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> Tech needs to improve before it'll rise again. No, it doesn’t, and waiting for the iteration of tech-consumerism that resembles your childhood fantasies is e

> Tech needs to improve before it'll rise again. No, it doesn’t, and waiting for the iteration of tech-consumerism that resembles your childhood fantasies is everything that was wrong with the transhumanist movement. It attracted too many people who sat on the sidelines and did nothing to move the needle. It was a magnet for people who couldn’t cope with reality, which occasionally helped, but usually stirred chaos. It definitely needs a rebranding. In fact, a reasonably good attempt was made as early as the 1980s. https://metanexus.net/h-true-transhumanism/ https://metanexus.net/h-true-transhumanism/

mlinksva 4y ago
Just curious, what 1980s attempt are you referring to?
- celdon25 4y ago
  Extropianism (talked about in the post I linked) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extropianism#Introduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extropianism#Introduction
  - mlinksva 4y ago
    Thanks. I'd forgotten that was started in the 1980s -- I encountered it in the early 1990s -- and don't think I realized how connected it was to prior transhumanist ideas, or as the post you linked says, an attempt to build a movement based on transhumanism. At the time I was young so everything seemed new, and stuff prior to extropians seemed "proto-" and unrealized -- surely how extropianism must seem to someone young now who encounters whatever the current transhumanist discourse is.
antifa 4y ago
> It attracted too many people who sat on the sidelines and did nothing to move the needle. You'd have to be capable of pushing the boundaries of science and engineering to really push this needle. Plus the money is in oil/adtech and AFAIK this isn't low hanging fruit that anyone can just grab.
- celdon25 4y ago
  Not sure who you are but I'm absolutely sure that very few who made contributions to the transhumanist community did so through "pushing the boundaries of science and engineering". https://web.archive.org/web/20050510004128/http://www.singinst.org/action/waystohelp.html https://web.archive.org/web/20050510004128/http://www.singin... > Singularity activists can engage in a variety of productive roles related to advancing the Singularity Institute, roles that are just as necessary and critical as the researchers' roles. These include becoming donors, publicists, organizers, speakers, writers, graphic artists, grant writers, networkers and fundraisers. Thiel became a major donor and co-hosted a summit not long after this call to action. The participation was extraordinary for having been during the "AI Winter", and it became a yearly event for some time. Major investments eventually started pouring into AI/ML tech. https://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/sin-042606.html https://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/sin-042606.html

mlinksva 4y ago

Just curious, what 1980s attempt are you referring to?

celdon25 4y ago
Extropianism (talked about in the post I linked) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extropianism#Introduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extropianism#Introduction
- mlinksva 4y ago
  Thanks. I'd forgotten that was started in the 1980s -- I encountered it in the early 1990s -- and don't think I realized how connected it was to prior transhumanist ideas, or as the post you linked says, an attempt to build a movement based on transhumanism. At the time I was young so everything seemed new, and stuff prior to extropians seemed "proto-" and unrealized -- surely how extropianism must seem to someone young now who encounters whatever the current transhumanist discourse is.

antifa 4y ago

> It attracted too many people who sat on the sidelines and did nothing to move the needle. You'd have to be capable of pushing the boundaries of science and engineering to really push this needle. Plus the money is in oil/adtech and AFAIK this isn't low hanging fruit that anyone can just grab.

celdon25 4y ago
Not sure who you are but I'm absolutely sure that very few who made contributions to the transhumanist community did so through "pushing the boundaries of science and engineering". https://web.archive.org/web/20050510004128/http://www.singinst.org/action/waystohelp.html https://web.archive.org/web/20050510004128/http://www.singin... > Singularity activists can engage in a variety of productive roles related to advancing the Singularity Institute, roles that are just as necessary and critical as the researchers' roles. These include becoming donors, publicists, organizers, speakers, writers, graphic artists, grant writers, networkers and fundraisers. Thiel became a major donor and co-hosted a summit not long after this call to action. The participation was extraordinary for having been during the "AI Winter", and it became a yearly event for some time. Major investments eventually started pouring into AI/ML tech. https://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/sin-042606.html https://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/sin-042606.html