47 replies to this topic

[DJS]

Prometheus

I'm afraid that your very premise is founded on ignorance. Neither homosexuals not transexuals - individuals that have an active sex-life - desire to be "gonadless" which is the objective of castrationists who prefer to have no sex-life at all.

In the special case of transexuals, sexual reassignement - which includes castration - is not merely the surgical removal of the male endocrine glands but also the life-long supplementation of female hormones to sustain secondary female sexual characteristics whilst supressing male ones.

Castrationists - males who wish to have their gonads removed, not for sexual reassignment nor as a treatment for disease - are in my view psychologically disturbed and have nothing to do with homosexuals or transexuals.

Amazing. Human beings give up one form of bigotry, only to move on to a more subtle form. [wis] Homosexual, asexual - what the f is the difference? How is any of this your business?

Prometheus, stop. Listen to what you're saying. Collect your thoughts. And then realize that [airquote] psychological disturbance [/airquote] was the clinical diagnosis for homosexuality less than a century ago. There is a group of individuals in this world, certainly less represented than the rainbow coalition, and probably less represented than Immortalism, that take pride in their asexualism. They have every right to exist, and they are not sick.

AVEN

[lunarsolarpower]

They have every right to exist, and they are not sick.

You know, in a sad sort of way it just figures that the last group to be ostracized for their sexual preference would be those whose preference is none. We are indeed a bunch of chickens sometimes.

PS I realize that no one here was condeming anyone for their path in life, and I'm not calling anyone poultry.

[jaydfox]

BTW, I have to point this out, because there is a subtle irony that applies especially forcefully to futurists: Calorie Restriction.

While the effect is not consistent across the board, there is plenty of documented anecdotal evidence that CR reduces libido. In several cases, this reduction is manifested not as a loss of enjoyment of sex, but as a loss of the constant sex drive. IIRC, some CR'ed men lose libido entirely, while others merely are not as distracted by it, e.g., not being phased by beautiful women all around. Yet when with his partner, such a man's sex drive is quite intact when actually needed.

This gives him the best of both worlds: the concentration and focus he seeks when he's not actually having sex, combined with the ability and desire to have sex when it's time. And of course, there's the third benefit: better health and [presumably] lifespan.

And of course, if this man doesn't have a partner (presumably the case with these futurists), then either way, the manifestaiton will be greatly reduced libido. If he's one of the lucky ones who's not affected by CR (in the libido department), well, at least he gave it a decent shot first before resorting to this rather poorly-planned out measure.

[Live Forever]

20/20 tonight is going to be about people who are asexual. (asexual = not interested in sex)

Here is a link to the preview of the story

[Trias]

(prometheus)
Why stop at the gonads when you can take out the amygdala too.. In fact take out most of the limbic system with the exception of the hippocampus. That should do the trick of eliminating all emotion, drive and other "redundant" cognitive processes and propel one directly into the future..

And prometheus does it again.
[as usual? [tung] ]


This eerie ideal of "absolute-functionalism" many transumanists seem to exhibit, troubles me. What is this?


Of course, every man has a right to choose castration; but then again, what foolishness is this?

What is, after all, the true advantage of human-life if not the ability to:
-Fathom beauty
-Differentiate it from the unsightly amidst our environment
-Experience pleasure
-Feel satisfaction

if a man enjoys sexual course, WHATEVER THE CORE REASON IS (evolution, reproduction drive etc')- then by all means it is a welcome thing.
The tendency to strive towards this "apathetical mechanism" is moronic. You can't be something you're not.

Infernity, what do you think of this?

[Kalepha]

This eerie ideal of "absolute-functionalism" many transumanists seem to exhibit, troubles me. What is this? ... The tendency to strive towards this "apathetical mechanism" is moronic. You can't be something you're not.

I think that is a mistaken classification. This is not in defense of castration particularly, but we are able to think of facienda about internal states as well as external states. If I use a factum to represent the devastating likelihood that my internal states require sleep every day and a faciendum that my internal states should be manipulated such that I don't require sleep at all, then this indicates that there might not be anything about me that isn't subject to manipulation by a process originated by me. It seems like complete metaphysical nonsense to separate 'me' and 'not me' within me.

[temp14]

I am Cybert.

[braz]

I will castrate anyone who tries to castrate me.

[Centurion]

Castration sounds like the least fun ever, I agree with braz

[JohnDoe1234]

Yeah... Personally I really want children, specifically a boy... (but that is a few years off for me), because I think the prospect of rasing a child is one of the most gradifying things someone can do... looking at them on awe, they are essentially a newer more improved version of yourself... I don't see the logic behind cutting it all off either, I think the Pluses overcome the Minuses! [thumb]

[kylyssa]

His body, his decision.

[Centurion]

His body, his decision.

Nobody's disputing that..?

[kylyssa]

This Cybert fellow, his self-castration is irrelevant to transhumanism, really. People have always practiced some form or another of body modification. They often rationalize whatever form it takes using whatever aspects of their life they can to explain it.

There are no definitive studies linking human castration to added longevity. It creates no improvement of the human body other than from a sexual or asexual asthetic point of view held by a spare cluster of people. It's unusual, uncommon, but irrelevant.

We may as well discuss tattooing as it relates to singulatarianism.

People willing to open their minds to possibilities are more likely to, well, open their minds to possibilities on the edges. I think you'll find more people willing to take "risks" of a social sort involved in singulatarianism and transhumanism. That means there will be more open minded people of all unusual sorts than there are in the general population. If they strongly identify as transhumanists and they have another unusual subgroup they identify with, chances are you'll see all sorts of interesting "How my ______ relates to Transhumanisn/Singulatarianism" articles. I feel strongly about my collection of vintage nudie postcards. Perhaps an article "How my obsession with vintage nudie postcards relates to Transhumanism/Singulatarianism" will make my vintage nudie postcard obsession relevant to Transhumanism/Singulatarianism?

[Centurion]

Yeah, I'm with you there man.

[attis]

I sorta have to wonder about folks that get castration done and are not considering a sex change operation. Unless the chap has to worry about testicle cancer, in which castration is the only known means of its removal to save a victim of it, I really see no reason for any doctor to waste his/him time trying to mold a person into that person's image. I'm all for bio-self-determination, but come on, this is a procedure that will become obsolete in two more decades at the rate of cancer research is progressing. And if he's worried about feeling all 'fuzzy' from seeing a guy/gal that's a hottie, well just live with it!