Aerozord
04-10-2013, 02:27 PM
Something that often gets overlooked with transhumanism are the political aspects of it.
One thing I have noticed is our culture loves dichotomy. The idea of us vs them that there are exactly two sides to an argument and if you care about the topic you must fall into one group or the other. This of course doesn't reflect individuals, almost no one is an extreme but both sides think those on the other side are. That however isn't what this is about.
Namely its that neither conservatives nor liberals in their current ideology support transhumanism.
Conservatives by their definition are against moving away from tradition and radical cultural shifts. Liberals worry about gene tampering and environmental affects of technology, perhaps more importantly the fact in the immediate future transhumanism will create a bigger socio-economic gap as those with money actually will become smarter, faster, and stronger.
Now the extremists of both sides will be against it, but the middle ground will likely support it. On the personal level, like with most commercial technology the convenience will cause gradual acceptance.
This will create an odd political environment. Technically both parties should oppose it for ideological reasons, but vast tracks of its membership will accept it. This brings me back to what I spoke about with dichotomy. For that reason you will not see both accepting it (cause heaven forbid you agree with a liberal/conservative on something) nor both rejecting it (cannot deny there is a push for it). You wont see a third bloc appear or universal policy.
Question becomes who will be the for and against. One possibility is replacement. Its not unheard of for a new political entity to replace another. I mean republican and democrats are mostly in name only, essentially replaced by conservatives and liberals.
More likely I see it shifting back and forth over the next century. Initially more forward thinking left wing will support it, especially for its ability to help generally improve peoples lives. But then move away from it as realities start sinking in that not everyone can afford it and the ecological side effects of nanotechnology and genesplicing. Where conservatives will support it because, screw everyone else I want to be an ageless ubermensch. Then have it shift again when price drops and the technology becomes affordable to the majority.
One thing I have noticed is our culture loves dichotomy. The idea of us vs them that there are exactly two sides to an argument and if you care about the topic you must fall into one group or the other. This of course doesn't reflect individuals, almost no one is an extreme but both sides think those on the other side are. That however isn't what this is about.
Namely its that neither conservatives nor liberals in their current ideology support transhumanism.
Conservatives by their definition are against moving away from tradition and radical cultural shifts. Liberals worry about gene tampering and environmental affects of technology, perhaps more importantly the fact in the immediate future transhumanism will create a bigger socio-economic gap as those with money actually will become smarter, faster, and stronger.
Now the extremists of both sides will be against it, but the middle ground will likely support it. On the personal level, like with most commercial technology the convenience will cause gradual acceptance.
This will create an odd political environment. Technically both parties should oppose it for ideological reasons, but vast tracks of its membership will accept it. This brings me back to what I spoke about with dichotomy. For that reason you will not see both accepting it (cause heaven forbid you agree with a liberal/conservative on something) nor both rejecting it (cannot deny there is a push for it). You wont see a third bloc appear or universal policy.
Question becomes who will be the for and against. One possibility is replacement. Its not unheard of for a new political entity to replace another. I mean republican and democrats are mostly in name only, essentially replaced by conservatives and liberals.
More likely I see it shifting back and forth over the next century. Initially more forward thinking left wing will support it, especially for its ability to help generally improve peoples lives. But then move away from it as realities start sinking in that not everyone can afford it and the ecological side effects of nanotechnology and genesplicing. Where conservatives will support it because, screw everyone else I want to be an ageless ubermensch. Then have it shift again when price drops and the technology becomes affordable to the majority.