Transhumanist politics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Transhumanist politics constitute a political ideology that expresses the belief in technology's potential to perfect the individual.[1] Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan claims that the transhumanism movement aims to improve humanity with technology and science, and he gives life extension and human enhancement as examples of transhumanists' ideas.[2]

According to James Hughes, transhumanist politics is part of a three-hundred-year-long history that began in the Age of Enlightenment, when people began to advocate for democracy and individual rights and use science and technology instead of magic and superstition.[3][4] In 2012, when active transhumanist Giuseppe Vatinno was elected into Italian Parliament, New Scientist dubbed him "the world's first transhumanist politician".[5][6] Also in 2012, the Longevity Party, a movement described as "100% transhumanist" by cofounder Maria Konovalenko, began to organize in Russia for building a balloted political party.[7][8] In 2013, io9 editor Annalee Newitz suggested building a Space Party devoted to developing space settlements and defending humanity against existential threats.[9] In 2014, h+ Magazine called Gabriel Rothblatt "very possibly the first openly transhumanist political candidate in the United States" when he ran as a candidate for the United States Congress.[10] However, futurist Peter Rothman reports that "Humanity+ board chair Natasha Vita-More was elected as a Councilperson for the 28th Senatorial District of Los Angeles in 1992 on an openly futurist and transhumanist platform."[11]

Transhumanists believe in transforming the human condition by developing and making available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.[not in citation given][original research?][12] According to a 2006 study by the European Parliament, transhumanism is the political expression of the ideology that technology should be used to enhance human abilities.[1]

According to Amon Twyman of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), political philosophies which support transhumanism include social futurism, techno-progressivism, techno-libertarianism, and anarcho-transhumanism.[13] Twyman considers such philosophies to collectively constitute political transhumanism.[13]

Democratic transhumanists, also known as technoprogressives,[14][15] support equal access to human enhancement technologies in order to promote social equality and prevent technologies from furthering the divide among socioeconomic classes.[16] However, libertarian transhumanist Ronald Bailey is critical of the democratic transhumanism described by James Hughes.[17][18][19]

Riccardo Campa wrote that transhumanism can be coupled with many different political, philosophical, and religious views, and that this diversity can be an asset so long as transhumanists do not give priority to existing affiliations over membership with organized transhumanism.[20]

The Transhumanist Party is a proposed political party in the United States,[21] advocated by Zoltan Istvan, who has stated he will be running in the United States presidential election, 2016 under the party's banner.[22][23][24] Istvan was to hold a fundraiser on Kickstarter in January 2015 and to conduct a campaign bus tour throughout California in summer 2015.[25] Istvan filed a statement of intent for his organization to qualify as a political party for the June 2015 California primary elections.[21] As of March 2015 Istvan reported that he himself funded nearly all of his campaign's expenses but that could not continue.[24] In June 2015, Istvan filed an FEC form designating "Transhumanist Party" to be the principal campaign committee for his election candidacy.[26]

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Transhumanist politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia