[Peter]

Zoltan Istvan recently announced he is preparing to run for the Presidency of the United States in 2016, as a member of a newly formed Transhumanist Party.

[See the full post at: The Transhumanist Party: Could It Change Our Future?]

[Joseph]

I think it’s incredibly unwise to endorse a party or candidate whose specific platform has not been announced simply on the basis of the label he chooses. Politics is about much more than the relatively narrow band of policies that Transhumanism encompasses, and any candidate who is trying to do anything more than draw attention to a particular issue must address them.

Too, there are many currents within Transhumanism, some of which have the potential to do actual harm to Transhumanism as a whole in the public ideosphere. Which specific Transhumanist points of view will this “Transhumanist Party” espouse? We’ve seen everything from an ultra-left redistributive ideology to an ultra-right neo-fascist ideology over the years, and everything in between. Do we, five years from now, want to have to fight some association that Zoltan might hold, which is not held by the majority of Transhumanists? (I don’t have any specific positions in mind, chiefly because he hasn’t articulated any, but the possibility certainly exists in spades).

Any sort of endorsement is premature, at least until we see some concrete policy proposals coming out of this. The potential for real damage to Transhumanists’ already iffy image is great.

[Author]

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