CGS big logo Overview linkTechnologies linkPolicies linkAnalysis linkPerspectives link

 

 
Home >> Analysis >> Encouraging Public Acceptance of the New Eugenics >> Advocacy by Supporters of "Transhuman" and "Post-Human" Ideologies 
home
newsletter
resources
site map
about us

 
 

"Transhumanism" as a political movement was the creation of futurist writers and technophiles in Southern California and Europe in the early 1990s. Most transhumanists embrace libertarian social and political values and reject explicitly racist eugenic philosophies.

Some transhumanists distance themselves from "eugenics" by defining that practice as authoritarian and thus unacceptable. Others seek to recast the term in a positive light and to portray Nazi eugenics and genocide as perversions of an otherwise commendable practice.

Transhumanists and traditional eugenicists share an obsession with the use of genetic and reproductive technologies to create superior forms of human beings.

Key transhumanist organizations include:

The Extropy Institute - http://www.extropy.org/

The Extropy Institute "acts as a networking and information center for those seeking to foster our continuing evolutionary advance by using technology to extend healthy life, augment intelligence, optimize psychology, and improve social systems." In his keynote address at the 1999 Annual Convention, Extropy Institute President Max More said:

"We have decided that it is time to amend the human constitution…. We will no longer tolerate the tyranny of aging and death. Through genetic alterations, cellular manipulations, synthetic organs, and any necessary means, we will endow ourselves with enduring vitality and remove our expiration date…. We will take charge over our genetic programming and achieve mastery over our biological and neurological processes. …[W]e will seek complete choice of our bodily form and function, refining and augmenting our physical and intellectual abilities beyond those of any human in history…."
http://www.maxmore.com/mother.htm

Several mainstream scientists have participated in Extropy events, including Calvin Harley, Chief Scientist for Geron Corporation.
http://www.extropy.org/events/extro4.html

The World Transhuman Association - http://www.transhumanism.org/index.htm

They see themselves as the moderate, "liberal democratic" wing of the post-human movement.

UCLA Program in Medicine, Technology and Society - http://research.mednet.ucla.edu/pmts/

This program is the base of author and promoter Gregory Stock, whose latest book is Redesigning Our Children: Our inevitable post-human future. Stock is a bridge between fringe post-human activists and the mainstream scientific community. He was the lead organizer of the 1998 conference Engineering the Human Germline at UCLA.

In a front-page profile of Stock on June 13, 2002, The Wall Street Journal called him "a rarity: a serious scientist who publicly supports cloning humans."

For more information on Stock, see [ Analysis >> Promoting the New Eugenics >> Engineering the Human Germline ].

Websites with large lists of Transhumanist links include:

Life Extension and "Immortalism"

Life extension and immortalism are major themes in post-human literature. Many participants in the work of the Extropy Institute and the WTA have contracted with Alcor Life Extension Foundation or other cryonics firms to have their full bodies or their heads frozen upon their death, in hopes of eventual reanimation. Key links include:

 

More Information

Perspectives: Explore various communities' concerns regarding human genetic technologies

Policies: Read about existing and potential regulations

Technologies: Learn the basic science and consider arguments for and against

Date modified: