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Category: geopolitics – Page 30

The Bernie Sanders Phenomenon and Transhumanism

A lot of transhumanism friends have asked me to write about Bernie Sanders, so here are my thoughts:

The transhumanism movement has been dramatically growing in size—and most of that growth is from millennials and youth joining. Transhumanists want to use science and technology to radically improve the human race, and the onslaught of new gear and gadgets to do that—like virtual reality, robots, and chip implants —are giving them plenty of ammunition to do that.

But what has caught many people off guard—including myself who probably best fits into the category: left-leaning Libertarian—is the amount of support transhumanists are giving to Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. Historically, transhumanism (and its de facto home: Silicon Valley) has been Libertarian-minded —with a hands-off attitude towards the government, religion, and basically any authority trying to tell them what to do or how to innovate. But with the demographics of the transhumanism movement sharply changing from older academics and technologists to young people—especially those in college—the push towards more leftist and progressive-leaning ideas is strong. For many young transhumanists, they believe they have found an ideal in Sanders.

While I like the charisma of Sanders and his long standing devotion to the people—and that is enough for me to say he’d be a good president for change—the reality is capitalism is still a hallmark of the American way. For the next four and maybe even eight years, capitalism won’t be going anywhere. Afterward, though, within 10–25 years, when robots, software, and AI really start dismantling capitalism as we know it (see my latest TechCrunch article and thoughts on a Universal Basic Income), it will be a totally different story.

Like it or not, millennials and youth obsess over this type of economy stuff—especially machines taking jobs. They know future employment statistics better than many 30-year veteran business executives running publicly traded companies. The dangerous truth is many young people know they likely won’t have jobs in the future. And neither will most of the executives for that matter, since they too can (and will) be replaced by super intelligent machines programmed to make sound mathematical business decisions.

Fear Not The Drone Apocalpyse

When the apocalypse comes, it won’t do so on four rotors. Drones, especially drones-as-we-know-them—the affordable, commercially available quadcopters—are only really engines of their own destruction. Zoltan Istvan, transhumanist candidate for President, wrote today that the American constitution is unprepared for the challenges of swarming robots. With all due I respect, I couldn’t possibly disagree more.

“The Second Amendment Isn’t Prepared for a 3D-Printed Drone Army”, Istvan argues, and vividly sets a scene of total despair:

The case for a robot president

I did an interview on AI and politics for CBC, which also went out on NPR yesterday.

This week, Google’s artificially intelligent computer, AlphaGo won a tournament in the complex board game called Go. American presidential candidate Zoltan Istvan says it’s that in a matter of 10 to 15 years A.I. will be advanced enough to be president of the United States of America.

Why Won’t Sanders, Clinton, Trump and Cruz Discuss Transhumanist Science Issues?

My new Huff Post story asking why the major presidential candidates don’t discuss transhumanist science:

THE BLOG Why Won’t Sanders, Clinton, Trump and Cruz Discuss Transhumanist Science Issues? 03/11/2016 03:49 pm ET Zoltan Istvan US Presidential candidate of Transhumanist Party; Creator of Immortality Bus; Author of #1 bestselling Philosophy novel ‘The Transhumanist Wager’ Image by DonkeyHotey Have y…

Zoltan: The transhumanist for President — The Feed

A new 9 minute video on transhumanism and my campaign from The Feed at SBS, one of Australia’s major tv channels. It aired today:

Meet the US Presidential candidate who not only wants to beat Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but — also — death.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SBS2Australia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefeedsbs
Insta: https://instagram.com/sbs2australia
Tumblr: http://thefeedsbs.tumblr.com/

Now this is an “outsider candidate”: Zoltan Istvan, a Transhumanist running for president, wants to make you immortal

A story from Salon on transhumanism:

While we have a rare combination of candidates with a real chance of taking the White House — a woman, a Jewish socialist and a real estate magnate — there’s another you probably haven’t heard about: a Transhumanist.

Zoltan Istvan, 43, the leader and founder of the Transhumanist party, has entered the race as a third-party candidate promising the “facilitation of immortality.” Istvan, who lives in California, first made headlines when he set out on a cross-country campaign tour in a bus shaped like a hearse last September. His main philosophy: enliven America’s technological advancement by combining humans with machines, to improve and prolong life.

In U.S politics, the two traditional parties have consistently dominated the electorate. In fact, Sen. Bernie Sanders is the only Independent in Congress, every other House member belongs to either the Democratic or Republican Party. But historically the country has had a history of fringe candidates, which typically get a few thousand votes in presidential elections. In 1992, billionaire businessman Ross Perot, who ran on the Reform Party, won 18.9% of the vote, the best finish by a non-major party candidate in a presidential election since Teddy Roosevelt won 27.5% of the vote in 1912. While Perot’s Reform Party, like practically all third parties, has failed to emerge as a contender since then, candidates like him have had a significant impact on electoral outcomes.

Zoltan Istvan is still an ambiguity for most of the political world, and the Transhumanist party in its early stages of development, but there is something to be said about how his policies could predict the way the political landscape might change in the decades to come.

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Strategies for Growing the Transhumanism Movement

An article on transhumanism in the Huff Post:


Future Transhumanist City — Image by Sam Howzit

Transhumanism–the international movement that aims to use science and technology to improve the human being–has been growing quickly in the last few years. Everywhere one looks, there seems to be more and more people embracing radical technology that is already dramatically changing lives. Ideas that seemed science fiction just a decade ago are now here.

Later this year, I’ll be speaking at RAAD, a one-of-a-kind life extension and transhumanism festival in San Diego where thought-leaders like Ray Kurzweil, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, and Dr. Joseph Mercola will be sharing their ideas on our future. With so much radical tech growth and science innovation occurring in the last few years, the question has been asked: What are the best strategies for the transhumanism movement moving forward? Of course, as the 2016 US Presidential candidate of the Transhumanist Party, I have my own ideas–and naturally they’re quite politically oriented.

2016-02-05-1454642421-1811629-demonstration.jpg
Transhumanist Party supporters protesting against existential risk — Photo by Daniel Sollinger.

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