Ask HN: How many of you are transhumanists? - Immortalin
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Broken_Hippo
30 years or less, they say. But I think it won't be so weird. I'll upload (and
implant) when I get the chance to do so in the care of a doctor - the DIY
implants people are doing now are a bit too extreme for me.

... That might be a yes.

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rthomas6
It would help to have a more specific definition. What is transhumanism,
exactly? Humans already augmented their intelligence, their bodies, and their
abilities with technology, and have done so for thousands of years.

~~~
Immortalin
Edit: To be specific, I meant those who believe in life extension and
immortality, such as mind uploading, nanotechnology-based telomerase solution
etc.

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polybius
> believe in life extension and immortality

What does this "believe" mean, though? That one trusts that these advances
will happen? Think they should happen? Wish fervently that they would happen?
All of the above?

I do not think people would say they "believe in personal hovercrafts", just
that they would like personal hovercrafts to exist, or expect they will (or
won't) someday exist, or think they ought to already exist, etc.

Diction choices such as the "believe" above are why transhumanism has always
struck me as quasi-religious (specifically millenarian) in character.

But then again, maybe when you're talking about (potentially indefinite) life
extension, there's no way to avoid the millenarian flavor. Literal
immortality! Not in some heavenly sphere, but here in our own galaxy! How
could you _not_ get all millenarian about such a heady thing?

~~~
Immortalin
To clarify, I meant people who willing to pursue and embrace immortality (e.g.
investing in nanotechnological research, regenerative medecine) and would not
simply reject the idea as a pie-in-the-sky theory or argue that we should not
be playing god. I am just interested to know how many people on HN would
support life extension etc. and would be willing to consider it if it were to
happen in this century. ;)

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partisan
I am excited about the prospects, but fear that it will only serve to further
widen the rift between the rich and the poor.

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exratione
Not enough, I'd imagine.

It has always been a stronger thread in the tech community than elsewhere, but
it is still only a thread. Take a survey of your office and you'll find few
people who put any thought into radical life extension, mind uploading, and
the rest of the visions of the future that were ideas in search of advocates
in the 80s and are now in the very early stages of actual development.

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crazypyro
It's interesting to mind experiment with the idea of governmental development
of these major, huge time span projects, similar to the way space exploration
is undertaken.

I think eventually this will be the way into the sci-fi future we all imagine.
A Manhattan project scale plan that would allow them to focus specifically on
solving the hardest problems we know and not having to worry about
profitability.

~~~
Immortalin
I do not think the government would be willing to research this. Despite how
expedient this sound, I think that it is best driven by capitalists who wants
to profit from it. History has proven to us time and again that innovation is
the fastest when there is a monetary incentive. The governments around the
world would not be willing to invest in this as this is one of those researchs
with a low chance of returns, in addition, it would create a nightmare of
political problems due to overcrowding etc. If the transhumanism movement was
to pick up momentum among the non-profits, there is a high chance that
governments and politicians might try to stop simply because of the problems
it might cause, not to mention the opposition by religion organisations. As
the saying goes, aurum est potestas, if this was to take off, it is inevitable
that there must be huge financial backing by the higher end of the financial
spectrum.

~~~
crazypyro
As a counter-example, the moon landings were not driven by monetary incentive.
In fact, I would say innovation is driven much more by survival and fear.
Otherwise I agree.

