I often get asked why I'm so autistic about transhumanism, why I care so much about this dorky meme ideology; it's a joke, right? pls say yes
it's bc of the massive frustration I feel constantly as someone w/ serious chronic pain. I don't talk about it much, but my back is shit.
I've had pretty bad chronic back pain for most of my life; I'm basically never not in some amount of pain, and during flare-ups I can barely walk, at times. won't get into the reasons, but trust me, I've tried mostly everything & it's not going away so long as I'm in this body.
therein lies the rub; not for my whole life, but only until I manage to jailbreak my corporeal confinement, to rehome into the digital realm, perhaps download into a new synthetic body one day. but this one won't allow me to live the way I wish I could.
---
RT @pee_zombie
at the peaks of my frustration I seem to vibrate within my skin, my spirit yearning to break free and transcend the mortal coil, to rehome into a digital body like a …
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1393360497307787265
I often wonder if those of a more bioessentialist bent think about people like me; I'm not particularly unfortunate compared to those more seriously disabled, but, for many people, their bodies feel more like a burden, a curse, than a joyous divine gift, or anything do that sort.
these people often claim that it's wrong to mess with God's creations, that much of the changes brought about by technological civilization are satanic and soulless; even those more measured conservatives who don't use biblical language tend react with disgust at the very idea
more people than would admit it to themselves are, in fact, bioessentialist luddites; it's not necessarily wrong to think this way, either. I can totally understand the impulse! but it ignores the realities of life for those whose mortal form is... flawed
---
RT @pee_zombie
there is a type of bioessentialist luddite which resists any sort of cyborgization, ie integration of tools into the extended self; they push for a sort of RETVRN o…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1396662991832109057
transhumanism is, to me, a belief system organized around the principle that we can become much more than what we are, that we shouldn't have to be limited by the accidents of our biology; quite similar to progressivism, no!
it's the idea that humans can, & should, transcend.
many people already hold some milder form of these beliefs; most would agree that glasses, hearing aids, prosthetic limbs, pacemakers etc, are all net positive; the rest is but a matter of degree! what real difference is there btwn those, and Neuralink?
---
RT @pee_zombie
this often escapes notice, that glasses are a cyborg enhancement of the body; using technology to transcend the limitations of our genetic heritage, to become more t…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1426621808107737088
when you strip away the scifi accoutrements of popular depictions of transhumanism, you're left with an ideological core many would feel much more at home with; ultimately, the resistance tends to be one of aesthetics. this is understandable, but sad; should that really stop us?
personally, I don't intend on having my existence be constrained by the natural limits of my fragile meat mecha; I've got too much to learn, too many projects to execute, too many questions to ponder, too much art to create.
I'm planning on showing up to the future; are you?
the future holds much for our civilization, both in terms of beauty & suffering; you can't have one w/o the other, no matter how hard you try. what we can do tho, is to change the exchange rate w/ technology, requiring less pain to unlock more happiness.
---
RT @pee_zombie
we'll need to exponentiate our capabilities many times to overcome the challenges before us, reinvent who we are and how we live, down to our very core, until we bar…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1393363751697530881