Zoltan Shrugged

Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan's book, The Transhumanist Wager, has been compared to Ayn Rand's classic. What role does libertarian philosophy play in Transhumanism?

Cyberpunk.

Mind uploading.

Eternal Life.

Enhanced awareness.

Transhumanism has an unavoidable appeal to the ego, but has it become dangerously selfish?

When I read a recent review comparing Zoltan's book, which describes a militant transhumanist colony's takeover of the world, to Ayn Rand's ode to the self, I became concerned. Transhumanism is a global effort, the most purely and truly altruistic endeavor possible. Through acheiving a transhuman reality, we can eliminate suffering, eliminate death, spread knowledge and the freedom it brings throughout the world- but that's not what some individuals are focusing on.

I believe that the movement should do everything it can to distance itself from a libertarian philosophy. When I say that, I am not saying that libertarianism is wrong, I'm saying that it's wrong for transhumanists. In today's world, there is a legitimate debate as to how big a role government should play in the lives of the individual. To focus on a libertarian transhuman future, however, is false advertising.

To transhumans, the concept of government and government involvement will seem archaic. We will all be the government, as our minds will be connected and for the first time we will face the world and its problems as one united human race. While I believe that any attempted connection between humanity's transhuman future and the political ideals of today will be irrelevant, I think that attempting to do so with libertarianism can actually be harmful.

Here's why: Transhumanism is scary and powerful.

We can't really fathom exactly what it is that the transhuman era will bring. We know it will be great, we know it will be sublime, we know that we will experience things which we have never experienced before, and that frightens people.

While I believe that the transhuman era will arrive regardless of how many people resist it, the last thing that we should be doing is focusing on individualism. We should be welcoming people and easing their concerns, encouraging them to help us all seek a brighter future. For starters, transhumanism is not about being individual, its about being connected, so I think that this is a poor representation to begin with. Even more important is that on the path to transhumanism we should be fostering acceptance, diversity,and empathy. We should not be selling transhumanism as the ultimate form of wealth, or as the great escape from the tyranny of government and into self gratification. In order to ease the pains of this transitional time ahead of us, we should instead be spreading a message of goodwill, of wellfare, of happiness and kindness.

As a transhuman, you will be smarter and even more loving and capable of making the world a better place for everyone else.

Transhumanism is not libertarian, it's not liberal or conservative. It is, at its heart, altruistic. Let us not focus on political comparisons or on making transhumanism some sort of ego trip, instead, lets focus on it for what it is:

A WAY TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

The Universal Machine

credit www.greendisk.com

That's not just an outdated computer. Its not just an archaic mesh of plastic and transistors. It is a universal machine. Transhumanists aren't promoting computer science and artificial intelligence because it's cool, we do so because computers are the most significant and astounding invention in the history of mankind, and we believe they will change the course of history.

As I said above, its a Universal Machine- which is very significant. Some theoretical difficulties aside, there is pretty much nothing you CAN'T do with a computer. The only limiting factor in computer science is our knowledge of HOW to go about doing something.

In bare essence, a computer is simply the restricted flow of electrons through microscopic wiring. That's it- nothing more or less. Yet, from this simple eb and flow of energy, something greater manifests: Computation.

Its amazing if you really think about it. What is so special about a clump of wiring and plastic such that simulations, solutions and (someday) consciousness should come forth from it? The existence of computers is, to me, just as astounding as that of life and organic consciousness.

And now, in the 21st century, we are on the cusp of yet another powerful breakthrough: Quantum Computing.

In a traditional computer, composed of "bits," each physical bit exists in one of two states: On or Off. 1 or 0.
This limits our ability to fully integrate computers into our daily lives, because, even as transistors get smaller and smaller, we still require that each computer consist of billions of individual transistors.

No matter how small a physical object is, if you multiply said object a couple billion times over you tend to end up with a significant amount of matter.

Enter the Qubit.

Qubits are single atoms(bits) suspended in a quantum state, in which they can represent a number of values simultaneously(instead of just a one or a zero), and they represent a major leap forward in our abilities to both increase computing power and integrate small computers into every aspect of our lives.

A quantum computer the size of a grain of sand could be exponentially more powerful than today's most advanced computers, and anyone with a brain BIGGER than a grain of sand should realize that there are profound implications in such a development.

Scientists are already hard at work developing the hardware(and are getting very close to sustainable success), so the problem becomes how to store and create software which operates on a system of a few qubits rather than a billion transistors.

Perhaps computer hacking skills are a little more important than bow hunting skills after all.

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