The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns. Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature.Content:
Chapter I Roots and Core Themes (pages 1–2):
Chapter 1 The Philosophy of Transhumanism (pages 3–17): Max More
Chapter 2 Aesthetics (pages 18–27): Natasha Vita?More
Chapter 3 Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up (pages 28–53): Nick Bostrom
Chapter 4 Transhumanist Declaration (2012) (pages 54–55):
Chapter 5 Morphological Freedom – Why We Not Just Want It, but Need It (pages 56–64): Anders Sandberg
Chapter II Human Enhancement (pages 65–66):
Chapter 6 Welcome to the Future of Medicine (pages 67–72): Robert A. Freitas
Chapter 7 Life Expansion Media (pages 73–82): Natasha Vita?More
Chapter 8 The Hybronaut Affair (pages 83–90): Laura Beloff
Chapter 9 Transavatars (pages 91–99): William Sims Bainbridge
Chapter 10 Alternative Biologies (pages 100–109): Rachel Armstrong
Chapter III Human Enhancement (pages 111–112):
Chapter 11 Re?Inventing Ourselves (pages 113–127): Andy Clark
Chapter 12 Artificial General Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (pages 128–137): Ben Goertzel
Chapter 13 Intelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality (pages 138–145): Alexander “Sasha” Chislenko
Chapter 14 Uploading to Substrate?Independent Minds (pages 146–156): Randal A. Koene
Chapter 15 Uploading (pages 157–164): Ralph C. Merkle
Chapter IV Core Technologies (pages 165–166):
Chapter 16 Why Freud Was the First Good AI Theorist (pages 167–176): Marvin Minsky
Chapter 17 Pigs in Cyberspace (pages 177–181): Hans Moravec
Chapter 18 Nanocomputers (pages 182–195): J. Storrs Hall
Chapter 19 Immortalist Fictions and Strategies (pages 196–204): Michael R. Rose
Chapter 20 Dialogue between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler (pages 205–211):
Chapter V Engines of Life (pages 213–214):
Chapter 21 The Curate's Egg of Anti?Anti?Aging Bioethics (pages 215–219): Aubrey de Grey
Chapter 22 Medical Time Travel (pages 220–226): Brian Wowk
Chapter 23 Transhumanism and Personal Identity (pages 227–233): James Hughes
Chapter 24 Transcendent Engineering (pages 234–240): Giulio Prisco
Chapter VI Enhanced Decision?Making (pages 241–242):
Chapter 25 Idea Futures (pages 243–257): Robin Hanson
Chapter 26 The Proactionary Principle (pages 258–267): Max More
Chapter 27 The Open Society and Its Media (pages 268–277): Mark S. Miller, with E. Dean Tribble, Ravi Pandya and Marc Stiegler
Chapter VII Biopolitics and Policy (pages 279–280):
Chapter 28 Performance Enhancement and Legal Theory (pages 281–290):
Chapter 29 Justifying Human Enhancement (pages 291–301): Andy Miah
Chapter 30 The Battle for the Future (pages 302–316): Gregory Stock
Chapter 31 Mind is Deeper Than Matter (pages 317–326): Martine Rothblatt
Chapter 32 For Enhancing People (pages 327–344): Ronald Bailey
Chapter 33 Is Enhancement Worthy of Being a Right? (pages 345–354): Patrick D. Hopkins
Chapter 34 Freedom by Design (pages 355–360): Wrye Sententia
Chapter VIII Future Trajectories (pages 361–363):
Chapter 35 Technological Singularity (pages 365–375): Vernor Vinge
Chapter 36 An Overview of Models of Technological Singularity (pages 376–394): Anders Sandberg
Chapter 37 A Critical Discussion of Vinge's Singularity Concept (pages 395–417): David Brin, Damien Broderick, Nick Bostrom, Alexander “Sasha” Chislenko, Robin Hanson, Max More, Michael Nielsen and Anders Sandberg
Chapter IX The World's Most Dangerous Idea (pages 419–420):
Chapter 38 The Great Transition (pages 421–429): Russell Blackford
Chapter 39 Trans and Post (pages 430–437): Damien Broderick
Chapter 40 Back to Nature II (pages 438–448): Roy Ascott
Chapter 41 A Letter to Mother Nature (pages 449–450): Max More
Chapter 42 Progress and Relinquishment (pages 451–453): Ray Kurzweil