I checked out the Transhumanist Party site, and they didn’t have a list of stuff Zoltan Istvan would do if elected, not even many applause lights. They also clearly haven’t hired a web designer. They don’t have a voting guide for different ballot measures. Finally, I’m tempted to vote for a 3rd-party candidate as my congressional representative, and they seem to only have a presidential candidate listed. I don’t think Istvan has any plans for what he would do as President, and he doesn’t seem to want to be elected.
The Transhumanist Party website is clearly the same template as Istvan’s personal website. He is trying to sell a book, so my guess is the Transhumanist Party is a publicity stunt to sell his book.
Thanks! It did smell like a publicity stunt, but I wasn’t sure what it was trying to promote, since it wasn’t promoting policy changes or some other political goal very well. I’m not sure having a presidential campaign that obviously isn’t trying to get anyone elected is the best way to sell books, though.
I checked out the Transhumanist Party site, and they didn’t have a list of stuff Zoltan Istvan would do if elected, not even many applause lights. They also clearly haven’t hired a web designer. They don’t have a voting guide for different ballot measures. Finally, I’m tempted to vote for a 3rd-party candidate as my congressional representative, and they seem to only have a presidential candidate listed. I don’t think Istvan has any plans for what he would do as President, and he doesn’t seem to want to be elected.
The Transhumanist Party website is clearly the same template as Istvan’s personal website. He is trying to sell a book, so my guess is the Transhumanist Party is a publicity stunt to sell his book.
Thanks! It did smell like a publicity stunt, but I wasn’t sure what it was trying to promote, since it wasn’t promoting policy changes or some other political goal very well. I’m not sure having a presidential campaign that obviously isn’t trying to get anyone elected is the best way to sell books, though.
I have a gut feeling that a lot of long-shot campaigns are more about publicity/book sales/speaking fees than a genuine desire to be elected.
To be fair to Istvan, I don’t think his motive is primarily financial, since he is giving away a free Kindle version of his book.
In that case, maybe the goal is not to sell books, but rather to publicize them and the ideologies they contain.
Ron Paul and Ralph Nader (many-time presidential candidates with no chance of winning) are concrete examples of this in the US political system.
Both have done decent with respect to speaking fees and personal fame, but of course so do “genuine” candidates!
Istvan doesn’t seem to hurt for money if he can afford to live in the Bay Area, and he has a vineyard in Argentina.
Why would he bother unless he’s a Republican or Democrat?