I guess it was inevitable. Any philosophy oriented toward a better tomorrow eventually accrues passionate evangelists, and with enough groundswell verges on becoming a movement, often manifesting at least one cult or political party in the process.
In case like me, you were also wondering what Transhumanists are supposed to believe in (what the article says is):<p>> transhumanists have deepened their belief in a fated future in which the human species will achieve “augmented” evolution through fusing with machines, leading to the emergence of an artificial superintelligence that will far outstrip all human knowledge and achieve God-like powers (The Singularity). This digital deity will lead us to a new era, in which all human biological limitations will be transcended; bringing about end to sickness, suffering and even death, and leading us to colonise the cosmos
Some related material that digs into the Zizian branch of these people <a href="https://maxread.substack.com/p/the-zizians-and-the-rationalist-death" rel="nofollow">https://maxread.substack.com/p/the-zizians-and-the-rationali...</a>
Transhumanism has an extremely rich literary history. Just grab any hard sci fi book from Greg Bear, his entire 21 century future history has transhumanists as part of the unspoken environment of normal, where transhumanists are just normal everyday people, despite being half or more composed of machinery.
This is only talking about a very specific and extreme type of transhumanist. Not acknowledging that makes the author sound to me like a crank with an axe to grind. (I'm choosing to ignore here the substantial an-LLM-wrote-this vibe I get.)<p>If you wear glasses or had braces or use an insulin pump or take Ritalin, then, congratulations, you're a transhumanist. The rest is just a matter of degrees.<p>As wizzwizz4 says in a sibling comment, the post is conflating TESCREAL and transhumanism.
> The Tranhumanist Cult Test<p>Wait ... isn't it "transhumanist"? This typo appears once more in the article, just enough to thwart efficient computer content searches.
I remember meeting a few transhumanists when I lived in Silicon Valley. Whenever they would go into their schpeal, I'd respond with: "Well, if you go to church every Sunday and behave, you'll go to heaven."<p>It would catch them off guard, and then I would point out that they have faith in transhumanism like Christians have faith in Jesus. There would be a quick "get it" facial expression, then we'd both laugh. The transhumanists who I encountered were opened-minded enough to realize the difference between faith and reason.<p>I'd then point out that the Egyptians had similar beliefs, and say that if you freeze your body, or head, at death; most likely someone would use it for some strange science experiment in the future.<p>That being said, if I was wealthy, I'd love to freeze my body. I'm sure it'll come in handy for someone at some point, just like Egyptian mummies did.
I now know what it is, that alone is a reason to read the article. But has other interesting info.<p>>Transhumanism first emerged in Silicon Valley in the 1990s<p>That alone give me pause over this movement :)
Cult: any organization formed that leads to the leader having more sexual partners than societal norms allow. E.g., Ayn Rand, David Koresh<p>Its not difficult...
Um. The Singularity isn't religious in its origin. It's literally a reference to a mathematical singularity.<p>I'm not entirely opposed to the article's characterization, but this is a big one to get wrong. What the term has become in its pseudo-cult modern context is entirely divorced from what it came out of.
The more I hear about Transhumanism, the more I think that people in NorCal need some real problems to deal with.<p>EDIT:
The tech industry went from resolving everyday problems ("how do I make spreadsheets more quickly", "how do I send this information to a person on the other side of the country") to trying to play God with AI.