I usually shock people by telling them about all sorts of possible wonders of the future, but it is probably impossible to shock an Extropian. If I am talking to a general audience I usually explain to them that if it weren't for their bad habits and superstitions they could live forever. I was telling a small general audience that if we figured how the brain worked well enough so that we could make backup tapes -obviously nobody would go anywhere unless they had a recent backup, because you know what happens when you cross the street, then you could just reload it into another better body -and nobody seemed to be reacting to this in the way that they ought to. So I asked how many of them would like to live 500 years: 500 years isn't even immortality, it's just extended lifespan. About 15 percent of these 100 people thought this was a good idea but the others didn't. Various people said that it would get boring, and what would they do, and wouldn't they become a nuisance to others -that one was correct.
We live in a culture where people think death is sort of nice because it's like retirement or a vacation. I pursued this a little longer until I couldn't stand it any more. It turned out that none of them had any ambitions or goals except to get a better car, and after they got a very good car then they wouldn't care about anything.
How many of you don't want to live 500 years? [Audience: "I want to live more. "] That's a problem: we live in a society in which people consider it a virtue to not be discontented with your lot and they believe in various kinds of gods and other sorts of creators.
I'm an atheist because I believe being an agnostic is really very bad for your mental health, and since it doesn't matter whether you're right or wrong anyway. I can't imagine a god that would care one way or the other in the first place, and even if there were one I can't see any reason why if he wrote a book of rules you would care. Just because the creator says "X" doesn't mean that there is any reason to obey it.

The Transhumanist Reader : Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future

Max More; Natasha Vita-More

John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated

Wiley & Sons, Limited, John

Verlag nicht ermittelbar

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Chichester, West Sussex, UK, 2013

First edition, Chichester, West Sussex, UK, 2013

Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar, 2013

United States, United States of America

1.publ, Chichester, West Sussex, 2013

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"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. Editors: Max More, PhD is President and CEO of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the world's leading cryonics organization. An internationally acclaimed strategic philosopher, Dr. More is recognized for his thinking on the philosophical and cultural implications of emerging technologies. 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, Tempe Ariz. 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."--[source inconnue]

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. -- Provided by publisher

Roots And Core Themes -- Human Enhancement : The Somatic Sphere -- Human Enhancement : The Cognitive Sphere -- Core Technologies -- Engines Of Life : Identity And Beyond Death -- Enhanced Decision-making -- Biopolitics And Policy -- Futute Trajectories : Singularity -- The World's Most Dangerous Ideas. Edited By Max More And Natasha Vita-more. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.