1. Transhumanism and Liberty
As transhumanism progresses further and further this is a question that is all the more important to resolve. Unfortunately science is usually the first victim in politics, so leaving this up to the politicians is probably not the right answer. While Bailey protests that the unenhanced would pose no threat to the enhanced, history and even current events do not bear this out. There are health care concerns in a welfare state such as ours. Why would the state bear the burdensome cost of those who won't help themselves by enhancing their immunities? There's education. Why must the state expend extra money on unenhanced, less intelligent students that consume a disproportionate amount of their teachers' time, attention and resources? While I sympathize with Bailey's libertarian utopian ideal of the state having no say in these matters and letting the market settle it all, the truth is that the state would almost certainly either coerce the unenhanced into enhancements, punish them via the tax code (which amounts to the same thing), punish us all by banning certain enhancements (which Bailey's debate opponent seems to favor), or punish the enhanced/wealthy into paying for even more extravagant social programs to protect the unenhanced. I agree with Bailey that transhumanism in and of itself is not incompatible with or a threat to the concept of liberty, but unfortunately the libertarian ideal does not exist and isn't likely to in our lifetime. So long as a portion of the American public remains uneducated and afraid of genetic enhancements (thanks to scaremongering from both right- and leftwing radicals) that prolong their children's lives and increase their intelligence and productivity, they'll vote for shrill politicians to keep everyone from having access to them.
2. Washington DC Overtakes Silicon Valley as Wealthiest City in America
What with the K Street lobbyists representing corporate interests that have grown ever larger and closer to government, the growth in the bureaucracy and the recession nationwide decimating industry, I suppose this shouldn't surprise. But it is still both shocking and extremely telling that the center of government has overtaken what is widely considered the center of innovation and private industry as the wealthiest city in America. Whatever it portends, it's certainly a handy fun-fact for the GOP hopefuls.
1) The enhanced will have the wealth. The wealthy control the government. The unenhanced will join the poor in being a group divided down the middle by upper-class (enhanced) puppeteers who pit them against each other on petty ideological lines. Nothing changes.
ReplyDelete2) Cain should love this. Romney has less room to talk, but will parrot it as well.
What makes this "transhumanism" thing so unique is that we're talking about enhancements that, at least for the foreseeable future, would be available only through a physician (whether we're talking genetic tinkering or prescription pills). The health care market is so distorted by bizarre regulation and insurance practice that the wealth thing really is the biggest part of this. It's not like a new car where the lagtime in affordability is relatively short. Access to enhancements would likely be concentrated with the wealthy for a very long period of time, perhaps over half a century if not much longer, and that has huge implications in terms of society and policy. All hyperbole aside, affordability of current care seems less compelling a reason to reform our health care system than the rise of the wealthy ubermen. Who's going to stand up to SuperSoros?
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