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Related: About this forumInterview: Zoltan Istvan On Transhumanism And His US Presidential Campaign
07/06/2016 10:34 am ET | Updated 1 hour ago
Zoltan Istvan
C. JoyBell C.: Today I would like to introduce you to someone you may already know, US Presidential Candidate, Zoltan Istvan. I am of course very glad to be able to interview a candidate for the Office of the President of the United States and I have found him to be a simple person with an understated way of explaining and describing himself and his platform. Simplicity is refreshing in this day and age, and I think a quality of good value.
Zoltan Istvan was born in 1973 and is the author of The Transhumanist Wager. He is a futurist, a philosopher and a transhumanist. He is also a conservationist, journalist and a writer. As a reporter for National Geographic, he covered the crisis in Kashmir, which was later made into a documentary. Zoltan also writes articles for Vice, Newsweek, TechCrunch, Salon, Slate, Psychology Today, Huffington Post and other publications.
He is husband to Dr. Lisa Istvan (ObGyn), with whom he has two beautiful daughters.
Zoltan is well-known as an atheist, which is not the totality of his person, nevertheless, is often a remarkable distinguishing element that people quickly take notice of. Those who know me, will probably immediately say, “Then why would you support an atheist candidate when you are anything but atheist?” Notwithstanding, I am actually in favour of the idea of having a President who does not represent any one form of spirituality. I don’t need to see my own spiritual beliefs reflected by my President.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoltan-istvan/an-interview-on-transhuma_b_10798942.html
trump is not the only loon in this race.
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DavidDvorkin
(19,511 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)years. Advocate for a flat tax until we reach that point.
http://www.transhumanistparty.org/Platform.html
I won't even mention their Bill of Rights for sapient robots and cyborgs.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)that we don't have available replacements for in the future, then other means for economic activity will have to be found.
A universal livable income or something along those lines may be necessary in the near future. Particularly with the explosion in automation lately.
As far as the sapient rights and those of cyborgs, not so much loony as just way too forward thinking at this time. I mean, if we do have the means to build a self aware machine, there's a lot of philosophical questions and legal issues that arise due to that, but its a big if, and may not be relevant at all, it may actually be impossible, but who knows? At best, its speculation.
As far as "rights" for cyborgs, not sure why they would need separate bill of rights. Please bear in mind that cyborgs actually exist, even going so far as people who have neural implants that aid in disabilities or replace lost senses, cochlear implants, visual cortex implants(with goggles), implants in the motor cortext, etc. One of these, at this time, is not exactly rare, the others are experimental. Given the explosion of both technology and research into neuroplasticity, there is, theoretically, no limit as to how we can modify our bodies and brains to fix a disability or even enhance our abilities, and this goes far beyond special purpose limbs for amputees.
Not saying that Zoltan isn't nuts, though I really do dig his name, just that some things aren't as nutty as they first appear if you think about it.
rug
(82,333 posts)I'd watch it.
DavidDvorkin
(19,511 posts)The rest is fine. These are all issues we're going to have to deal with, and probably much sooner than 25 years.
rug
(82,333 posts)DavidDvorkin
(19,511 posts)That's not a new idea. He didn't originate it. It's something we'll have to deal with, and probably not too far in the future.
rug
(82,333 posts)
DavidDvorkin
(19,511 posts)As for the politics, a lot of ideas seem bizarre and completely out of the realm of political possibility when some politician first suggests them, but changing times make those ideas more and more part of the mainstream. That will happen with this idea.
rug
(82,333 posts)
Jim__
(14,096 posts)Such robots would, necessarily, be designed to appear conscious; and if their design is sufficiently sophisticated, we may not know whether or not they are conscious, or to what degree they are conscious. I believe that we have an ethical obligation to treat conscious beings humanely, especially humanoid robots - I believe potentially conscious humanoid robots deserve some rights.
rug
(82,333 posts)Doubtless, they will be designed to mimic human interaction, a la Siri, but I don't think that establishes self-awareness.
I predict those who will most strongly argue for cyborg consciousness will be those who are most amenable to the notion that human consciousness derives from biochemical electrcal interactions.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)And you're absolutely right.
Jim__
(14,096 posts)I don't see anything in this interview about limiting the number of children. Zoltan probably addresses this elsewhere, but since he brought up having two beautiful kids, I wonder if he envisions any limit on the number of children immortal people can have. Legally limiting the number of children someone can have is an ugly thought. But, allowing immortal people to reproduce to their hearts' content doesn't seem viable. How many children should an immortal human be allowed to have? One seems like too many; zero too few.
rug
(82,333 posts)I'll give him props though. "Immortality!" is a bolder political slogan than "A chicken in every pot!"
