The Transhumanist Reader
Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future
1. Edition April 2013
480 Pages, Softcover
Textbook
Short Description
The Transhumanist Reader takes a multidisciplinary approach to exploring transhumanist themes. Those themes include the central philosophical premises, the core technologies, the application of both philosophical ideas and technologies to human cognitive, somatic, and emotional enhancement, issues of life extension and personal identity, decision making, biopolitics and policy, and controversy over the idea of a technological singularity, concluding with discussion of opposition to transhumanist thinking. Along with early core transhumanist writing, the Reader includes newer pieces illustrating the expansion in the range of approaches to transhumanist issues. (21 of 48 essays are either entirely new or heavily revised.) Where appropriate, the editors have added introductions or afterwords to provide context.
Further versions
The first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and current state of transhumanist thinking
The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns. Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature.
Part I Roots and Core Themes 1
1 The Philosophy of Transhumanism 3
Max More
2 Aesthetics: Bringing the Arts & Design into the Discussion of Transhumanism 18
Natasha Vita-More
3 Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up 28
Nick Bostrom
4 Transhumanist Declaration (2012) 54
Various
5 Morphological Freedom - Why We Not Just Want It, but Need It 56
Anders Sandberg
Part II Human Enhancement: The Somatic Sphere 65
6 Welcome to the Future of Medicine 67
Robert A. Freitas Jr.
7 Life Expansion Media 73
Natasha Vita-More
8 The Hybronaut Affair: A Ménage of Art, Technology, and Science 83
Laura Beloff
9 Transavatars 91
William Sims Bainbridge
10 Alternative Biologies 100
Rachel Armstrong
Part III Human Enhancement: The Cognitive Sphere 111
11 Re-Inventing Ourselves: The Plasticity of Embodiment, Sensing, and Mind 113
Andy Clark
12 Artificial General Intelligence and the Future of Humanity 128
Ben Goertzel
13 Intelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality 138
Alexander "Sasha" Chislenko
14 Uploading to Substrate-Independent Minds 146
Randal A. Koene
15 Uploading 157
Ralph C. Merkle
Part IV Core Technologies 165
16 Why Freud Was the First Good AI Theorist 167
Marvin Minsky
17 Pigs in Cyberspace 177
Hans Moravec
18 Nanocomputers 182
J. Storrs Hall
19 Immortalist Fictions and Strategies 196
Michael R. Rose
20 Dialogue between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler 205
Part V Engines of Life: Identity and Beyond Death 213
21 The Curate's Egg of Anti-Anti-Aging Bioethics 215
Aubrey de Grey
22 Medical Time Travel 220
Brian Wowk
23 Transhumanism and Personal Identity 227
James Hughes
24 Transcendent Engineering 234
Giulio Prisco
Part VI Enhanced Decision-Making 241
25 Idea Futures: Encouraging an Honest Consensus 243
Robin Hanson
26 The Proactionary Principle: Optimizing Technological Outcomes 258
Max More
27 The Open Society and Its Media 268
Mark S. Miller, with E. Dean Tribble, Ravi Pandya, and Marc Stiegler
Part VII Biopolitics and Policy 279
28 Performance Enhancement and Legal Theory: An Interview with
Professor Michael H. Shapiro 281
29 Justifying Human Enhancement: The Accumulation of Biocultural Capital 291
Andy Miah
30 The Battle for the Future 302
Gregory Stock
31 Mind is Deeper Than Matter: Transgenderism, Transhumanism, and the Freedom of Form 317
Martine Rothblatt
32 For Enhancing People 327
Ronald Bailey
33 Is Enhancement Worthy of Being a Right? 345
Patrick D. Hopkins
34 Freedom by Design: Transhumanist Values and Cognitive Liberty 355
Wrye Sententia
Part VIII Future Trajectories: Singularity 361
35 Technological Singularity 365
Vernor Vinge
36 An Overview of Models of Technological Singularity 376
Anders Sandberg
37 A Critical Discussion of Vinge's Singularity Concept 395
David Brin, Damien Broderick, Nick Bostrom, Alexander "Sasha" Chislenko, Robin Hanson, Max More, Michael Nielsen, and Anders Sandberg
Part IX The World's Most Dangerous Idea 419
38 The Great Transition: Ideas and Anxieties 421
Russell Blackford
39 Trans and Post 430
Damien Broderick
40 Back to Nature II: Art and Technology in the Twenty-First Century 438
Roy Ascott
41 A Letter to Mother Nature 449
Max More
42 Progress and Relinquishment 451
Ray Kurzweil
Index 454
"Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature." (LIS Trends, 8 March 2013)
Review appeared in The Guardian 1st July 2013
Natasha Vita-More, PhD is a leading expert on human enhancement and emerging and speculative technologies and is a Professor at the University of Advancing Technology. Dr. Vita-More's writings have appeared in Technoetic Arts: Journal of Speculative Research, Metaverse Creativity and The Global Spiral. She has appeared in numerous televised documentaries on media design, culture, and the future.
