The whole libertarian vs socialism thing is one area where transhumanism imports elements of cultishness. If you are already a libertarian and you become familiar with transhumanism, you will probably import your existing arguments against socialism into your transhumanist perspective. Same for socialism. So you see various transhumanist organizations having political leadership struggles between socialist and libertarian factions who would probably be having the same struggles if they were a part of an international Chess club or some such other group.
The whole thing becomes entrenched in debates about things like Transition Guides and what amounts to “how to implement transhumanist policy in a [socialist/libertarian] way that’s best for everyone.” I always thought these discussions were what amounted to discourse at the “fandom” level of the transhumanist community, but after reading some of Eliezer’s posts about his own experiences at transhumanist/singularitarian events I see that it happens at all levels.
Half-formed thought I need to pursue more offline but I’ll write it down now: If you say “I am a transhumanist” and you say “I am a libertarian” and then you try to find libertarian ways to meet transhumanist goals you have made your transhumanism subservient to your libertarianism. I think it is better to find transhumanist ways to meet libertarian goals. The fact that a group of transhumanists would derail a debate by getting into politics seems to express to me that the group has made transhumanism the subservient value. Which seems inelegant given that transhumanism is probably the simpler value. Seems like there’s a possible post for my own blog brewing in there, but I have to think about it some.
The whole libertarian vs socialism thing is one area where transhumanism imports elements of cultishness. If you are already a libertarian and you become familiar with transhumanism, you will probably import your existing arguments against socialism into your transhumanist perspective. Same for socialism. So you see various transhumanist organizations having political leadership struggles between socialist and libertarian factions who would probably be having the same struggles if they were a part of an international Chess club or some such other group.
The whole thing becomes entrenched in debates about things like Transition Guides and what amounts to “how to implement transhumanist policy in a [socialist/libertarian] way that’s best for everyone.” I always thought these discussions were what amounted to discourse at the “fandom” level of the transhumanist community, but after reading some of Eliezer’s posts about his own experiences at transhumanist/singularitarian events I see that it happens at all levels.
Half-formed thought I need to pursue more offline but I’ll write it down now: If you say “I am a transhumanist” and you say “I am a libertarian” and then you try to find libertarian ways to meet transhumanist goals you have made your transhumanism subservient to your libertarianism. I think it is better to find transhumanist ways to meet libertarian goals. The fact that a group of transhumanists would derail a debate by getting into politics seems to express to me that the group has made transhumanism the subservient value. Which seems inelegant given that transhumanism is probably the simpler value. Seems like there’s a possible post for my own blog brewing in there, but I have to think about it some.