Transhumanism - what is it, and what will it do to you?

After the last few Facebook updates, I'm not sure if this is even still visible, but once upon a time, on that hallowed Internet tome, I described my Religious views as "Transhumanist Discordian Buddhist" (you can probably infer what a smug little self-satisfied prick I was at that age by the fact that I simultaneously gave my Political views as "Non-believer".).  As has already been pointed out to me, I can't legitimately lay claim to being a devout Buddhist (since I, among other unworthy activities, eat meat), which I readily concede - the union of these three is simply the most efficient way of concisely approximating most of my worldview.

Although I would LOVE to spread the word of Discordianism a bit further, I believe it's one of those things that's far better discovered on your own.  For eager disciples of the Way, the holy text can be found here: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/5.php. Remember, though, a Discordian is prohibited of[sic] believing what he reads.

[Note - if you've never heard of the concept of transhumanism before, don't click the link in the following paragraph until I tell you to!]
The reason that I chose to write about Transhumanism this week is because of this article, which I found very thought-provoking.  Although I don't agree whole-heartedly with all the points made in it, it's a very good jumping-off point for debate on the concept as a whole - what is it, what does it entail, is it a worthy goal, and how close are we getting to it?

The following are entirely my own opinions, based off what I have read on the topic.  I intentionally haven't referred to other sources (except the article mentioned above) in writing this, because I wanted this to be a personal account - if I simply copy-and-pasted Wikipedia's definition, I wouldn't really be producing anything new!  Therefore, any definite statements on the topic (e.g. "Transhumanism is") should always be regarded as being preceded with "in my opinion".

Ahem.  Transhumanism is a paradigm which holds that it is crucial for sentient beings to grow and develop, and that two vital parts of that growth are the betterment of tools (making the growth exponential), and developing the ability to take control of and modify oneself.  To this end, transhumanists embrace the possibility of cybernetic implants, the development of artificial intelligences, and the furtherance of medical science, with the ultimate end goal of transcending the limitations inherent in our bodies as they currently are.

[This is probably a good point to go read that article, if you haven't already]

Yes, ok, so at first glance this might seem like a slightly more high-brow justification for nerds who were already wildly enthusiastic about computers and robots - and, I'll admit, this was what first snared my interest with the idea when I was young!  But, as with good sci-fi stories (and one day I will write an entire rant about what sci-fi really is, and what it isn't - here's a clue, putting spaceships or lasers into your story doesn't make it sci-fi, and vice versa), the otherness of the initial impression can help to raise interesting questions that are immediately relevant to our own lives.

I found points 5 and 7 in the linked article to be particularly interesting (if the reference to African grey parrots puzzled you, by the way, read this, though prepare to get a little teary!).  They are, if you'll excuse a little pretension in my language (and if you won't, you've certainly come to the wrong place), emergent properties of initial impulse.  As human lifespans lengthen, the increasing over-population will make debate over contraception all the more urgent, prompting further discussion on the right to parenthood and early rights.  Likewise, when we start constructing/becoming/encountering organisms that transcend our instinctive definitions of "human", the paradigm shift required to recognise the sentience and agency of non-humans should, hopefully, make it that much easier for us to recognise the inherent rights of other non-human creatures with which we are already familiar, and the ludicrousness of the idea that humans should have different rights because of different race, class, or sexual orientation.

Aaah, I've already ranted for many many and still have lots more to say, but people would be in danger of nodding off.  Hopefully this will be a primer good enough to get people intrested in the topic, so that my follow-up post (WHEN it comes, not if!) will be better received. If you're interested in some further musings on how the progress of transhumanism might affect our view on natural rights, and how you might already hold some transhumanism ideals dear without even realising it, browse through this article about Pixar films.  For a good refutation of one of the main counter-arguments to human improvement ("When everyone is special, no-one is", or "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."), via two of my favourite books and films, see here.  And for an article on the development of the ability of storytelling to explore non-anthropocentric narratives, and the philosophical points that then emerge - an article that is only tangentally related to the subject of this post, but whose quality renders it deserving of far wider readership - see here (many thanks to George Lockett for the link).

[Disclaimer: it is an irrefutable law that any system of thought sufficiently advanced to be useful will contain flaws.  Transhumanism as a concept is not perfect, nor are all of its aims compatible with my personal ethical stance - but it is an interesting and productive concept on which to muse]

Geeky triumph

Just a quick celebratory post to note that trexlyrics (come now, you really should be up to date on this if you've been reading my blog - and if you haven't, why not!?  My twitterbot project, inspired by http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2121 (hover your mouse over the picture for a caption) and viewable here: www.twitter.com/trexlyrics) is now properly live, and will reliably reply to @mentions with a random lyric within five minutes of posting.  Go forth and play with my creation!

Big Mac

I've been using a Mac regularly for a few months now at work, and for the most part, it's been a pleasure.  Many things that would be hassles on Windows are simple, and "just work".  Mounting network drives, in particular, was really surprisingly easy.  I've also really appreciated the way that mousing over a window makes scrolling active in that window, without having to actually click the window - such a small thing that I didn't even realise I was missing out on with Windows until I discovered it!

John, what happened?

I am really, really, surprised to be writing this, but here goes: *deep breath* I'm not enjoying "Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare" at all.