From: Kathryn Aegis (aegis@igc.apc.org)
Date: Wed Nov 04 1998 - 16:19:50 MST
It's odd, I did not see the posting from 'den otter', only snippets of
it, so if someone could repost, that would be helpful.
I believe that my original posting may have been misunderstood. My
intention was twofold: (i) to alert people to factual information
about the situation, and (ii) to suggest that this might provide a good
opportunity for some transhumanists to make their voice heard in new venues.
By making our voice heard, I do not mean calling for the political
overthrow of Afghanistan. This situation has poltical overtones, but
it touches on many transhumanist themes, and it provides an opportunity
to showcase them to people who have not yet heard our ideas.
We support individual autonomy and reasonable freedom from government
regulation--this situation represents government regulation in an
extreme degree. We support an individual's control over their own
body--that control has been taken away. We support science--medical
research is being used as the basis for a human rights campaign, for the
first time in recent memory. We support longevity programs--the
deprivation of sunlight and medical care only shortens the lifespans of
these women and children with no hope of medically reversing the
effects. We support rational thought and denouce religious
superstition--there is no rational basis for dividing an entire
population by their genital composition and imprisoning those who
possess one particular set of them. An entire nation socially
de-evolved overnight--one year from the vaunted millenium in which many
of us will be speaking out on the potential of the future for every
human.
What this boils down to, for me, is that transhumanism does not just
involve the distant future, it involves the potential that exists in
every human this very minute to evolve, grow, and develop. When that
potential is cut off in such a drastic manner, for no reason other than
superstition, then I don't see it as so far off the beam to at least
suggest that some of us might like to make a statement about it.
But, I leave that choice to each of you. I've made the statement that
I need to make here.
Kathryn Aegis
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:49:43 MST