Transhumanism 101 with Natasha Vita-More

Transhumanism is both misunderstood and feared. Ignorant people with an ideological agenda have gone as far as labeling it “the most dangerous idea.” I thought that it is time to bring some basic intellectual clarity on the topic and who is better prepared to help us do that but “the first female philosopher of transhumanism”!? Dr. Natasha Vita-More has already been a guest on Singularity 1 on 1. Her first interview was both interesting and popular and I very much enjoyed talking to her about her life and work. This time our conversation is more focused on issues strictly related to transhumanism and the basics thereof, so I thought I’d call this episode Transhumanism 101. During our conversation Natasha covers a wide variety of topics such as: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the effect it had on transhumanism, science fiction and science in general; the negative perception and fear of transhumanism stemming from some more recent publications such as Bill Joy’s Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us and Francis Fukuyama’s Post-Human Future; Natasha’s definition of transhumanism; similarities and differences between transhuman, posthuman and cyborg; critical thinking as one of the basic tenets of transhumanism; important writings such as Max More’s Towards a Futurist Philosophy, Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation and Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World; her PhD dissertation on human enhancement and life expansion; some of the reasons that people fear transhumanism and how to turn that around; some of her upcoming projects such as The Transhumanist Reader and H+TV as well as artistic events and conferences that she supports. One of my favorite quotes that I will take away from this interview with Natasha is her call to “Get creative about the future!”