From: Tim Bates (tbates@karri.bhs.mq.edu.au)
Date: Sat Feb 20 1999 - 21:32:45 MST
Natasha Vita-More said
>There are two areas that need rethinking [in the FAQ]
>First, one area where I did stumble was re extropianism and politics: As an
>extropian (and on the Advisory Council) I am *NOT* a libertarian. I am
>someone who votes on issues and not party aligned.
Firstly, I would note that libertarianism is not a political party, it is
a philosophy.
Also, I would be willing to argue that it would be very hard to be
extropian and not believe in maximal liberty for individuals and minimal
government, probably as defined by Rand as zero government outside
defending the (libertarian) constitution.
Still, I agree that one does not need to belong to the Libertarian Party
to be extropian nor does the minimal definition of extropian views on
political life, as above, correspond to hard-core libertarianism.
I wonder what the resolution is? Transhumanism must have a political
philosophy of some kind if it is a minimally complete view of human
future.
I propose this passage:
"Transhumans do not view any larger organisation which they may join from
time to time as being in any way transcendent of their individual selves.
Their politics are constrained by this principle.
In particular, Transhumanism excludes all communitarian forms of
government based on notions that any other individual, "society", or any
other entity has any call upon them which transcends the transhumanist's
individual choices.
Several rights which all transhumanists accept extend from this notion of
self as personal property and are an essential element of Transhumanism.
An exemplar right which may be derived from these transhuman principles
is that suicide is a human right."
>Secondly, ... the credit goes to
>Max More for having created the world view of transhumanism
Yes. Let's just say "Max More defined Transhumanism."
tim
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