The Transhumanist FAQ

A General Introduction

Version 2.1 (2003)
  
Nick Bostrom
Faculty of Philosophy
Oxford University
10 Merton Street, Oxford OX1 4JJ, U. K.

Published by the World Transhumanist Association

Click here for the FAQ in PDF format:

http://www.transhumanism.org/resources/FAQv21.pdf

Please see endnote for document history and acknowledgments.

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CONTENTS

1. General Questions

• 1.1 What is transhumanism?

• 1.2 What is a posthuman?

• 1.3 What is a transhuman?

2. Technologies and Projections

• 2.1 Biotechnology, genetic engineering, stem cells, and cloning

• 2.2 What is molecular nanotechnology?

• 2.3 What is superintelligence?

• 2.4 What is virtual reality?

• 2.5 What is cryonics? Isn’t the probability of success too small?

• 2.6 What is uploading?

• 2.7 What is the singularity?

3. Society and Politics

• 3.1 Will new technologies only benefit the rich and powerful?

• 3.2 Do transhumanists advocate eugenics?

• 3.3 Aren’t these future technologies very risky? Could they even cause our extinction?

• 3.4 If these technologies are so dangerous, should they be banned?

• 3.5 Shouldn’t we concentrate on current problems ...

• 3.6 Will extended life worsen overpopulation problems?

• 3.7 Is there any ethical standard ...

• 3.8 What kind of society would posthumans live in?

• 3.9 Will posthumans or superintelligent machines pose a threat to humans who aren’t augmented?

4. Transhumanism and Nature

• 4.1 Why do transhumanists want to live longer?

• 4.2 Isn’t this tampering with nature?

• 4.3 Will transhuman technologies make us inhuman?

• 4.4 Isn’t death part of the natural order of things?

• 4.5 Are transhumanist technologies environmentally sound?

5. Transhumanism as a Philosophical and Cultural Viewpoint

• 5.1 What are the philosophical and cultural antecedents of transhumanism?

• 5.2 What currents are there within transhumanism?

• 5.3 How does transhumanism relate to religion?

• 5.4 Won’t things like uploading, cryonics, and AI fail...

• 5.5 What kind of transhumanist art is there?

6. Practicalities

• 6.1 What are the reasons to expect all these changes?

• 6.2 Won’t these developments take thousands or millions of years?

• 6.3 What if it doesn’t work?

• 6.4 How can I use transhumanism in my own life?

• 6.5 How could I become a posthuman?

• 6.6 Won’t it be boring to live forever in a perfect world?

• 6.7 How can I get involved and contribute?

7. Acknowledgements and Document History

The Transhumanist FAQ was conceived as an attempt to develop a broadly based consensus articulation of the basics of responsible transhumanism. The aim was a text that could serve both as a guide to those new to the field and as a reference work for more seasoned participants.

Close to a hundred people have contributed in some way in the making of this document. The current version is a thoroughly revision of the version of 1999. Considerable new material has been added and many old sections have been substantially reworked. In preparing version 2.0, the following people have been especially helpful:

Eliezer Yudkowsky, who provided editorial assistance with the entire document and many comments on particular issues of substance; Dale Carrico who proofread the first half of the text and eliminated a whole army of typos and infelicities; and Michael LaTorra who did the same for the second half; and “Reason” who then went over the whole document again, as did Frank Forman, and Sarah Banks Forman. Useful comments of either substance or form have also been contributed by (in alphabetical order): Michael Anissimov, Samantha Atkins, Milan Cirkovic, José Luis Cordeiro, George Dvorsky, James Hughes, G.E. Jordan, Vasso Kambourelli, Michael LaTorra, Eugen Leitl, Juan Meridalva, Harvey Newstrom, Emlyn O'Reagan, Christine Peterson, Giulio Prisco, Reason, Rafal Smigrodzki, Simon Smith, Mike Treder, and Mark Walker. Many others have over the years offered questions or reflections that have in some way helped shape this document, and even though it is not possible to name you all, your contributions are warmly appreciated. All remaining errors are my own fault.

Since this new version builds on its predecessor, the contributors to the latter are also indirect contributors to the present document. The people who assisted with the first version included especially Anders Sandberg (several of the original sections were based heavily on his material and the section on transhumanism's historical precedents still very distinctly bears his mark), Kathryn Aegis, and Natasha Vita-More (who also both provided substantial chunks of text). The presentation in the cryonics section was, and still is, directly inspired by an article by Ralph Merkle. Several people contributed to the definition of transhumanism, in particular Kathryn Aegis and Max More. Greg Burch, David Pearce, Kathryn Aegis, and Anders Sandberg kindly offered extensive editorial comments. Ideas, criticisms, questions, phrases, and sentences to the original version were contributed by (in alphabetical order): Kathryn Aegis, Alex (intech@intsar.com), Brent Allsop, Brian Atkins, Scott Badger, Doug Bailey, Harmony Baldwin, Damien Broderick, Greg Burch, David Cary, John K Clark, Dan Clemmensen, Damon Davis, Jeff Dee, Jean-Michel Delhotel, Dylan Evans, EvMick@aol.com, Daniel Fabulich, Frank Forman, Robin Hanson, Andrew Hennessey, Tony Hollick, Joe Jenkins, William John, Michelle Jones, Arjen Kamphius, Henri Kluytmans, Eugene Leitl, Michael Lorrey, mark@unicorn.com, Peter C. McCluskey, Erik Moeller, J. R. Molloy, Max More, Bryan Moss, Harvey Newstrom, Michael Nielsen, John S. Novak III, Dalibor van den Otter, David Pearce, pilgrim@cyberdude.com, Thom Quinn, Anders Sandberg, Wesley R. Schwein, Shakehip@aol.com, Allen Smith, Geoff Smith, Randy Smith, Dennis Stevens, Derek Strong, Remi Sussan, Natasha Vita-More, Michael Wiik, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and zebo@pro-ns.net

I would like to thank you all for helping creating this FAQ and for making transhumanism possible!

Nick Bostrom
Oxford, October 2003

ON the bank at the end
Of what was there before us
Gazing over to the other side
On what we can become
Veiled in the mist of naïve speculation
We are busy here preparing
Rafts to carry us across
Before the light goes out leaving us
In the eternal night of could-have-beens