Transhumanism is the siamese twin of Technocracy. Both believe that science can solve all problems. Technocracy is the science of social engineering. Transhumanism is the science of human engineering. ⁃ TN Editor
Hang around Silicon Valley for awhile and the obsession with immortality is clear. Techies want to solve that granddaddy of problems: Death.
Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor behind Facebook and co-founder of PayPal, recently made headlines for his reported personal and professional interest in whether blood transfusions from younger people can improve and even extend life for older people.
Ewww. Vampire alert.
Ghoulish and ethically questionable as it may seem, Thiel’s interest in young blood and other life extension gambits shouldn’t come as a surprise.
In the eyes of many technologists, the human body is just another machine that can be tinkered with and tweaked.
Why are tech leaders interested in immortality? It’s a combination of scientism and extraordinary wealth,” said Adam Gollner, author of “The Book of Immortality.” “Are Silicon Valley CEOs investing millions into physical immortality any different from the fantastically rich and all-powerful emperors in the Tang dynasty of China who died taking mercury-based elixirs of never-ending life? Time will tell.”
That interest in immortality is a good thing. A generation of tech billionaires are funding the most cutting-edge research in science and medicine. Their support could result in a longer and healthier life for all of us.
“Biology has become an engineering project, and a lot of tech people are engineers,” said Sonia Arrison, author of “100 Plus,” a book on longevity research and the implications of people living longer. Thiel wrote the introduction.
The idea of extending people’s healthy years “used to be a pipe dream,” said Arrison. But it is “no longer a crazy idea. It’s not something that’s unattainable. Society has the tools to make our lives longer and healthier.”
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