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	Transhumanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Transhumanists generally support emerging technologies, including many that are controversial, such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science; as well as hypothetical future technologies such as artificial intelligence, mind uploading and cryonics.
		Many transhumanists actively assess the potential for future technologies and innovative social systems to improve quality of all life, while seeking to make the material reality of the human condition fulfill the promise of legal and political equality by eliminating congenital mental and physical barriers.
		As most transhumanists support non-technological changes to society, such as the spread of political liberty, and most critics of transhumanism support technological advances in areas such as communications and healthcare, the difference is often a matter of emphasis.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Transhumanism (3031 words)

	Incipient Posthuman: The Transhuman Lifestyle (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		A transhumanist lives in the present, but is cognizant of the meaning and lessons of the past and is acutely aware of both the promise and the peril of the future.
		The roots of transhumanist philosophy are sunk deep in the humanist movement of the 20th century.
		A transhumanist is not one to heedlessly persist in patterns of behavior that contribute to emotional instability.
	www.incipientposthuman.com /lifestyles.htm (3430 words)

	Democratic Transhumanism
		Transhumanists, people who embrace technologies that extend and enhance regardless of their effect on “natural” life spans, limitations or social institutions, are the progressive end of the new biopolitical continuum.
		While transhumanists assert that all intelligent “persons” are deserving of rights, whether they are human or not, the biofundamentalists insist that only “humanness,” the possession of human DNA and a beating heart, is a marker of citizenship and rights.
		Democratic transhumanists should build solidarity with all those who are denied the right to control their own bodies and minds, and those oppressed because of the bodies and minds they possess.
	www.changesurfer.com /Acad/DemocraticTranshumanism.htm (9133 words)

	Transhumanism: The Next Step?
		For instance, transhumanists spend a lot of time discussing what they refer to as the Singularity, which is a specific point in time when technology produces an intelligence (presumably some form of supercomputer) that is superior to humanity, and which assumes the primary role in all policy level decision-making.
		Transhumanists unabashedly assert that, without gods, it is up to humanity to "play God," striving to achieve for humanity a total control over its physical and mental state that is in some ways similar to that promised in supernatural beliefs.
		Transhumanists are critical of traditional humanists for retaining what they regard as a vestige of religion in an almost pantheistic reverence for a "natural order" that precludes much of what the transhumanist views as the means of improving humanity’s lot.
	home.sprynet.com /~inniss/transhmn.htm (1198 words)

	Transhumanism and Extropianism
		Transhumanists do not see mankind as a fallen angel, somehow divorced and alienated from a romanticized "nature", but rather as simply one instance of the process of evolution's continuing action in the natural world, and thus as very much a part of nature.
		Seeing and embracing this new challenge, the transhumanist world view is a redemption of the optimism of the Enlightenment of the 18th Century, a New Enlightenment reinvigorated by a deeper understanding of consciousness as an integral part of natural evolution.
		As they explore and develop a new moral philosophy of transhumanism, extropians apply a broad definition of "technology" to their view of the transformation of the human condition, including within their approach to human technology such mental constructs as law and principles of social order.
	users.aol.com /gburch3/thext.html (977 words)

	wikien.info: Main_Page (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Transhumanists generally support emerging technologies, including many that are controversial, such as human genetic engineering, cryonics, and advanced uses of computers and communications; as well as future technologies such as space travel, cloning, nanotechnology, and mind uploading.
		As proponents of personal evolution and self-creation, transhumanists tend to utilize technologies and techniques that improve cognitive and physical performance, while engaging in specific routines and lifestyles designed to extend health and prolong life (see fyborg).
		Many transhumanists are transhuman by virtue of seeking to become posthuman, which they claim is the next significant evolutionary step for the human species.
	pardus.info /index.php?title=Transhumanism (1999 words)

	Genetics and Society: Resources: Items: Humanity 2.0
		I had wondered whether these were simply philosophical thought experiments, but the transhumanists at the front of the conference room speak of space colonization and radical life extension as if the technologies to achieve these things were just around the corner.
		Transhumanists resent the religious comparisons, and, to be fair, most of those at the seminar seemed no more like cult members than your average Amway representative.
		The transhumanist enthusiasm for scientific research represents an extreme version of the kind of idealism that will need to be tempered by an effective system of research regulation.
	www.genetics-and-society.org /resources/items/200310_wilsonq_elliott.html (3861 words)

	The Politics of Transhumanism
		Transhumanists themselves hold a wide range of political opinions (there are liberals, social democrats, libertarians, green party members etc.), and some transhumanists have elected to remain apolitical.
		For the transhumanists to emerge as a broad ideological movement, capable of inspiring activists and organizing a resistance to neo-Luddism, it must embrace the full range of liberal democratic and social democratic permutations.
		If transhumanists are conscerned about the persecution of transhuman minorities, such as disabled cyborgs or transsexuals, they should embrace the liberal and social democracies in which these minorities have been accorded the most rights and respect.
	www.changesurfer.com /Acad/TranshumPolitics.htm (11056 words)

	Wesley J. Smith on Transhumanism on National Review Online
		Transhumanists are breaking the intellectual ground they hope will eventually lead to public acceptance of genetic manipulation — not just to improve health, but to change our very natures.
		Transhumanist theory has arisen in the context of a strengthening nexus between the views already popular in bioethics and animal-rights advocacy.
		James Hughes sees animal-rights activists and transhumanists as natural allies since both are "opposed to [human] anthropocentrism." Hughes's point is this: Once we've been knocked off our pedestal of moral superiority, society will accept measuring a biological "platform's" (human, post-human, animal, etc.) moral worth by determining its level of consciousness.
	www.nationalreview.com /comment/comment-smith092002.asp (1256 words)

	village voice > news > Cyborg Liberation Front by Erik Baard
		Talk to transhumanists about the nightmares of a blitzkrieg of nanites turning the world into "gray goo," the dark vision of human mutants in rebellion, or the specter of killer robots on the loose, and they'll calmly remind you the earth has an expiration date.
		Transhumanists are asking whether we'll embrace the kinds of life that come next as a necessary extension of ourselves or shun them as monstrosities.
		The transhumanists are forcing, with microchips and DNA, a debate on ancient and unanswerable questions, says Bonnie Kaplan, chair of Yale's Technology and Ethics Working Group, co-sponsor of the conference.
	www.villagevoice.com /issues/0331/baard.php (2571 words)

	Montreal Mirror - The Front Page : Techno-Utopia
		At a public square on the Lower Main a belligerent drunk in an electric wheelchair shouts obscenities at a police officer whose attempts to grab him are befuddled by the man's oversized vehicle.
		It's a suitable image just prior to a meeting with Justice de Thézier, the local leader of Montreal's transhumanist movement, a recently formed gang of about 15 hardcore techno-utopians who seek to lobby and curry public enthusiasm for the improvements that technology can have for the human condition.
		Transhumanists believe that amazing technological advances will hit us quite suddenly, possibly in a magical moment called "singularity," when an advanced artificial intelligence unit will offer a host of technological advances all at once, at which point "the progress curve becomes nearly vertical," says Thézier.
	www.montrealmirror.com /ARCHIVES/2004/070104/news3.html (1284 words)

	This Magazine: The Great Byte Hope
		Transhumanists envision a radical future in which man and machine are one and death is a relic of the past.
		A tall, wiry fellow with spectacles and a polished pate, Dvorsky is a man in flux: he defines himself as a “transitory human,” or transhuman, and believes that with the increased melding of man and machine he will evolve to a “post-human state” and transcend the limitations of his natural body.
		The transhumanists might be an inconsequential fringe group if it weren’t for their critics, who fear that their feverish pro-technology doctrine could exacerbate class divisions inherent in society by pitting biologically superior humans against their lower-grade counterparts.
	www.thismagazine.ca /issues/2005/01/greatbytehope.php (2228 words)

	Sentient Developments: Nick Bostrom's rebuttal to Francis Fukuyama
		More accurately, transhumanists advocate increased funding for research to radically extend healthy lifespan and favor the development of medical and technological means to improve memory, concentration, and other human capacities.
		Transhumanists propose that everybody should have the option to use such means to enhance various dimensions of their cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being.
		Transhumanists are concerned that the prestige of the President’s Council on Bioethics is being used to push a limiting bioconservative agenda that is directly hostile to the goal of allowing people to improve their lives by enhancing their biological capacities.
	sentientdevelopments.blogspot.com /2004/09/nick-bostroms-rebuttal-to-francis.html (1318 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Transhumanist organizations that declare themselves to be "democratic transhumanists" make an even bigger mistake.
		A transhumanist organization should no more describe its core commitments as "democratic" than it should describe itself as an "Internet organization" when in practice and in aspiration the organization interacts by means of any effective medium of communication.
		Transhumanists of all stripes agree in their commitment to continual and fundamental improvements in the human condition.
	www.extropy.org /politicaltheory.htm (1509 words)

	FAQ WTA English (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Transhumanists think that through the accelerating pace of technological development and scientific understanding, we are entering a whole new stage in the history of the human species.
		Transhumanists urge that it is of the greatest importance that we begin to take these issues seriously.
		Transhumanists can speculate about how a posthuman might interact with humans---provided that a posthuman would want to interact with humans at all---but it is difficult to imagine how a society of posthumans might conduct their lives.
	www.transhumanismo.org /faq-ingles.htm (7999 words)

	The Next Digital Divide (Articles) Alyssa Ford (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		In 1997, a group of American and European leftist-transhumanists (including Dr. Hughes) formed the World Transhumanist Association to advocate for technology not only as a means to improve the human race and increase longevity, but as a tool for social justice.
		Unlike their libertarian forebearers, these "democratic transhumanists" advocate for moderate safeguards on new technology, such as drug trials.
		In an exhaustive article about various factions under the transhuman label, Hughes identifies 11 subgroups, including "disability transhumanists" who argue for their right to technology and "gay transhumanists" who want children conceived outside of the opposite-sex paradigm (i.e., cloning).
	www.utne.com /web_special/web_specials_2005-01/articles/11539-1.html (517 words)

	While Condemning Reckless Raelians, Canadian Transhumanists Affirm Cloning as a Valid Reproductive Choice (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The Toronto Transhumanist Association is a supporter of reproductive cloning, but denounces all attempts to clone humans until the technology is perfected.
		The Toronto Transhumanist Association (TTA) is a chapter of the World Transhumanist Association, a global organization founded in 1998 to support discussion, research and public awareness of Transhumanist thinking.
		Transhumanism is concerned with ethically expanding technological opportunities for all people to live longer and healthier lives, to enhance their intellectual, physical and emotional capacities, and to enjoy a future of freedom and prosperity.
	www.prweb.com /releases/2003/1/prweb53819.php (705 words)

	ImmInst.org -> Transhumanists, Still Human - TV04 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		This alertness to proximate danger was consistent with transhumanists’ fascination with existential risks, such as asteroid impacts and thermonuclear war, and made a certain sense: starving yourself to increase your life expectancy is pointless if you get hit by a truck.
		She informed me that my description of the two transhumanist schools was dishonest and propagated on the internet by members of the non-libertarian school.
		He continued by describing how he had recently learned that transhumanists do not advocate becoming posthuman in order to abolish their humanity.
	www.imminst.org /forum/index.php?act=ST&f=67&t=4127&hl=&s= (6541 words)

	Transhumanism - Biocrawler definition:Transhumanism - Biocrawler (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		A moral philosophy based upon the belief that artificially intelligent life and its colonization of space is possible and desirable, advocating deliberate action to ensure its development.
		Many transhumanists are actively seeking to become transhuman or posthuman, which they claim is the next significant evolutionary step for the human species.
		Transhumanists are also forming regional and global networks and communities to provide support and forums for discussion and working on collaborative projects.
	www.biocrawler.com /biowiki/Transhumanism (2515 words)

	Transhumanist FAQ (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		A transhumanist whose focus and approach to life embodies the values and attitudes that seek to improve the human condition through careful consideration of scientific, technological and ethical means.
		Transhumanists believe that the best strategy for attaining posthumanity to be a combination of technology, personal responsibility, and determination, rather than looking for it through psychic contacts, or extraterrestrial or divine gift.
		The precise cause of this change is the imminent creation by technology of entities with greater than human intelligence.” Transhumanists vary considerably in their view of the exact nature and definition of a Singularity, and not all transhumanists accept it as a useful notion.
	www.extropy.org /faq.htm (11438 words)

	McGeek > GRFF: Tyrell Corp (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Nanotech, upon which the Transhumanists believe so much of this tech will evolve, is currently getting a lot of news play -- and has been a hot topic for sci-fi in the last ten years in particular.
		Another possible purpose for the Transhumanists is the concept of moral responsibility in the face of technology.
		What looked threatening for quite a while, especially in the early nineties, was that educational institutions didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground when it came to the ethics of technology.
	www.mcgeek.net /mainsite/thinkie/34,37.html (1065 words)

	Science Articles \|\| Science Blog Community
		The flaw in the transhumanist worldview is not that it seeks changes from the human condition as we have previously known it -- for what major advance in science and technology does not produce change?
		Transhumanists might naturally expect me to share their outlook, even though I've made no secret of the fact that I don't believe computers themselves can become conscious.
		Although most transhumanists believe there is nothing beyond the ordinary material world (rightly so, in my opinion), there is nothing in the philosophy of transhumanism that requires it.
	www.sciscoop.com /story/2003/8/15/25038/4626 (3152 words)

	Transhumanists put their faith in technology \| Jef's web files (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The stuff of science fiction is creed to transhumanists, a diverse group of technological optimists who advocate the transformation of Homo sapiens into a new species, one "better than human."
		Transhumanists see our era of rapid technological advance as the transitional phase between our human past and post-human future.
		Transhumanists come in a wide variety, said James Hughes, executive director of the World Transhumanist Association based in Willington, Conn.
	www.jefallbright.net /node/2674 (646 words)

	CBHD: Remaking Humans - C. Ben Mitchell and John F. Kilner
		Transhumanists think they can better themselves socially, physically, and mentally by making use of reason, science, and technology.
		For many of the transhumanists, human beings are merely what AI guru Marvin Minsky has called, "computers made of meat." So, melding biological computers (the human brain) with silicon brains (computers) seems like a good thing to do.
		Much of what the Transhumanists long for is already available to Christians: eternal life and freedom from pain, suffering, and the burden of a frail body.
	www.cbhd.org /resources/bioethics/mitchell_kilner_2003-08-29.htm (1602 words)

	Transhumanism: Humanity 2.0 CARL ELLIOT / Wilson Quarterly Autumn 2003 1sep03
		Transhumanists have become increasingly visible in the media, often for their outspoken advocacy of all things technological: In a memorable encounter last year, transhumanist Max More, cofounder of the Extropy Institute, debated University of Virginia bioethicist Jonathan Moreno on CNN's Crossfire about the ethics of cryonically freezing the head of baseball great Ted Williams.
		Many enhancement technologies are too pedestrian to interest the transhumanists, but they make an exception for genetic medicine—the possibility of genetically enhancing human beings.
		Transhumanists believe they have simply learned to put aside the ordinary human aversion to novelty in favor of technology-assisted human progress.
	www.mindfully.org /Technology/2003/Transhumanist-Humanity1sep03.htm (4203 words)

	The Sky Is the Limit: Transhumanism, Self-Evolution, and Immortality (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Transhumanists advocate the moral right to use technology to extend their individual capacities, to get rid of all limits and improve ourselves in both physical and psychological areas.
		The use of technology for the improvement of the individual — and consequently of the human race — is the basic definition for transhumanism.
		Unlike theologians and politicians, transhumanists don't want to impose their will on others; transhumanists wish to increase their cognitive capacities and end death and disease.
	author.senescence.info /thoughts/transhuman.html (1320 words)

	The New American - The Clone Wars - January 13, 2003 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Transhumanists, as Stock’s book title suggests, "are motivated by the desperately utopian objective of correcting the ‘mistakes’ of nature by creating a ‘post-human’ species," Smith told T
		But even more troubling than the utopianism of the transhumanist movement, Smith contends, is its denial of the "fundamental sanctity of the human individual." "The transhumanist perspective completely rejects Jefferson’s premise that all human beings are created equal with respect to the unalienable right to life," Smith observed to T
		Transhumanist James Hughes "sees animal-rights activists and transhumanists as natural allies since both are ‘opposed to [human] anthropocentrism,’" Smith writes.
	www.thenewamerican.com /tna/2003/01-13-2003/vo19no01_clone.htm (1526 words)

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