From: O'Regan, Emlyn (Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au)
Date: Sun Apr 18 1999 - 21:08:30 MDT
Two questions, for all those who like a debate:
1: In some sense humans have been augmented since the first person
belted someone about the chops with a bit of bone, some hundreds of
thousands of years ago. Ever since then, we rely on our civilisation and
our technology to achieve what we do, and to be who we are. We are not
the same people without it.
Given this (doesn't that come easily!), what is transhumanism? How is a
transhuman not merely a human (albeit further augmented). I suspect that
the impulses that drive us technologically forward, and which are
particularly pronounced in the posts to the Extropians list, to use
technology to make magic, are entirely human, and will remain no-matter
what we do to ourselves in the future.
2: Some people seem to have an idea that life-extension will propagate
out to everybody, regardless of colour or creed, or the size of his/her
bank account. Please justify this! Life extension seems particularly
prone to being a haven for the wealthy, as I see it, because it is bound
to be expensive for a long time. Actually, I find that I can't justify
that statement, so please shoot it down.
I am not a good faithful believer in capitalism, and I've never been
very interested in making money for its own sake. Now I'm thinking that
accumulating wealth may actually be incredibly important, if I'm going
to live for some ridiculous span of time (and I am, you know).
Does anyone think I'll be getting life-extension under government health
cover?
Emlyn
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