Transhumanist politics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Transhumanist politics is a political ideology that aims to improve the human condition through the use of advanced technologies.[1] Transhumanists tend to support life extension, human enhancement technologies, space exploration and space settlement, human rights, sustainable development, technogaianism, and raising the world's living standard through technology, science, education, decentralization, and just governance.[2][3]

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.[4][5] In 2012, Giuseppe Vatinno was the first politician in the world to explicitly identify as a transhumanist.[6][7] 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.[8][9][10] In 2013, io9 editor Annalee Newitz suggested building a Space Party devoted to developing space settlements and defending humanity against existential threats.[11] During the 2014 U.S. midterm elections, Gabriel Rothblatt was the first transhumanist to run for the U.S. Congress.[12]

Transhumanists believe in transforming the human condition by developing and making available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.[13] 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]

The political philosophies that tend to be supportive of transhumanism, according to Amon Twyman from the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, are social-futurism; techno-progressivism; techno-libertarianism; and anarcho-transhumanism.[14][unreliable source?] These philosophies collectively make up political transhumanism.[14]Democratic transhumanists, also known as technoprogressives,[15][16] tend to be in disagreement with libertarian transhumanists over the role of government in society, but both agree that technology can enhance the human condition and laws should not prevent technology-based human progress.[17] Democratic transhumanists support equal access to human enhancement technologies in order to promote social equality and to prevent technologies from furthering the divide among the socioeconomic classes.[18] Alternatively, libertarian transhumanists reject government healthcare policies that offer human enhancement technologies because they fear that any state intervention will steer or limit their choices.[19][20][17]

Riccardo Campa wrote that transhumanism can be coupled with many different political, philosophical, and religious views, and this diversity can be an asset as long as transhumanists do not give priority to their existing affiliations over their membership with organized transhumanism.[21]

In October 2014, Zoltan Istvan announced his plan to form the Transhumanist Party and run for President of the United States during the 2016 presidential election.[22] During December 2014, United Kingdom and European Union transhumanist parties began to organize, and on January 2015 the UK Transhumanist Party released the Transhumanist Party Manifesto.[23][24][unreliable source?][25]

The Transhumanist Party is a political party movement[neutrality is disputed] that is centered on the philosophy of transhumanism, including the political focus of science, medicine, and technology to enhance the human species.[26][22] Amon Twyman wrote that the strength of developing transhumanist parties lies in the grassroots actions of the thousands of transhumanist who can be organized and politically mobilized for a common goal, and the goal is not to replace technological progress with politics but to use politics to ensure technology is used to improve the world.[23][unreliable source?] In an interview with Vice magazine, David Wood stated that the UK Transhumanist Party is progressive both socially and economically and leans towards decentralization.[25]

Zoltan Istvan has announced he is running for the United States presidential election of 2016 under the Transhumanist Party.

Transhumanist writer and former University of Texas professor, John G. Messerly, wrote that he supports Istvan's entrance into politics because both the social and political environment must be supportive of transhumanism in order for humans to evolve with greater intelligence and morality.[27]

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Transhumanist politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia