From: Nick Bostrom (bostrom@ndirect.co.uk)
Date: Thu Aug 06 1998 - 10:28:14 MDT
Kathryn Aegis wrote:
> I have missed something about the way this FAQ was originally organized, but
> aren't most these actually 'transhumanist technologies'? When I hear the
> phrase 'transhumanist concepts' I think of 'transhuman', 'posthuman', as
> well as the 'singularity' and the various paths of evolution. This may be a
> function of the manner in which the English language is used on my side of
> the Atlantic--North Americans tend to use the word 'concept' to indicate a
> broader idea rather than a concrete manifestation. Can someone clarify this?
Burch called it 'technologies'. I changed it to 'concepts' for two
reasons. First, I wanted to explain what the singularity is supposed
to be and I cound't fit it under any other section. Second, the
notion of a transhuman technology is a little strange - a cogwheel or
a rubber band are techenologies that are very useful for
transhumanist purposes, so it's unfortunate to give the impression
that only some fancy sci-fi future tech would qualify as transhuman.
If there's a problem with "concept" we can change it to something
else -- not "applications" though, since the singularity is hardly
an application.
_____________________________________________________
Nick Bostrom
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb
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