I did not see it either, but it has been widely discussed at my job today...where apparently everyone wants to live forever. I, for one, cannot really understand that joy of living forever, or even for 150 years. It would be like a movie that should've ended about 30 minutes before it actually did.
It was fascinating to see--mainly, this, as well as the fact that AAR is having a whole session on transhumanism & religion, is an indication that there's a real sense in which transhumanist philosophy is becoming more mainstream. And I noticed that although the first person Walters interviewed was Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a prominent transhumanist, the word "transhumanist" was not used in the special even once. My guess is that it still sounds too "fringy" and that those behind the push to popularize figure they're better off without the label...?
I could say more, but I'm still in the middle of trying to research and understand this movement so judgments are still premature I think. In general, though, I find I have a very mixed reaction.
Casey, you might find this link interesting. As far as I can tell, this is a mostly personal/intellectual blog by someone sympathetic to transhumanism...she makes a distinction in the post btw pursuing longevity and pursuing immortality.
Interesting tidbit: I use a webservice named "stumbleupon" You click a button and it takes you to a random website that has been recommended or "stumbledupon" by other readers. Yesterday, I was led to the Transhumanism page on Wikipedia. That means that there are a number of those who find it fascinating enough to recommend it to others. If I want to read on it, where do I start?
5 comments:
Didn't see it, but if it's worked for Barbara Walters for the last 125 years it should work for us. :D
I crack myself up.
I did not see it either, but it has been widely discussed at my job today...where apparently everyone wants to live forever. I, for one, cannot really understand that joy of living forever, or even for 150 years. It would be like a movie that should've ended about 30 minutes before it actually did.
It was fascinating to see--mainly, this, as well as the fact that AAR is having a whole session on transhumanism & religion, is an indication that there's a real sense in which transhumanist philosophy is becoming more mainstream. And I noticed that although the first person Walters interviewed was Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a prominent transhumanist, the word "transhumanist" was not used in the special even once. My guess is that it still sounds too "fringy" and that those behind the push to popularize figure they're better off without the label...?
I could say more, but I'm still in the middle of trying to research and understand this movement so judgments are still premature I think. In general, though, I find I have a very mixed reaction.
Casey, you might find this link interesting. As far as I can tell, this is a mostly personal/intellectual blog by someone sympathetic to transhumanism...she makes a distinction in the post btw pursuing longevity and pursuing immortality.
and hey, thanks to you both for indulging me by commenting on a dissertation-topic post...
Interesting tidbit: I use a webservice named "stumbleupon" You click a button and it takes you to a random website that has been recommended or "stumbledupon" by other readers. Yesterday, I was led to the Transhumanism page on Wikipedia. That means that there are a number of those who find it fascinating enough to recommend it to others.
If I want to read on it, where do I start?
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