Daily Archives: January 19, 2023

Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History

Posted: January 19, 2023 at 5:33 pm

Black Lives Matter protests on June 6

Sources: Crowd Counting Consortium, Edwin Chow and New York Times analysis | Note: The Times partnered with Edwin Chow, an associate professor at Texas State University, to count the protesters based on available aerial images from June 6 and added those estimates to data from the Crowd Counting Consortium. Counting efforts are still ongoing, so the map is not comprehensive and totals shown are an average of high and low estimates.

The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States. That was a single day in more than a month of protests that still continue to today.

Four recent polls including one released this week by Civis Analytics, a data science firm that works with businesses and Democratic campaigns suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in the United States have participated in demonstrations over the death of George Floyd and others in recent weeks.

These figures would make the recent protests the largest movement in the countrys history, according to interviews with scholars and crowd-counting experts.

Note: Surveys are of the adult population in the United States

Ive never seen self-reports of protest participation that high for a specific issue over such a short period, said Neal Caren, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studies social movements in the United States.

While its possible that more people said they protested than actually did, even if only half told the truth, the surveys suggest more than seven million people participated in recent demonstrations.

The Womens March of 2017 had a turnout of about three million to five million people on a single day, but that was a highly organized event. Collectively, the recent Black Lives Matter protests more organic in nature appear to have far surpassed those numbers, according to polls.

Really, its hard to overstate the scale of this movement, said Deva Woodly, an associate professor of politics at the New School.

Professor Woodly said that the civil rights marches in the 1960s were considerably smaller in number. If we added up all those protests during that period, were talking about hundreds of thousands of people, but not millions, she said.

Even protests to unseat government leadership or for independence typically succeed when they involve 3.5 percent of the population at their peak, according to a review of international protests by Erica Chenoweth, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School who co-directs the Crowd Counting Consortium, which collects data on crowd sizes of political protests.

Precise turnout at protests is difficult to count and has led to some famous disputes. An amalgam of estimates from organizers, the police and local news reports often make up the official total.

But tallies by teams of crowd counters are revealing numbers of extraordinary scale. On June 6, for example, at least 50,000 people turned out in Philadelphia, 20,000 in Chicagos Union Park and up to 10,000 on the Golden Gate Bridge, according to estimates by Edwin Chow, an associate professor at Texas State University, and researchers at the Crowd Counting Consortium.

Source: EarthCam

Across the United States, there have been more than 4,700 demonstrations, or an average of 140 per day, since the first protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, according to a Times analysis. Turnout has ranged from dozens to tens of thousands in about 2,500 small towns and large cities.

Protests against racism and

police violence per day

Protests against racism and

police violence per day

Protests against racism and

police violence per day

Source: Crowd Counting Consortium

The geographic spread of protest is a really important characteristic and helps signal the depth and breadth of a movements support, said Kenneth Andrews, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

One of the reasons there have been protests in so many places in the United States is the backing of organizations like Black Lives Matter. While the group isnt necessarily directing each protest, it provides materials, guidance and a framework for new activists, Professor Woodly said. Those activists are taking to social media to quickly share protest details to a wide audience.

Black Lives Matter has been around since 2013, but theres been a big shift in public opinion about the movement as well as broader support for recent protests. A deluge of public support from organizations like the N.F.L. and NASCAR for Black Lives Matter may have also encouraged supporters who typically would sit on the sidelines to get involved.

The protests may also be benefitting from a country that is more conditioned to protesting. The adversarial stance that the Trump administration has taken on issues like guns, climate change and immigration has led to more protests than under any other presidency since the Cold War.

According to a poll from The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in five Americans said that they had participated in a protest since the start of the Trump administration, and 19 percent said they were new to protesting.

More than 40 percent of counties in the United States at least 1,360 have had a protest. Unlike with past Black Lives Matter protests, nearly 95 percent of counties that had a protest recently are majority white, and nearly three-quarters of the counties are more than 75 percent white.

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

The New York TimesSource: 2018 Census via Social Explorer; Crowd Counting Consortium protests database; New York Times protests database

Without gainsaying the reality and significance of generalized white support for the movement in the early 1960s, the number of whites who were active in a sustained way in the struggle were comparatively few, and certainly nothing like the percentages we have seen taking part in recent weeks, said Douglas McAdam, an emeritus professor at Stanford University who studies social movements.

According to the Civis Analytics poll, the movement appears to have attracted protesters who are younger and wealthier. The age group with the largest share of protesters was people under 35 and the income group with the largest share of protesters was those earning more than $150,000.

Half of those who said they protested said that this was their first time getting involved with a form of activism or demonstration. A majority said that they watched a video of police violence toward protesters or the Black community within the last year. And of those people, half said that it made them more supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The protests are colliding with another watershed moment: the countrys most devastating pandemic in modern history.

With being home and not being able to do as much, that might be amplifying something that is already sort of critical, something thats already a powerful catalyst, and that is the video, said Daniel Q. Gillion, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has written several books on protests and politics.

If you arent moved by the George Floyd video, you have nothing in you, he said. And that catalyst can now be amplified by the fact that individuals probably have more time to engage in protest activity.

Besides the spike in demonstrations on Juneteenth, the number of protests has fallen considerably over the last two weeks according to the Crowd Counting Consortium.

But the amount of change that the protests have been able to produce in such a short period of time is significant. In Minneapolis, the City Council pledged to dismantle its police department. In New York, lawmakers repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records secret. Cities and states across the country passed new laws banning chokeholds. Mississippi lawmakers voted to retire their state flag, which prominently includes a Confederate battle emblem.

It looks, for all the world, like these protests are achieving what very few do: setting in motion a period of significant, sustained, and widespread social, political change, Professor McAdam said. We appear to be experiencing a social change tipping point that is as rare in society as it is potentially consequential.

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Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History

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After Raising $90 Million in 2020, Black Lives Matter Has $42 Million …

Posted: at 5:33 pm

In the tragic, whirlwind year of 2020, with racial-justice protests prompted by the killing of Black men and women by police officers, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raised $90 million, much of it small donations from rank-and-file supporters. A recent tax filing from the group shows that by the middle of last year, more than half of that money had been granted to smaller organizations or spent on consultants and real estate, leaving the foundation with $42 million in assets.

The foundations finances have been subjected to criticism both from participants in the Black Lives Matter movement and from their opponents. Many local groups that are part of the movement have called for more transparency and a greater role in making decisions, as well as more money for the organizations led by activists on the ground. At the same time, opponents of Black Lives Matter have tried to portray spending by one of the groups founders as evidence of widespread mismanagement in a manner that appears intended to impugn the cause of racial justice as well as the group.

No one expected the foundation to grow at this pace and to this scale, Cicley Gay, chair of the board of directors, said in a statement on Tuesday. Now, we are taking time to build efficient infrastructure to run the largest Black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.

Ms. Gay was one of three new board members that the group announced last month. In an interview on Tuesday, Shalomyah Bowers, another new member of the board, said the picture painted by the documents shows an organization retooling for the long haul.

As a new board, we are building policies that didnt exist, operational and administrative infrastructure that didnt exist. Were making it clear to Black people that were an institution and that were here to stay, said Mr. Bowers. In order to do that, we need to demonstrate that our financial house is in order.

During the fiscal year covered by the tax form, the only voting board member was Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter. While such a structure is legal in Delaware, where the group is incorporated, charity experts say it is far from best practices, especially for a group with tens of millions of dollars in its coffers.

Imagine you have the equivalent of a cruise ship with no one at the helm, you have a massive organization, massive amounts of money, no structure, no accountability, no staff, said Ashley Yates, a St. Louis-born activist who was involved with Black Lives Matter nationally in its early years but has since spoken critically about lack of transparency within the group. Who even makes the decision on who writes the checks?

Ms. Cullors, who stepped down as executive director in May 2021, said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that within the group, they often referred to the experience of the past few years as building the plane while flying it.

The only regret I have with B.L.M. is wishing that we could have paused for one to two years, to just not do any work and just focus on the infrastructure, she said in the interview. Much of the outside critical attention on the group focused on her involvement.

Last month, New York Magazine reported that funds raised by the foundation were used to buy a house in California for nearly $6 million in cash in October 2020. The tax filing shows property worth $5.9 million, held by a Delaware company. The house was to be used, among other things, as an artist retreat, the filing said, but identifying information is not being released here due to safety and security concerns and threats to B.L.M.G.N.F.s leadership, staff and creators, the form said.

The tax form indicated that Ms. Cullors received no compensation during the fiscal year but instead served as an unpaid volunteer. A family member, Paul Cullors, was listed on the tax form as receiving payment for professional security services amounting to $840,993.

According to the tax filing, Ms. Cullors also paid the organization back for charter travel, saying that she voluntarily reimbursed subsequent to year end. She also repaid the nonprofit for personal use of its real estate, which appeared to refer to a birthday party for her son held at the $6 million house.

I think they are doing what a lawyer in this situation would advise them to do, which is be as open as you possibly can be and be as accurate as you possibly can be, said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in nonprofits. Theyre trying to be transparent. Theyre trying to right the ship. Theres still work to do.

The release of the tax filing, Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, was the first time the group offered an official accounting of its finances. It is also a delayed snapshot. The form covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, nearly a year ago.

In 2021, the foundation released its own report, not a mandatory federal tax filing but a voluntary accounting of its funds, in which it said that it raised $90 million in 2020, with the average donation being $30.64. At that time, the group said that it spent $8.4 million on operating expenses while disbursing $21.7 million in grants to about 30 organizations and to 11 Black Lives Matter chapters around the country.

On the tax form, the foundation said that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, it received contributions and grants totaling $76.9 million, with total expenditures of $37.7 million. Those expenses included grants of $500,000 each to Black Lives Matter groups in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and elsewhere.

Jacob Harold, a nonprofit expert, said he was struck in particular by the number of paid employees listed on the form, which was just two, versus the number of volunteers, which was 49,275. That ratio pretty much tells the story right there, Mr. Harold said. Two paid staff members would rarely be enough to manage a $90 million organization. This 990 tells a story of weak nonprofit governance, he said.

Justin Hansford, a professor at the Howard University School of Law, said the stakes were high because the public could not always differentiate between the Black Lives Matter movement and one specific organization. Its extremely important to have transparency and good governance at any organization with this level of global fame, said Mr. Hansford, who is also executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. The credibility of the entire movement is at stake based on these choices, for better or worse.

But he added, They deserve a little grace here. As protesters suddenly given a windfall of money, they had to learn how to manage a large nonprofit on the fly, and its a lot to ask.

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After Raising $90 Million in 2020, Black Lives Matter Has $42 Million ...

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UPSC Key- January 19, 2023: Learn about Annual Status of Education Report, Federalism and State Legislatures – The Indian Express

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UPSC Key- January 19, 2023: Learn about Annual Status of Education Report, Federalism and State Legislatures  The Indian Express

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UPSC Key- January 19, 2023: Learn about Annual Status of Education Report, Federalism and State Legislatures - The Indian Express

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Top 3 Online Casinos [2023] to Play for Real Money

Posted: at 5:28 pm

The realm of internet casinos is one that is larger than it has ever been in the past. With the wide variety of choice available to those who wish to play blackjack online. If youre interested in some of the hottest spots to play online blackjack games you have certainly come to the right place. Luckily, lots of people have already experienced the best in the realm of internet gaming.

Bovada is one of the most established and long-running spots to play blackjack online. With a uniquely well put together combination of fantastic bonus promotions, 24 hours a day 7 days a week customer service and easy access to your money it is no wonder why Bovada has become one of the most longstanding and reputable names in the world of internet gaming. With many choices online for options to play blackjack, it is perfectly understandable to want to choose a website that has a longstanding reputation. If you want the very best in the realm of internet gaming, look no further than Bovada. Bovada also features many other diversions including poker and roulette.

With Ignition, youre getting quality. They are one of the longest running and most trustworthy brands in the world of online gambling. If youre looking for online gaming you need to look no further than Ignition. There are thoroughly detailed bonuses that anyone that is interested in games here can apply for, fantastic customer service as well as a good design that ensures that players will always have quick and easy access to their money. Check out Ignition if you want one of the leading experts in blackjack today.

Cafe may not be as much of an established name as some of the other internet casinos, yet in a short time, it has managed to develop a stellar reputation. This is one of the best websites to play blackjack online. Online blackjack games can be played at Cafe by downloading apps for their Android and iOS devices. In addition to being a great spot for online blackjack games, the website also boasts a wide variety of live dealer games and progressive jackpot online slots.

King Billy Casino is a newer name in the market for those wishing to play blackjack online. It was launched just a few years ago, in 2017. However, in this short time, it has managed to establish itself as a leading name in the internet gaming community. It contains one of the most professional layouts in all of internet gaming, some of the best promotions in the field of online casinos and a license from the Curacao eGaming company that proves it is one of the most reputable companies in this field. There are few better opportunities to get your blackjack game on than at King Billy.

Jackpot City has been around for many years now and is well established as one of the very best internet gaming websites. If you want to play blackjack online, or many other fine games, you can do it right at Jackpot City. Due to its long-standing reputation, its managed to accrue some of the most rewarding bonuses, most dedicated support team and easiest access to funds on the entire internet. While you dont have to limit yourself to just blackjack at a wonderful establishment like this, youre more than welcome to play to your hearts content and get an exceptional experience while doing so.

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch spotted from space station (photo) – Space.com

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  1. SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch spotted from space station (photo)  Space.com
  2. SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch Looked Totally Magical From the ISS  CNET
  3. Launch footage shows how SpaceX recovers its rockets  The Hill

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch spotted from space station (photo) - Space.com

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Transhuman code | A new initiative that highlights the growing …

Posted: at 5:24 pm

Digitalization is the new normal with disruptive waves to the economy, business models, consumer choices and demands.Today, we must acknowledge that we are either building a future of technological grandeur at the expense of what makes us magnificent, or we are building a future of human grandeur with the help of magnificent technology. The path we collectively choose will determine whether our future is bleak or bright.

We urge your commitment to #maketechhuman because technology shall serve people and not people serve technology. This is humanitys manifesto for choosing wisely:

1. Privacy

Securing the privacy of every human being is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, personal data conveyed over the Internet or stored in devices connected to the Internet is owned and solely governed by the individual.

2. Consent

Respecting the authority and autonomy of every human being is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, personal digital data will not be used as research, rationale, enticement or commodity by any entity or individual, except with the explicit, well-informed, revocable consent of the individual owner of the data.

3. Identity

Valuing the identity of every human being is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, everyone everywhere has the right to be known and validated by the possession of a government-issued digital identity, which can be authenticated and used only by its owner.

4. Ability

Advancing human faculties is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, to that end, the secure, approved, and accountable aggregation of personal information and resources to increase our individual abilities is a fundamental objective of technology.

5. Ethics

Improving the human condition is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, a universal code of ethics reflecting the highest order of human values will govern the development, implementation, and use of technology.

6. Good

Advocating and innovating the greatest good for all humanity is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, technology, no matter how advanced, will never supersede the spiritual purposes or the moral rights and responsibilities of any human being anywhere.

7. Democracy

Democratizing human vision, ingenuity, and education is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, technology will remain humanitys greatest collaborator but never represent humanity itself.

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Transhumanism: What It Is, and Why It Is So Fundamentally Wrong

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Imagine a future when earths inhabitants are not humans, but cyborgsrobotlike beings with both biological and mechanical components. With exosuits for added strength, cybernetic arms and legs, surgically-implanted earbuds for advanced hearing, bionic eyes for X-ray and infrared vision, and digitally-enhanced brains, these superbots think and act at lightning speed. Nanobots inside their bodies work continually to maintain and repair organs and tissues. Equally impressive are their organic parts, which have been genetically engineered for health.

These superbeings may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but they are the very real aspiration of influential business leaders, government officials, biotech engineers, scientists and futurists around the world, who are spearheading a philosophical and socio-political movement known as transhumanism.

In a nutshell, the transhumanist movement seeks to develop and use technology to radically transform humanity beyond its current physiology and limitationsto augment or amplify natural abilities like intellect and physical strength, create disease-resistant bodies, and extend lifespans or prevent death altogether.

To accomplish its goals, the transhumanist movement is looking to such technologies as genetic engineering (the deliberate altering of DNA sequences to produce new traits), implant technology (the embedding of digital implants in the body to interface with computers), artificial intelligence (the development of computer systems that mimic the thinking capabilities of the human mind), nanotechnology(the manipulation of atoms and molecules to produce new molecular structures), and cybernetics (the replacement of biological body parts with biomechanical devices).

Those involved in the transhumanism movement concede that much of what they envision is only in the early stages of development. We dont have cyborgs living in our midst quite yet, and many question whether it would even be possible to create such beings. But a lot of research is currently underway, in all of the areas just mentioned, to try to speed the transhumanist agenda along.

Many times the innovations that move us closer to transhumanism were devised for totally different purposes. For instance, invitro fertilization was developed to assist with the conception of a child and screen for genetic diseases, but could also be used to select for certain desirable traits and create designer babies. Neural lace, a wireless brain-computer interface, is being billed as a new way to treat neurological disorders, but could also connect the brain with artificial intelligence (AI) software to boost mental acuity. Radiofrequency ID microchips got their start in retail and business applications, but are now being implanted in peoples hands as universal I.D. cards, building access card keys and credit cards, all under the auspices of convenience and security.

Our world is certainly moving towards a transhuman future. Some leaders in the movement are hoping to have created full-fledged cyborgs by the early 2030s. And while transhumanists would see that as a huge accomplishment, thats not all they want to do. Ultimately, they hope to not only digitally and genetically enhance fleshly bodies, but to actually be liberated from them.

Many futurist thinkers envisage the day when people will be able to separate their minds from their biological bodies, and transfer them to a super computer or mega server (in the same way a computer file could be moved from one machine to another), and live forever in a virtual reality environment. Transhumanists refer to this as the posthuman state. They believe at that point, the distinctions between virtual reality and actual reality, or human and machine, will have been completely dissolved. Individuals will be able to take on holographic-like avatars, changing and shifting their identities to their liking, free to roam the Metaverse as immortal cyberbeings.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil, one of the main leaders in the transhumanism movement, predicts that around 2045, earth will be inhabited entirely by computers. Purely organic humans will have become extinct, he asserts. Those who survive will be the ones who will have fused their minds with the all-powerful computers.

It can be tempting to just laugh all this off, because much of what transhumanists want to do really DOES sound like science fiction. But the fact remains, the early workings of transhumanism ARE here. There are many negative implications of going that direction as a society, particularly from a biblical standpoint. We need to be aware of what this movement is about, because even though its unlikely transhumanists will be able to pull off everything they want to do, some of their ideas could impact us. Here are six very big reasons why transhumanism is so very wrong:

1. God is not part of the thinking.

Transhumanists reject any belief in God or a spiritual realm. Instead, they have generally adopted the philosophical position known as materialism, which regards the natural, material and physical universe as the only reality. They insist that anything which is not composed of matter, does not exist. They see science as the source of all knowledge, and the lens in which to understand the world, find solutions to lifes challenges, and discover meaning in existence.

Romans 1:28 Romans 1:28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;American King James Versionaptly applies to transhumanism: And even as they did not like to retain God intheirknowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. When people dismiss the Bible, their thinking immediately starts going in the wrong direction. Nothing truly good can come out reasoning that relies on human perspectives alone. Starting with a wrong premise only leads to more bad ideas.

2. The posthuman virtual world is a counterfeit version of eternal life.

Transhumanism is basically an attempt by mankind to achieve eternal life withoutGod. Rather than being thankful for Christs sacrifice and looking to His return as the only hope for mankind, transhumanists regard technology as their savior. They still want to live forever, and have deluded themselves into thinking this can be done via a physical meansby uploading their minds onto a computer-generated virtual world. Even if that was doable, it would not be a joyful existence, as true peace and happiness is not possible apart from God.

3. Transhumanism is a form of evolution.

Materialism, which transhumanism is built on, posits that mankind came into existence through evolutionthe theory that lifeforms are continually changing for the better, and that the present form of any organism is a diminished version of what is to come. Transhumanism offers its own twist: that mankind should use technology to artificially speed up the evolutionary process and bring on the next phasemerging humans with machines.

According to transhumanism, our physical bodies are the primary impediment to our advancement as a species. Yet the Bible describes the human body as fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14 Psalms 139:14I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well.American King James Version). God created us as He intended. His design for us does not require improvement.

This does not mean that we should oppose thoughtful use of gene editing and other biomedical procedures to treat or screen for genetic diseases, or restore normal body functioning after catastrophic injuries. But if we cross the line to reinvent the human body, we are, in effect, saying that we can do better than God, writes B.M. Coaker in Who are You? (AuthorHouse, 2018). We have been given the ability to appreciate and admire Gods handiwork in His originally unflawed design . . . but He has not given us the mandate to take our exploration and curiosity beyond his handiwork (p. 56). The primary concern lies in implementing biotechnological enhancements to the point that we lose our identity as human beings.

4. There is no recognition of the spiritual components of the mind.

The Bible tells us that we human beings have a spiritual component to our makeup (Job 32:8 Job 32:8But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.American King James Version, 1 Corinthians 2:11 1 Corinthians 2:11For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.American King James Version). It is this spirit of man that imparts intellect to our brains, creating the human mind. Transhumanists, as materialists, are not open to this truth. They posit that the human mind (including our thoughts and personalities) is purely physical, consisting of groups of chemicals, neural connections and electrical impulses that operate in predetermined ways. This is why they think its possible to capture and digitize the information patterns that supposedly comprise a persons consciousness, and upload it to a computer server.

However, some scientists, even within the transhumanism movement, have expressed doubts about whether this idea of mind uploading is actually possible, acknowledging that the faculties of the human mind cannot be reduced to simple patterns of brain chemistry. They point out that even if a persons mind could be reproduced in machine form, the results would not preserve the original person in any true sense. At best, it might be a rough copy of a few personality traits or mimic some of the persons attitudes, but without true self-awareness, sentience, and consciousness.

5. Morality is not addressed or seen as important.

When transhumanists talk about the future they envisage, they focus on physical health and strength and cognitive abilities. Thats because they see the human condition as purely a physical problem, needing physical solutions.But the fact is, humanitys foundational problems are spiritual in nature, and require spiritual solutions. We wont be able to control our human nature or have true morality without God.

Human nature cant be changed through the augmentation of intelligence, writes Sandra Godde in Reaching for Immortality: Can Science Cheat Death? (Wipf and Stock, 2022). Even a cursory view of history reminds us that sophisticated societies can still invent more horrific ways to destroy their neighbors and exalt themselves . . . It follows that technological advance does not inevitably lead to advance in human goodness (p. 40).

For the most part, transhumanists have no explanation for what human nature is, where it comes from, or how to manage it. There is also no consensus among them as to how morals are developed. Some transhumanists will at least admit that moral character is not an attribute that can be programmed in. The Bible makes it clear that character development requires the free choice of individuals who must want to build it, and that it is something we have to diligently pursue (2 Peter 1:5-8 2 Peter 1:5-8 [5] And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. [8] For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.American King James Version).

Even if character could be instilled as an enhancement, there would be no agreement among transhumanists as to what constitutes good morals. Moral absolutes depend on an absolute law giver, which could only be our Creator. Without belief in God, transhumanists become moral relativists by default, meaning individuals decide for themselves whats right and wrong. This inevitably leads to individuals to pursuing their own selfish motives. Living in a world like that for eternity hardly sounds pleasant.

6. Transhumanism could intensify conflict or lead to enslavement.

Without God and His standards of morality and justice being integrated into the theoretical transhuman or posthuman worlds, the machine-beings that exist would still have human nature and the same type of evil predispositions as mankind has always had, but with much more power to perform their acts. Some warn that in the future there could be two classes of beings on earth: the bionically-enhanced superhumans, who brutalize the other weaker class of beings, the non-enhanced humans. Others warn that if computers were to achieve super AI (a level of intelligence thats vastly superior to that of humans) and human minds were able to live via a cloud connection in the virtual world, their more intelligent machine overlords could enslave them.

But even the softer forms of transhumanism were seeing now could set the stage for control. For instance, subdermal microchips and brain computer interfaces could be used for surveillance, or even for reading and manipulating our thoughts and behavior. This is particularly troubling if those who are doing the monitoring are positions over us and have different values or beliefs than we do.

There can be no doubt that Satan is behind the transhumanism movement. Satan hates Gods plan to bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10 Hebrews 2:10For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.American King James Version). He will do everything he can to try to destroy mankind before that happens, and transhumanism appears to be a way he is trying to do that. But it is a futile endeavor. Many of the worlds intellectuals too have convinced themselves transhumanism will work, despite facts indicating just the opposite.

Futurists often point to recent innovations like brain-controlled prosthetic limbs, surgically-implanted hearing aids, and antenna implants in the skull to help colorblind individuals perceive colorsas proof that were on our way to transhumanism. But these kinds of augmentations are a far cry from the creation of cyborgs and avatars.

Transhumanists face some insurmountable challenges. For one, the human mind with its nonphysical components, cannot be removed from a physical body and transferred over to a robot, computer server or any other machine. Moreover, qualities like emotions, beliefs, values and intuition cannot be reduced to mere computer codes, to be uploaded to a digital medium.

The other huge challenge is their quest to achieve strong AI, which is central to creating the superbeings they desire. Strong AI includes Super AI and General AI (intelligence equal to humans), and would have all features of human cognition, including self-awareness, sentience, consciousness. Scientists have been trying to develop Strong AI for several decades and they are still only in the theoretical stage. There is growing doubt about whether a computer could ever really think and understand like a human.

In so many ways, transhumanism is Satans attempt to detour God in His incredible plans for mankind. Thankfully, its unlikely transhumanism will ever come to fruition. It really IS mostly fiction. Still, understanding what transhumanism is about is a helpful exercise and a huge reminder of what happens when humans do not include God in their thinking.

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Transhumanism: What It Is, and Why It Is So Fundamentally Wrong

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