VP Summit: http://summit.extropy.org
Extropy Institute Press Release
Natasha Vita-More, the new Extropy Institute president, is launching
a major effort to educate and empower immortalists who desire to
successfully engage the forces planning to limit biotechnological research and implementation.
As an official summit promoter appointed by Natasha I would ask anyone reading this to
seriously consider not only taking part but giving a donation if possible.
Thank you,
John Grigg
The following is taken from http://www.extropy.org/ website:
Extropy Institute Announces the upcoming 2004 Summit
Summit 2004 — Vital Progress "VP" Summit mid-February on the Net.
Recent and accelerating scientific advances may have you excited
about extropic goals of extended life, heightened intelligence,
and so on. But hold on! The forces of reaction are surging and we
need to respond now. Extropy Institute is well into the planning
process for the upcoming Vital Progress Summit, set for February
2004. Below, we explain why this Summit is needed so urgently, how
it will work, what we aim to accomplish, and who we expect to participate.
The Summit is ExI's proactive response to three disturbing pivotal
developments: Beyond Therapy - the report of the US President's
Council on Bioethics headed by arch-bioconservative and neophobe
Leon Kass (and including avowed anti-posthuman Francis Fukuyama);
The New Atlantis publication - a high-powered rallying point for
the neo-Luddites; and the Precautionary Principle - a idea being
adopted by a diverse array of interest groups devoted to blocking
the fundamental technological advances crucial to our survival and
to our extropic goals of overcoming human limits.
The Surging Threat to Positive Advancement for Humans
Throughout history the forces of advancement have struggled against
the reactionary forces of stasis. Europe suffered a thousand years
of zero progress during the Dark Ages. The Renaissance and Enlightenment
finally broke through that grim era. We transhumanists are the heirs
to the Enlightenment values of perpetual progress for humanity based
in science and creativity. Recent years have seen numerous developments
that are showing the culture at large the realism of our extropic
goals of extended healthy life, enhanced intelligence, refined emotions,
and the ever-extending ability to take control of our form and fate.
But now we face an unprecedented convergence of groups intent on
using direct action and global legislation to halt humanity's progress.
One of the most remarkable and worrying developments is the presidential-level
bioethics council. This council, led by Leon Kass (once an opponent
of in vitro fertilization) has published a report, Beyond Therapy
that takes very seriously issues at the core of our extropic values
and goals. From the preface to the report:
"In keeping with our mission, we have undertaken an inquiry into
the potential implications of using biotechnology "beyond therapy,"
in order to try to satisfy deep and familiar human desires: for
better children, superior performance, ageless bodies, and happy
souls. Such uses of biotechnology, some of which are now possible
and some of which may become possible in the future, are likely
to present us with profound and highly consequential ethical challenges
and choices. They may play a crucial role in shaping human experience
in the fast-approaching age of biotechnology."
Backing Kass's council of intellectual clones, marching to the same
anti-biotech beat, are other numerous and organized voices. Their
favored watering hole - the forum that gathers and disseminates
their fulminations of fear and faith is The New Atlantis. Appropriately
named after the Platonic fantasy of a perfect unchanging society
now lost to the world, this publication aims to shape "the nation's
moral and political understanding of all areas of technology" in
a way deadly to extropic ideals and aspirations. Many other groups
are getting in on the act through the vehicle of the sensible-sounding
Precautionary Principle. This principle cripples technological progress
by requiring every technological innovation to clear the impossible
hurdle of absolutely proving total safety. It unites extreme environmentalists,
anti-capitalists, scare-mongers, biological fundamentalists, enemies
of modern civilization, and Luddites of all stripes.
About the "VP" Summit
To counter Kass and his Council, The New Atlantis, and the seductive
Precautionary Principle, Extropy Institute has initiated a Summit
in several phases. The first phase will take place in mid-late February.
This collaborative, multi-disciplinary online event will bring together
not only all kinds of transhumanists and future- friendly folks,
but also advocacy groups such as the Christopher Reeve Paralysis
Foundation who need advanced biotech research to fix devastating
biological problems. As Reeve has said, "I never thought politics would get in the way of hope."
The Vital Progress Summit aims to achieve real, practical results.
These will come in stages as the project progresses, but early deliverables
expected from the February summit include a pithy response to the
Precautionary Principle, a policy and values statement to counter
Beyond Therapy, and a comprehensive collection of links to pro-advancement
groups, journalists, publications, and educational groups.
The Vital Progress Summit fits perfectly with and realizes Extropy
Institute's mission. The February Summit will see the start of a
continuing effort to build a broad alliance sharing the goal of
the continued progress of fundamental knowledge of the human condition
and how to modify it for the better. We can counter the bioconservatives
by catalyzing the development of a "party of life".
You'll find more details of the workings of the Summit in the next
update just a week from now. The core of the two-week online event
will be a focused blog by invited keynote bloggers. Others will
be able to participate in related forums and by commenting on the
blog-project work as well as by helping develop associated resources.
Your participation in the Summit is essential. Your voice, your
comments, your ideas are needed! Join the Summit here and help
us achieve our goals by donating $15.00.
Toward increased knowledge!
Extropy Institute
