Democratic transhumanism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Democratic transhumanism, a term coined by Dr. James Hughes in 2002, refers to the stance of transhumanists (humanists who support morphological freedom and the ethical use of human enhancement technologies) who espouse liberal, social or radical democratic political views.

According to Hughes, the philosophy "stems from the assertion that human beings will generally be happier when they take rational control of the natural and social forces that control their lives." The ethical foundation of democratic transhumanism rests upon rule utilitarianism and non-anthropocentric personhood theory.

Hughes aims to encourage democratic transhumanists and their potential progressive allies to unite and influence biopolitical public policy, and raises objections both to right-wing and left-wing bioconservatism, and libertarian transhumanism.

An attempt to find a middle ground between technorealism and techno-utopianism, democratic transhumanism can be seen as a radical form of techno-progressivism.

The term "radical", which appears several times in Hughes' work, (from Latin rādīx, rādīc-, root) is used as an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the root or going to the root. His central thesis is that technology and democracy can help citizens overcome some of the root causes of inequalities of power.

Contents

[edit] Currents

Hughes has identified 16 currents within democratic transhumanism:

[edit] List of democratic transhumanists

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/e/m/Democratic_transhumanism.html"