Here the notorious but eloquent transhumanism critic Wesley J. Smith takes a swipe at the quickly growing movement to overcome death with science. New story in Merion West!

“Utopians often produce evil because their movement’s aspirations become paramount —that is, more important than avoiding acts ‘traditionally perceived as immoral.’ If enough people follow Istvan on the transhuman roller coaster, people could eventually get hurt.”

“I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” – Woody Allen.

In 2016, transhumanism proselytizer Zoltan Istvan ran for president promising to defeat death while touring the country in a bus redesigned to look like a coffin. It was a great gimmick that made him, perhaps, the most famous transhumanist in the world.

I have a new essay out via the wonderful site Merion West. The article is based on some of my experimental writings at Oxford. I hope you’ll read and consider it. I’m highly worried life extension science isn’t moving forward fast enough!

“Sadly, biological humans are likely to be mortal for centuries more, unless a dramatic increase of both resources and life extension scientists are marshaled.”

Certain well-known gerontologists and longevity experts around the world believe that sometime in this century—probably in the next 15–50 years—medicine will likely overcome and cure most forms of disease, and even death itself. Billionaires such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Larry Page, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison have jumped on board, pledging billions of dollars to “conquering all disease by this century” and mortality altogether.

These business titans hope age reversal techniques via genetic editing therapies, stem cell rejuvenation, 3D bioprinting of organs, and the widespread creation of synthetic organs like artificial hearts could keep people indefinitely young and healthy. If biological human death from disease and aging are overcome, then only catastrophic accidental death—such as an airplane crash or incineration—can kill people. (Accidental death in this vein accounts for about seven percent of all deaths in the United States.)

A new feature story out on book Transhuman Citizen:

A former presidential candidate who believes a dramatic increase in science funding can help humans achieve biological immortality has told Newsweek he is considering a third White House run in 2028.

Zoltan Istvan ran as an independent candidate during the 2016 presidential election when he attracted widespread media attention for driving a bus modified to look like a coffin from San Francisco to Washington D.C., to illustrate his believe that death can be overcome.

In 2019 he challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination using the campaign motto “Upgrading America,” in what he admitted was primarily a stunt to increase conservative interest in his ideas.

Dr. Ben Murnane has published an Opinion piece in FEE, the Foundation for Economic Education, a major US think thank. The essay covers #transhumanism and the new biography Transhuman Citizen, out in 10 days.

It’s telling that with the rise of AI the first instinct of many politicians is to regulate it.

Here’s my new Opinion article for Newsweek on brainwave technology and AI. Check it out!

Historically, our greatest strength is our biological form, tested and evolved over millions of years. Instead of spending resources searching for ways to connect technology directly to our minds, we could find ways to use technology to protect our biological thoughts and proclivity. That might mean faraday cages around our brains that no super intelligent AIs signals could crack—as well as encryption where our code perpetually changes randomly.

Another way to protect against AI is for humans to become like bugs—a concept recently explored in the Netflix series 3 Body Problem. Companies are already working on trying to scan the brain—down to its atoms—in real time. Eventually, the hope is we’ll be able to upload our consciousnesses into computers. There’s open debate whether an upload is the real you. But for purposes of protecting ourselves against AI, another important question is how many uploads of you would there be? If AI was inundated with trillions upon trillions of uploaded human minds, it’s possible, like bugs, AI would never win a battle to get rid all of us, even if it wanted to. There would simply be too many of us in the cloud, even if there was just one of us in the flesh.

Another way to outsmart AI might be to utilize brainwave technology so that human minds are interconnected. Some scientists call this the hive mind, and it could be possible in the future to obtain millions of minds in sync without the use of AI. AI might be able to corrupt the method of human hive mind communication, but it’s still another way we could attempt to remain as intelligent as AI. After all, if you could harness a billion minds together, who knows how smart we could be?

Here’s a new Forbes review by world leading futurist Tracey Follows on the book: Transhuman Citizen:

What does Transhumanism, Ayn Rand and the U.S. Presidential election have in common? They are the connecting themes in a new book by Ben Murnane entitled, “Transhuman Citizen”

The book tells the story of Zoltan Istvan, a one-time U.S. Presidential candidate, who drove a coffin-shaped bus around the U.S. attempting to persuade the public that death is not inevitable and that transhumanism is a political as much as a scientific solution to the troubles of the 21st Century.

The book deals with what lead up to that Presidential campaign, the campaign itself, and what has happened since.

Here’s my latest Opinion piece for Newsweek. It discusses the panel I chaired at the House of Lords, UK Parliament supporting enhanced athletes & the Enhanced Games!

Antagonists of the Enhanced Games say it will be dangerous. Some insist athletes will overdose and possibly die while competing. D’Souza said these fears are overblown. The Enhanced Games will also have some regulations, including pre-competition tests that show an athlete is healthy to compete, regardless of what they’re on.

Many athletes don’t seem to mind the risks. That’s partially because they’re being offered large financial sums to compete. Magnussen was offered $1.5 million dollars to try to break the 50-meter freestyle world record, and he appeared quite happy with that sizable amount of money. Furthermore, many athletes have already been taking enhancements, so now they’d just be out in the open about it.

As society is constantly being introduced to all sorts of new technologies—innovation and science that improves and alters the lives of humanity—it would seem ignorant to not try to see how far human capability can go when enhanced. It’s time to push the human being further and let it start creating new world records for athletes who are improving their competitive level with enhancements. It’s also time to start down the path of stopping discrimination and reputation-busting against drug users in sports.

Here’s my latest Opinion piece just out for Newsweek. Check it out! Lifeboat Foundation mentioned.

We need to remember that universal distress we all had when the world started to shut down in March 2020: when not enough ventilators and hospital beds could be found; when food shelves and supplies were scarce; when no COVID-19 vaccines existed. We need to remember because COVID is just one of many different existential risks that can appear out of nowhere, and halt our lives as we know it.

Naturally, I’m glad that the world has carried on with its head high after the pandemic, but I’m also worried that more people didn’t take to heart a longer-term philosophical view that human and earthly life is highly tentative. The best, most practical way to protect ourselves from more existential risks is to try to protect ourselves ahead of time.

That means creating vaccines for diseases even when no dire need is imminent. That means trying to continue to denuclearize the military regardless of social conflicts. That means granting astronomers billions of dollars to scan the skies for planet-killer asteroids. That means spending time to build safeguards into AI, and keeping it far from military munitions.

I’m excited to share my latest Opinion article on AI at The Hill, a top political site/paper read by the White House and Congress:

Regardless what politicians promise, this age of AI and robots will also affect the size and growth rates of the U.S. government. Federal and state government may not immediately take up with automation and AI to the extent the private sector does, but eventually the stark rationality of lower overhead expenses—and thus lower taxes for citizens—will prevail.

This is a good thing. A smaller, nimble, more efficient government will benefit the majority of people.

Zoltan Istvan writes and speaks on transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and the future. He is the author of “The Transhumanist Wager,” and is the subject of the forthcoming biography by Dr. Ben Murnane and Changemakers Books titled, “Transhuman Citizen: Zoltan Istvan’s Hunt for Immortality.”

Here’s my new Opinion article for Newsweek on AI!

Like so many in America, I watch astounded as generative artificial intelligence (AI) evolved at lighting speed in 2023, performing tasks that seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. Just last month, a survey found that nearly 40 percent of more than 900 companies were planning to cut jobs in 2024 in part because of AI. If robotics takes a giant leap in the next 12 months, as some suspect, then the survey might end up being too conservative. Generative AI combined with humanoids, which many companies are racing to turn out, is a game changer. Construction jobs, physician jobs, police jobs, and many more will soon be at stake.

Clearly, capitalism is facing a crisis. For years, I have advocated for a Universal Basic Income (UBI), as a way to transition society into the AI age. My method was by leasing out the trillions of dollars worth of empty U.S. federal land to big business, and using some of the proceeds to pay for a basic income for every American. However, any method of a basic income will now help offset the loss of jobs AI will bring.

But recently, chatter about something else is being thrown around in internet chat rooms, in congressional halls, and in arguments at holiday dinner tables: nationalizing AI.