23 and You and Me and What We Can Be

Why Every (Stanford) Student Should Be a Transhumanist

By Alex Lightman, 3/22/2013Advancing Humanity

SymposiumStanford Transhumanist

Association

1. Adjacent to Quantified Self

Greater likelihood to be paying attention to the

measures that matter with respect to health, fitness,

longevity, and possibilities for using new technologies to

improve them

Thomas Alva Edison“The doctor of the future will

give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the

care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and

prevention of disease”

2. Greater Likelihood to Be More Healthy and Long Lived

Reversing Five Linear Decay FunctionsTelomeresNeurons

Muscle Mass (Sarcopenia)Bone Mass (Osteopenia)

Respiratory Function (VO2Max)

3. Aging More GracefullyIf you go to Transhumanist-

friendly events over a period of decades (Foresight, Extropians, Avatars…) you will notice that your colleagues are aging far more slowly than virtual any

other conference go-ers.

4. More Smart Clueful Friends

I have 692 friends in common with Aubrey de Grey, with similar

numbers for other Transhumanists, exposing me to a new idea every few minutes that I

can use to expand my mind, body, and life.

5. “It takes a village…”If it takes a village to raise a

child, it takes new communities of smart audacious people to fund and build a new companies that

create new industries that fundamentally advance humanity.

5. (Continued) Greater likelihood of getting into incubators and

acceleratorsIt’s not enough to have an idea

for a new website or app or ecommerce sites.

Transhumanism can give you an edge and separate you from a

sea of the same.

6. Source for co-authors of articles on complex,

multidisciplinary topics

22 authors on an article about Myths about Weight Loss. No one

knows everything about everything, and publishing sooner can make a profound difference

in credibility.

7. Joint purchase of the new Maker/DIY tools and lab equipment

Don’t you want to have access to the latest and greatest 3D

printers and tools to do your own research, without waiting for

grants, to be able to be the first to make and exhibit, or discover

and publish?

8. Traveling companions for adventures in knowledge

When I had my international boarding school, I could get a

meeting with anyone by saying, “25 young people from 20

countries want to meet you and talk about how you make the

world a better place”.

8. Great background for a Citizen-Science and talking/teaching

STEMMillions of people contribute to

scientific knowledge, via projects like SETI@Home, Folding@Home, Galaxy Zoo, birdwatching, drone protection of wildlife, and water

sampling.

9. Extra minds to overcome the two big cognitive limitsTheory of Bounded Rationality:We overestimate our ability to

detect patterns (Las Vegas)Bellman’s Curse of

Dimensionality:As dimensions increase

arithmetically, sparcity increases exponentially

10. Be interesting to billionaires and the builders of tomorrowI have spent a statistically

improbable amount of my time talking with billionaires, and had an even more unlikely success rate with pitches to billionaires. There are only 1,456 of them, so

you need uniqueness.

11. sapiosexual advantages‘One who finds intelligence the

most sexually attractive feature.’"I want an incisive, inquisitive,

insightful, irreverent mind. I want someone for whom philosophical

discussion is foreplay.”

12. Fewer surprises from sudden shifts in economy or policy

Future Shock - overwhelm from more change that can be adapted to - is a

retro term that deserves to be dusted off and applied, mainly to non-

Transhumanists, who find themselves surprised all the time by what is

happening.

13. Potential expansion of the senses and memory

There are at least 70 senses used by one or more living things on this

planet, an increasing number of which can be emulated via technology closely integrated with our own

senses.

14. Move to the left on the Stanford VALS curve

Innovators are the first 1% of technology adoption market.

Early adopters are 2%, followed by the chasm, the Early Majority, the Late Majority, and the Laggards.

15. Alpha testers for the first superpowers

InvisibilitySleeplessnessOmniscience

Calculator brain/SupernumeratiFlight

Exo-skeleton Strength

16. 50% or more reduction in cliches.

Less boredom and ennui. Less wrong

Less time spent arguing for tired and expired ideology

17. More fun way to be an atheist

Lighter burden if you don’t have to carry around and defend Iron Age myths and

false history.

Alternatively, can be more audacious when outnumbered by true believer friends,

family, and community. (Mormons have fewer doctrinal problems

with Transhumanism)

18. Benefits of MENSA without the baggage and pretenses

There are many advantages to signaling intelligence and ability to learn faster without brandishing IQ

tests or Ivy League credentials. Transhumanists are as smart as any

subculture.

19. Futurephilia: Being part of the most future friendly 0.01%1 in 100 Americans have a PhD.

A PhD confers a 26% average income advantage over people qualified for

university who did not attend. Future friendliness will likely confer an equal advantage, but without taking

the average 8.3 years of post secondary education.

20. Science fiction adjacencyTranshumanists are much less likely

to say the 21st century’s most embarrassing words,

THAT’S SCIENCE FICTION!…as if there is no overlap between what has been, is, or will be in science fiction, in all its

myriad forms, and reality. Science fiction is increasingly

blueprint prophecy.

21. Greater likelihood to create a start up, fund it, and take it public

The big opportunities of the future will be related to the issues that

Transhumanists want to solve. The Milken Institute estimated that the value of curing cancer or heart

disease were each $50 trillion.

22. Greater happiness The book „The Happiness of Pursuit” makes the case that it is in seeking

that we find happiness.Transhumanism is a perpetual search for improvement, of self and others,

and thus has vast and varied opportunities for happiness.

23. Chance to become a god or have god-like powers

Neverness by David ZindellHyperion Cantos by Dan SimmonsMarvel comics, particularly Infinity

Quest, Infinity Gauntlet and anything with Infinity Gems, Celestials,

Galactus

Alvin Toffler in Future Shock

"Perhaps the greatest cost of wave conflict in America will be paid by the millions of children currently

compulsorily enrolled in schools that are attempting to prepare them - and not very successfully at that - for jobs that won't exist. Call that

stealing the future."

Cesar Chavez“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has

learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the

people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the

future is ours. “