Transhumanism Conference
I just got home from a transhumanism conference ("Human Enhancement Technologies and Human Rights")being held at Stanford through tomorrow (Sunday). Among the items I learned today are: Feminist bioethics supports genetic engineering so that men can be altered to have babies and women can be freed from the tyranny of menstruation; animals should be enhanced to permit them to become equivalent to humans, including the ability to use the Internet--before, that is, all animal life is transformed into non biological states of existence, which apparently the living planet Gaia requires in order to survive; funding anti-aging research is more important than funding treatment for fighting disease in Africa; we probably should permit people who want to be amputees to achieve their desires; and, freedom requires a maximum morphological license to enhance our biological units.
I covered the conference for the Weekly Standard and will be writing about what it all means in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Will Saletan from Slate is also in attendance, and I have no doubt he will be weighing in with his impressions soon. When he does, I will link it here.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 10:22 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Wesley, is this for real? It sounds like something sponsored by the Weekly World News.
I know that feminists by and large oppose many of the new technologies because they tend to dehumanize women.
It's for real. Some feminists do indeed oppose these issues. For example, check out the WEB site for Hands Off Our Ovaries, that seeks to prevent women from being exploited for their eggs in biotech research.
Hi Wesley
While accepting we’ll never agree, I’d like to make the point that it’s important to distinguish between extremist and reasonable Transhumanist organizations.
The conference you attended was organized, as you know, by the dominant figure in the ‘World Transhumanist Association’, James Hughes, a member of the Loony Left who believes in votes for genetically-enhanced elephants, the creation of ‘boy unicorns’, and a World Government providing free access to universal ‘eugenic programs’.
By contrast, the newly formed World Transhumanist Society respects the millions of people who, from strong religious beliefs, want nothing whatsoever to do with attempts to enhance the human condition through modern medicine.
The WTS is for those who personally believe in self-development, don’t wish to impose their beliefs on anyone else, and support the development of medical techniques by which to:
1/ cure and prevent physical and mental disorders.
2/ slow down aging, and the suffering that goes with it.
3/ increase the usable power of our brains
Not all Transhumanists are extremists. As the Founder of the WTS, despite my pro-Transhumanist polemics, I personally oppose both the use of ‘cast off’ IVF embryos purely as material for research (a denigration of life); and ‘voluntary euthanasia’ (a charter to co-erce unwanted relatives into suicide).
I like to think that those opposed to extreme Transhumanism might encourage sensible organizations like the WTS, and rightly focus their opposition on the Loony Left dominated WTA – for Dr Hughes’ frightening belief in a World State dishing out eugenics programs to the masses really does mean the prospect of a Brave New World.
Cheers!
Simon Young
Brighton, UK
info@designerevolution.net
thetranshumanist.blogspot.com
Thanks, Simon. Hughes was actually one of the more conservative people at the Stanford conference!
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