the future of humanity now

Author HankPellissier

was the founder and director of Transhumanity.net. He launched the site in October 2012 - 4.5 months later he handed over TNET management to Zero State on March 1, 2013.

He is presently blogging at ImmortalLife.info.

Hank is the author of Invent Utopia Now: Transhumanist Suggestions for the Pre-Singularity Era and Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? - scientific factors that influence intelligence.

He was also the Managing Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology (IEET) from January-October in 2012.

A journalist, Hank was the “Local Intelligence” columnist for the New York Times (SF Bay edition) in 2011. Presently, he’s a contributor to GreatSchools.org. Past positions: he was a daily columnist for Salon.com, and a weekly columnist for SfGate.com. He’s written 120+ futurist articles for IEET, Hplusmagazine.com, Transhumanity.net, and the World Future Society, occasionally under his pseudonym, Hank Hyena.

Certificate in Transhumanism

  U.S. Transhumanist Party, Transhumanity.net, and Transhumanist Party of Canada are co-sponsoring an exciting and unique Certificate in Transhumanism. Many dedicated transhumanists have taken this course, including David J Kelley (researcher, engineer, AGI Laboratory) Franco Cortese (Deputy Director at Aging Analytics… Continue Reading →

Transhuman Party promotes Radical Democracy & Collective Intelligence

7.6 billion people are living on Earth, and every one of them deserves equal political power.  Transhuman Party (a new H+ organization) believes the future should be egalitarian, cooperative, inclusive, anti-hierarchal, motivated by egoless altruistic reform-seeking actions, with radical democracy and collective intelligence. Transhuman Party… Continue Reading →

Zoltan Istvan “gave away” the Transhumanist Party, but kept the TP trademark… four possible explanations

Zoltan Istvan was a 2016 Presidential transhumanist candidate who actually ran as an individual (not as the Transhumanist Party candidate, because TP was never registered with the FEC – Federal Election Committee.) Despite the fraudulent past of the Transhumanist Party,… Continue Reading →

Transhuman Debate 2.0 in SF East Bay

IEET is co-sponsoring “Transhuman Debate 2.0” on April 2, 2016, from 12:30 – 4:00pm in Oakland, CA, at Octopus Literary Salon, 2101 Webster St, #170 – only 2 blocks from BART. HOW DOES CONSCIOUSNESS ARISE? (1:00 – 1:30) Andres Gomez… Continue Reading →

Transhuman Debate

The debate will feature three “Oxford Style” Transhumanist Team Debates on these three topics: IMMIGRATION & BORDERS BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE WHAT IS THE ‘NATURE’ OF THE SINGULARITY? WILL IT HAPPEN AT ALL? Each debate will be one hour long. The… Continue Reading →

15 Question Zoltan Istvan is Avoiding – why? what are the answers? (opinion)

In early October 2015, a supporter of Zoltan Istvan suggested to the Transhumanist Party Presidential candidate that he should do an “AMA” – Ask Me Anything – to answer questions from the public, and from a group of his criticizers…. Continue Reading →

I Quit the USA Transhumanist Party. Why? Zoltan’s Non-Inclusive Leadership

On September 19th I left, disgruntled, my position as Secretary of the USATranshumanist Party. The next day, I joined the Open Source Party. The two decisions are closely related: they’re about transparency and democracy in government. USA Transhumanist Party doesn’t… Continue Reading →

“The Future of Politics” Conference

The Brighter Brains Institute is cosponsoring (with Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology) a conference on October 18, at Humanist Hall, in Oakland. The event will take place on a Sunday from 10:30am- 6:00 pm. Lunch will be served, Parking… Continue Reading →

Transhumanist “Speakers Bureau” – Assembling Our Visionary Team

Brighter Brains Institute (BBI) is compiling an excellent lineup of lecturers on futurist / transhumanist topics, in our new “HUB” section, designed by “Techno-Optimist” web designer, Kevin Russell. The majority of our featured speakers delivered excellent presentations at our 2014… Continue Reading →

The “Certificate in Transhumanism” – is back!

NOTE: This Certificate is no longer being Taught.  We are currently talking to other professors to possible teach a new version. Transhumanity.net and Brighter Brains Institute are co-hosting an exciting and unique Certificate in Transhumanism course. The course was first… Continue Reading →

Transhumanist Fitness Program – optimizing your body & brain

Longevity and Brain Enhancement are the two primary ambitions of transhumanists, according to a survey conducted 2.5 years ago. This indicates that the “average transhumanist” is strongly motivated to keep his-or-her physical body and mental cognition in tip-top condition. These… Continue Reading →

Transhumanists unite to help Uganda AIDS Orphans via chicken farm

Transhumanist organizations and writers are collaborating with religious and humanitarian groups to feed, educate and make self-sufficient twenty children at a “boarding school” (orphanage) in Jinja, the second-largest city in Uganda. The school is called “COISER” (Community Intiative for Self… Continue Reading →

Artificial Intelligence & The Singularity – conference September 20

“Artificial Intelligence and The Singularity” – Futurist Conference, September 20, from 9:30 am – 5:00 pm at Piedmont Veterans Hall, 401 Highland Avenue, in Piedmont, California. Tickets are available at EventBrite. Cost is $20 – $35. The event is co-produced… Continue Reading →

Eradicating Poverty needs to be on the Transhumanist To-Do List

Eradicating Poverty – worldwide – needs to be on the Transhumanist To-Do List. We need to utilize new technology and new ideas to alleviate the hunger, disease, malnutrition, and despair that are caused by poverty. We need to be philanthropic,… Continue Reading →

Transhumanist Philanthropy?! Yes! MTA Sets up KIVA Account

Transhumanists, in my experience, are cheap. Penny pinchers. Stingy. When I was Managing Director at IEET in 2012, I launched a cellphone drive to help destitute Africans communicate with each other. My goal was to collect 1,000 cellphones. Hummpph!  After… Continue Reading →

Opinion: Egalitarian Planet: Six Proposals to Elevate Society by Reducing Disparity

Egalitarians believe inequity leads to a plethora of social ills. For example: 1. Inequity corrodes trust, community life, and social mobility 2. Inequity increases anxiety and excessive consumption 3. Inequity contributes to mental and physical illness, drug use, imprisonment, obesity, teen pregnancy, violence, and other corrosive psycho-social maladies.
My own examination of Denmark observed that the little Nordic nation was simultaneously ranked #1 in “Egalitarianism” on the GINI Index and #1 in “Happiness” by Forbes. My conclusion from this is that: SAME SOCIAL STATUS + SHARING = SMILES Egalitarianism appears to be a desirable societal goal, but how can we achieve it? When I pitched this question to six different transhumanists, five suggestions bounced back. James Hughes  (author ofCitizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future) believes democratization aided by technology is the best medicine to cure inequality. He suggests that education would be more equitable if we developed the “visionary, handheld AI tutor that Neal Stephenson imagined inThe Diamond Age that maps the child’s developmental needs, and leads them through a personalized dialogue to knowledge and critical thinking, drawing on the best pedagogies.” Hughes also believes that economic progress in poor nations would benefit if we could “develop cheaper ways to build roads, communication networks, public sanitation, and health service delivery.” Additionally, he believes the United Nations would be able to equitably distribute wealth if it was enabled by “technologies that break down nation-states and ethnic identities and replace them with transnational political identities, organizations, and campaigns.”
Alex Lightman (author ofBrave New Unwired World: the Digital Big Bang and the Infinite Internet) does not regard economic disparity as the root cause of suffering. Instead, he asserts, “the fundamental inequalities are intelligence, imagination, ambition, and action. Someone with 10% more of all four than his chiral twin could have four orders of magnitude more wealth over a lifetime.” Lightman regards “increasing intelligence as the primary objective of a more egalitarian planet.” He’d uplift IQ in multiple ways, including “biofeedback of brain waves, nootropics, like the movie Limitless, only more limited, and exercise—read Sparkby John Ratey.” Imagination can be enhanced, he claims, by “promoting reading of science fiction. Teach it in schools.” Ambition can be strengthened if we “get people to exercise more, which will fix addiction, depression, and other mental issues that reduce ambition.” And finally, action? Lightman’s plan is to offer, “free classes in how to stop procrastinating, for everyone, in lieu of welfare, pensions, subsidies.” David Pearce (author of The Hedonistic Imperative) has advice that mirrors his dedication to the abolition of suffering. Like Lightman, he does not regard equity in wealth and class as the ultimate goal.“Happiness based on social status is a so-called ‘positional good’,” he said. “No amount of material wealth can create more happiness. Suicide rates and other ‘objective’ indices… depression, etc.—are actually worse today than they were for our hunter-gatherer ancestors on the African savannah. In my opinion, only genetically recalibrating our ‘hedonic set-point’can radically enhance our well-being.”Pearce believes his proposal is “technically feasible right now. For example, benign genes for our children via preimplantation genetic diagnosis could potentially enrich everyone’s quality of life—and allow all humans to be born ‘winners’.” He suggests “BioHappiness Education” as a policy measure for egalitarian bliss.
Giulio Prisco (author ofEngineering Transcendence) offered a proposal inspired by the work of a German anarchist.“Extreme inequality depends on how the economy is structured,” he explained. “A possible solution to this is the idea of Perishable Money—money with an expiration date, a concept originally devised by Silvio Gesell. In this system, there are no taxes and you keep all the money you make, but as soon as you are paid money, it starts to ‘decay’—perhaps losing all value after one month, or a certain % per day. So, you want to spend all your money on basic goods like food and rent. If you wish to accumulate money and save it for later, you must go to an exchange center operated by the community and convert your extra money to a non-perishable form, but you must pay fees to do this. The fees would be the equivalent of taxes, they would provide the money that the community needed for public works, health care, etc.”In Prisco’s analysis, “this system… would be very easy to implement now, with e-money.” Mike Treder (former Managing Director of IEET) believes “each person’s financial income should not be regarded as a personal possession, but as a provisionally assigned piece of the total pie.” “In truth,” says Treder, “whatever wealth you possess is not ‘your money’. You didn’t earn it by yourself with no help from others. It’s simply a share of total production—and often, because the system is imperfect, that share gets distributed unfairly. Adjusting income tax rates progressively can help to restore an appropriate balance.” Joern Pallensen (Danish blogger, Transhumanisten.com) says, “Denmark is the most equal in the world in terms of income. For example, a doctor at a public hospital makes less than $70,000/year (starting wages) and a garbage collector—or, to use the politically-correct term, “Renovation Technician”—also earns $70,000 on average. In Denmark, the income for the 10% richest is only five times higher than the 10% at the other end of the scale, whereas in the USA the difference is 16 times higher.”“To make a nation more egalitarian,” he continues, “I would mandate, for starters: public childcare, higher minimum wage, more equal pay, more flexible work schedules for families, and redesigned family and medical work leave.” What’s My Opinion? I agree primarily with Joern, but I would instigate reforms that were more radical. How about:  1. close the wage difference to 2-1 - minimum salary is $60,000 per year, maximum is $120,000 2. provide Basic Income Guarantee  3. provide free education from Preschool - Ph.D. 4. provide free, high quality health insurance These aren’t my “original” ideas. Most of them are espoused by Socialist Alternative, the group that successfully pushed for the $15/hour minimum wage in Seattle. —— Readers - post your own ideas, rants, initiatives, and outside-the-box-brain-dumps in the comments section below.

Egalitarians believe inequity leads to a plethora of social ills. For example: 1. Inequity corrodes trust, community life, and social mobility 2. Inequity increases anxiety and excessive consumption 3. Inequity contributes to mental and physical illness, drug use, imprisonment, obesity, teen… Continue Reading →

“We Can Hear You Now!” – 12 Ways Cell Phones Accelerate Africa

Africa is Rising! Technology, like cell phones, is aiding Africa’s fantastic leap forward. But are the poorest of the poor left behind? Africa is often demeaned as the “Lost” or “Hopeless” continent due to 1st World Afro-pessimism that’s gorges itself… Continue Reading →

Nine Ways In-Vitro Meat Will Change Our Lives

Future Flesh is squatting on your plate. Are you nervous? Stab it with a fork. Sniff it. Bite! Chew, swallow. Congratulations! Relax and ruminate now because you’re digesting a muscular invention that will massively impact the planet. In-Vitro Meat—aka tank… Continue Reading →

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