From: Chris Fedeli (fedeli@email.msn.com)
Date: Sun Apr 25 1999 - 23:59:20 MDT
I caught that Esquire spread too. Also, I recently saw a
favorable article on cryonics and immortalism in another
mainstream rag, LinguaFranca. Seems like a boom of good
press.
But the piece in Esquire gives me a good feel of how most
people in the literate mainstream probably regard the
prospect of immortality - with equal measures of curiosity
and bemusement.
The Richard Dooling piece had an absurdist ring to it,
mirroring the cover tag line in its inquiring "would you
really want to live forever?" And the question isn't an
easy one from the perspective of Dooling. In his short
article, he paints a picture of a possible future that is
just as frustrating, conflict-ridden, and senseless as the
modern world. He projects his fictional self surviving to
the year 2099 only to be killed by a terrorist in Darwin's
Army, a group that opposes "unnatural" evolution.
Still, I count this as a positive representation of
transhumanism. The tone may be one of world-weariness,
skeptical of a better future, but that attitude just happens
to be part of the zeitgeist. Anything that departs from
that perspective too greatly would probably alienate
Esquire's trendy readers.
Often times, for new memes to spread, they have to be
packaged in a way that will mostly fall in line with what
people already believe to be true about the world. By that
consideration, efforts by the likes of Dooling might be far
more effective vehicles for spreading transhumanist ideas
than the various singularity-themed visions, which tend to
confuse the hell out of most people.
If you get a chance, check it out. For kicks, there's a
great photo of a twenty-something yuppie giving the finger
to the grim reaper.
Chris Fedeli
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