On UltraHumanism

From: Terry Donaghe (tdonaghe@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Aug 13 1999 - 13:36:13 MDT


Wouldn't UltraHumans be the ultimate, pinnacle of humantiy? That is,
once you're an Ultrahuman you're incapable of further advancement. The
idea of post-humans, entities which are no longer human, doesn't
exclude advancement and continuing evolution.

Also, Ultrahumans sounds like the title of a Saturday morning cartoon.
Post- has a clean, scientific sound to it. Ultra- is more exciting,
but also seems a little goofier, etc.

Those among the public which look at our philosophy with utter
disbelief won't change their minds because we change a few terms. As
far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter what the general public thinks.
 The relentless march of technology is unstoppable leading either to a
posthuman future or total destruction for humanity. Those of us with
the foresight to see what's coming will best be able to take advantage
of the changes. The others will be left behind.

I think our movement would be better served in pointing out the
problems associated with following emotional, irrational or dogmatic
beliefs. Until the general public begins to discard superstitious
religious beliefs and begins to more readily embrace science and
rational thought, we're not going to make much headway.

Like someone here said a while back - we're gonna drag the rest of
humanity kicking and screaming into the posthuman future whether they
like it or not.

===
Terry Donaghe: terry@donaghe.com
http://www.donaghe.com
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:04:45 MST