Re: Defining Transhumanism

Natasha Vita More (natasha@natasha.cc)
Tue, 20 Oct 1998 07:28:06 -0500

At 10:19 AM 10/19/98 -0700, Robin wrote:

>Nick Bostrom suggested that he & I take public our private
>conversation about definitions of transhumanism. I proposed:
>
> Transhumanism is the idea that new technologies are likely
> to change the world so much in the next century or two that
> our descendants will in many ways no longer be "human."

This definition leaves out any set of values and transhumanism not not just about technology.

Although I appreciate your definition of transhumanism, I thought that we spent considerable time on this many months ago. At that time we went over the original definition and discussed possibilities for wording. Nick was active on this thread.

I'm pleased with both FM-2030's definition of transhumanism and Max More's original definition of transhumanism which appears to be going into a public dictionary. If WTA wants to have its own definition, this is fine, as there will be many definitions of transhumanism according to many different organizations. However, how many disparate definitions do we have for humanism, and is reference given to the original definition?

I understand that as Editor of WTA's journal, you might feel that it is a good idea to create a new definition, but I am not sure that this is appropriate so early. Is there a better way to deal with this?

Natasha