NSG on... Transhumanism.

[Ci Arovannea]

Transhumanism is a philosophical movement that seeks out technological advancement to improve the human species, to paraphrase the Big Wikipedia.

It's a fairly controversial movement, given the ever-present debate on what makes us truly "human", where the line between man and machine blurs, and the entire concept of replacing or augmenting our bodies as a whole.

I'm not gonna make this longer than needed: what's your take on transhumanist thoughts and goals?

Personally I'm all for it, in line with reducing the omnipresence of human suffering and enabling people to become anything they desire.

[Rosettan Overwatch]

1. The one thing that makes us human is cooking, not love or emotion - animals can emote, but only we can cook. End of debate.

2. Choices A & B.

/ed; holy mother of NSG

[The Dark Aether]

My opinion on this is pretty simple, Transhumanism is something that would be perfectly fine for people to do

[Stellar Colonies]

There's a lot of good which can be done but I don't have a lot of trust in us as a species as of yet to use this technology responsibly if it existed. The idea of customizable viruses which can be targeted to specific demographics for instance is something which sometimes keeps me up at night.

[Ci Arovannea]

There's a lot of good which can be done but I don't have a lot of trust in us as a species as of yet to use this technology responsibly if it existed.

The idea of customizable viruses which can be targeted to specific demographics for instance is something which sometimes keeps me up at night.

Same, I feel like we're definitely not ready for something as wide-ranging as what I presented yet.

Then again, we've had every technology get abused before we learned to use it responsibly, so it might be inevitable.

[Chess Socialism]

If it doesn't hurt anyone than yeah sure go for it. I personally cannot see myself altering my body (especially because I don't trust these big companies with putting their own products in control of my mind and body) but I won't stop you if you do.

[Tevetara]

The potential is interesting for transitioning, honestly. Changing chromosomes!? Interesting. Honestly, I am all for this myself. This would allow for a full-on transition, which would be useful for millions of people.

[The Dark Aether]

There's a lot of good which can be done but I don't have a lot of trust in us as a species as of yet to use this technology responsibly if it existed.

The idea of customizable viruses which can be targeted to specific demographics for instance is something which sometimes keeps me up at night.

I can see your point and I definitely agree on you with this, if this technology where to exist, Humanity would have to stop being so stupid in order for it to not be used in a terrible way

[The Huskar Social Union]

There's a lot of good which can be done but I don't have a lot of trust in us as a species as of yet to use this technology responsibly if it existed.

The idea of customizable viruses which can be targeted to specific demographics for instance is something which sometimes keeps me up at night.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts as well. Humans can fuck around and do a lot of malicious shit as it is and the virus thing is a very good point.

[Alabamy]

I would never trust a machine to serve me faithfully and not rebel. Especially one that can think on its own like AI. Transhumanism, as well as many technological advancements, I find to be highly objectionable at best, and a danger to humanity at worst.

[Kalmra]

I believe it's up to the person-- if it is used for general physical enhancements that wont harm the user whatsoever, that'd be awesome! if it's used to have someone feel more comfortable in their body, then i'd absolutely go for it! the thing that i'm worried about is how, if in the wrong hands, it could lead to eugenics. curing terminal disease is one thing, but in this hypothetical future world, would it be used to alter people's races or ethnic features?

[Stellar Colonies]

To add on what I said already, I'm personally all for fixing genuinely harmful things like fatal genetic diseases and am generally ambivalent on cosmetic things like altering eye color, since we already do cruder versions of the latter (hair dyes and contact lenses, etc.).

I start getting uncomfortable when the topic swings towards things like "curing" autism or deliberately trying to engineer superhuman traits which inherently makes someone mentally or physically superior. That sort of thing really skeeves me out.

[Tevetara]

To add on what I said already, I'm personally all for fixing genuinely harmful things like fatal genetic diseases and am generally ambivalent on cosmetic things like altering eye color, since we already do cruder versions of the latter (hair dyes and contact lenses, etc.).

I start getting uncomfortable when the topic swings towards things like "curing" autism or deliberately trying to engineer superhuman traits which inherently makes someone mentally or physically superior. That sort of thing really skeeves me out.

What would your opinion be if it was used to perform a full-on transition, changing up organs and chromosomes, modifying the whole body system?

[Ci Arovannea]

To add on what I said already, I'm personally all for fixing genuinely harmful things like fatal genetic diseases and am generally ambivalent on cosmetic things like altering eye color, since we already do cruder versions of the latter (hair dyes and contact lenses, etc.).

I start getting uncomfortable when the topic swings towards things like "curing" autism or deliberately trying to engineer superhuman traits which inherently makes someone mentally or physically superior. That sort of thing really skeeves me out.

I deliberately didn't put those up there for that reason :p

[Ci Arovannea]

I would never trust a machine to serve me faithfully and not rebel. Especially one that can think on its own like AI. Transhumanism, as well as many technological advancements, I find to be highly objectionable at best, and a danger to humanity at worst.

Friendly reminder that it's not limited to machines

...

The number of people voting for sex change is truly something to behold X3

[Kriegsreich of Iron]

From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me.

[Anarchinsatan]

sorry reactiods

meatspace WILL fall

[Stellar Colonies]

To add on what I said already, I'm personally all for fixing genuinely harmful things like fatal genetic diseases and am generally ambivalent on cosmetic things like altering eye color, since we already do cruder versions of the latter (hair dyes and contact lenses, etc.).

I start getting uncomfortable when the topic swings towards things like "curing" autism or deliberately trying to engineer superhuman traits which inherently makes someone mentally or physically superior. That sort of thing really skeeves me out.

What would your opinion be if it was used to perform a full-on transition, changing up organs and chromosomes, modifying the whole body system?

For things like making trans gender transition easier and more effective, it's fantastic.

By contrast, something like the hypothetical targeted virus which a supremacist could gleefully be exposed to with no ill effect while it massacres their desired victim(s) in droves makes me feel ill.

[Tevetara]

From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me.

I see, so become a cyborg. So it should be used to add a CPU unit to boost human intelligence a thousandfold in your opinion? I honestly believe that is actually yet another legitimate use-case.

[Ci Arovannea]

What would your opinion be if it was used to perform a full-on transition, changing up organs and chromosomes, modifying the whole body system?

For things like making trans gender transition easier and more effective, it's fantastic.

By contrast, something like the hypothetical targeted virus which a supremacist could gleefully be exposed to with no ill effect while it massacres their desired victim(s) in droves makes me feel ill.

I do believe it would be exceedingly difficult to achieve such a thing given that humans are extremely genetically similar to one another.

[Stellar Colonies]

For things like making trans gender transition easier and more effective, it's fantastic.

By contrast, something like the hypothetical targeted virus which a supremacist could gleefully be exposed to with no ill effect while it massacres their desired victim(s) in droves makes me feel ill.

I do believe it would be exceedingly difficult to achieve such a thing given that humans are extremely genetically similar to one another.

Fortunately, that is true. It's generally meant as a worst case hypothetical than something plausible in the near future.

Transhumanism as a general idea is very much in the "I like the idea but we're not trustworthy (yet?)" camp for me, sort of like a hypothetical of everybody having their own personal relativistic spaceship (expectation: everybody does happy and fun Star Trek exploration, reality: thousands of nutcases immediately turn Earth into a near-lightspeed shooting gallery).

If people were able to make themselves or their children physically or mentally superior, that would also make me uncomfortable.

[DutchFormosa]

I'd rather this not be a thing, but people are allowed to do whatever to their bodies so I don't really care either way.

[Garamantia]

Transhumanism is utterly utopian. The eradication of suffering, the end of scarcity, and morphological freedom (among many others) are all concepts which seem so abstract and alien to our world that it seems unrealistic to aim for. It demands no less than (effectively) the abolition of economics and politics. That being said, should the world of transhumanism be realized, it would be totally incredible. It's not going to happen of course, we'll all eventually die and I would hope most of us are content with that. But if it does? I can think of many groups which would be very happy with this.

I should add that the transhumanist movement has gone through a significant political evolution over the years. It was a more left-leaning space before Humanity+ and other "libertarian capitalists" took over the transhumanist movement during the Great Recession. And unfortunately, this means a lot of transhumanist advocates are also... pretty transphobic and conservative (at least in my experience). It's ironic when you consider that transgender individuals stand to benefit the most from the realization of any transhumanist goals.

[The West European National State]

It’s up to the person. If you want to do it, do it.

[Tevetara]

Transhumanism is utterly utopian. The eradication of suffering, the end of scarcity, and morphological freedom (among many others) are all concepts which seem so abstract and alien to our world that it seems unrealistic to aim for. It demands no less than (effectively) the abolition of economics and politics. That being said, should the world of transhumanism be realized, it would be totally incredible. It's not going to happen of course, we'll all eventually die and I would hope most of us are content with that. But if it does? I can think of many groups which would be very happy with this.

I should add that the transhumanist movement has gone through a significant political evolution over the years. It was a more left-leaning space before Humanity+ and other "libertarian capitalists" took over the transhumanist movement during the Great Recession. And unfortunately, this means a lot of transhumanist advocates are also... pretty transphobic and conservative (at least in my experience). It's ironic when you consider that transgender individuals stand to benefit the most from the realization of any transhumanist goals.

I guess the capitalist seek to profit from trans people I guess.