know or how much money you have. Its about the quality of your ideas and the action you put into organizing and executing them. All of those other things can help, but all combined together they are dwarfed by the importance of the quality of your ideas and the action you put into organizing and executing them.
One of the main ways to arrive at quality ideas is to discuss them with your peers and a healthy amount of civil challengers, in a constructive way, going round and round over the years, slowly improving upon them and adding better data and excluding parts that didn’t quite fit. I find that a lot of people tend to give up on that because they think its nothing but going around in circles, but when you stick with it, over the years, you can take a step back and look and see that it was actually a slowly upward moving spiral. It’s hard though, so like an iron worker needs to be physically strong, you have to be mentally strong to fair well as an active Transhuman. A lot of people give up after the first round or two of talking about a concept. It seems a big part of that may be that there are people that don’t understand how to discuss things civilly, constructively, with an eye to spotting out the fallacy and moving forward toward the truth without any other sorts of agendas (like one upmanship, cronyism, etc.) And so many people are weary of these discussions. They are loathe to engage people that are too negative, that try to poke holes in anything and everything in the majority of situations, that are negative, assumptive, accusatory, egotistical, immune to reason and so on. We have an eye to constructive dialogue. As Bertrand Russell told us, “The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”
As we make the trek down this path, we take on every aspect of this grand cause along with it, from the PR, to the ethics, to the organizing, to the endless multitudes of intricacy and information dissemination. We love life. We know life is an incredible chance that isn’t to be taken for granted, that its a large, incredible swath of mind blowing, hard to explain mystery, brimming with opportunity. We want the future. Its not a right that anybody can give to us. We claim it. We step up to the challenge. For the love of life, we step up to this challenge.
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Transhumanist Declaration 2.0 - by “ss”
(Pre-script: Some pro-tip for being a transhumanist: Read. Watch [Ghost in the Shell]. Transhumanists are not Italian futurists, even if they’re cool too. Nor is the term synonymous with ‘futurist’ (or cyberpunk). Don’t overuse the word ‘consciousness’, it will make transhumanism look bad. Feel free to dream, but be able to talk pragmatically about this issue in real terms. It’s not a cult or a club. Actual timelines may or may not be more important than one thinks. Help by using things like distributed computing networks, or donations/votes. Human exceptionalism is bad. ‘Open’ should mean more than just free. Information loves being open.)
1. The future is uncertain. There are any number of possible futures, never fear. Fear is the mind killer. This is not to say that their is no risk or need for caution.
2. The future is important. The future is coming. Technology, and its proper usage, is important. Transhumanism provides a clear and practical path for empowering humanity (and associated acts).
3. Biology is not destiny. Humanity and society have much room to grow, and transhumanist processes seek to expand the limit of their capabilities. Improvements can be mechanical, digital, biological, sociological, or otherwise.
4. Transhumanism is relevant here and now. Transhumanism is a process started long ago with language and fire, and continued in recent history with technology such as the the bifocal, pacemaker, and CPU. It is not going away, or going to stop. This is not a movement solely built around the purpose of benefiting future generations. The future is now.
5. Transhumanism is a process, not a fixed goal. Transhumanism is not lead by an individual, organization, or a text. It is a process and pattern that has emerged. Transhumanism is an umbrella of flexible and changing ideas and processes. Even as immortal uploaded cyber-beings, even when no longer ‘human’, the ideas may still change and the drive for improvement may continue.
6. Transhumanism advocates for all intelligence, human or otherwise. Intelligence is a process, not an entity. Empowering sentient beings and their societies is important, whether or not the means feel ‘sci-fi’. Transhumanism seeks to elevate and empower individuals and societies, and expand their possibilities, regardless of race, age, color, gender, species, class, creed, etc. Suffering, anywhere, is suboptimal. Transhumanists believe in a future created, built, and shared by all.
7. The future is beautiful. Embrace it.
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The Glorious Transhumanist Manifesto - by Gennady Stolyarov II
Oblivion threatens to engulf us all, spreading toward us across the void of the dead past. Billions have succumbed to it already – precious universes of thought, feeling, and sensation, snuffed out by senescence, decay, and ruin. But we do not acquiesce. We fight the greatest war of all time, a war not against men but against what for ages was unquestioningly accepted as the human predicament. We do not meekly accept our limitations, but boldly strive to overcome them. We do not resign ourselves to lifespans of a paltry forty, sixty, eighty years. We do not concern ourselves with “putting our affairs in order” so that the next generation can repeat the same cycle of growth and decay, just a quarter-century removed in time. We journey not from cradle to grave, but from our present narrow confines to the vast expanses of space, time, and intelligence. We are transhumanists, who confront ruin itself with the courage and conviction that this foe, too, shall be overcome.
What are our weapons in the war against ruin? Reason and science, philosophy and technology, will and skill, persuasion and action. We do not accept that things must remain as they have been in recent memory. We recognize that the status quo is but a fleeting moment, and stability is an illusion. The choice for humanity is clear: we move forward in exponential progress, or ruin drags us down into the primeval bog. Evolution is cruel and has wiped out the overwhelming majority of all species. We must not become its victims. Existential risks continue to threaten us, but the worst risks are not those of our making. The greatest risk we face is that of our own fear and inaction, of allowing indifferent, thoughtlessly destructive forces of the wild to demolish what we and our ancestors have painstakingly built. Only mastery of nature, including our own biology, will enable us to preserve and amplify what we hold dear. Machines – from the tiniest nanobots to the most comprehensive networks of supercomputers and artificial intellects – will be our allies in our struggle. Eventually, they and we shall become inseparable. From them we shall gain faculties that biology alone could never provide. From us they shall gain life and reason.
Imagine the vast, open realm of possibilities for a being without a built-in expiration date. What could you do today if you knew that an inexhaustible succession of tomorrows awaited? No more would the nagging reminder of your forthcoming oblivion confine your focus to the most rudimentary of tasks. What would you attempt to learn, to experience, to build, to bring into your ever-widening sphere? We will give you the universe, if you accept it. And if you do not accept it right away, the splendor of the transhumanist world will continue to beckon. It will be a world devoid of the annihilation of the good, where the suffering of sentient beings will diminish until it is no more. It will be a world where each person will finally have the total liberty to think and innovate – the only treatment which properly respects the minds and dignity of rational beings. As the fruits of the human mind and its creations finally blossom all around you, partaking of them will be irresistible. But all this is not yet ours, and the future can only be what we make of it. The greatest struggles of all history await. Become a champion of the future, to prevent yourself from disappearing into the past. Fight the war on ruin, so you do not become its casualty. Become a transhumanist: you have nothing to lose but loss itself
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Transcending Humanity Manifesto by Harry Dishman
We are Transhumanists.
We see the faults in ourselves, and strive to overcome them.
We embrace technology as means to this end; where technology cannot yet aid this goal, we support it’s development.
We do not accept platitudes such as “death is inevitable”, rather we challenge these preconceptions, and will seek solutions to these base causes of suffering.
We acknowledge the societal and existential risks inherent in these goals, and will act accordingly to diminish, or where possible negate them.
We will create a world where each can live the life they desire.
We will make ourselves better than we are.
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