I’ve interviewed a number of transhumanists here over the past few weeks. Today I bring you an interview with Paul Hughes (no related to Dr. J Hughes) the editor of Future Hi. Paul is a pscyhedelic transhumanist, part of a movement that combines elements of spirituality, pschedelic culture and transhumanist thought. I don’t subscribe to any religious or spiritual beliefs myself but I do follow the pyschedelic transhumanist movement with interest. Not just because I think they’re interesting (although I do) but because I’m not so closed minded to think that a purely secular worldview can answer all questions that humans ask. These guys go out on a limb that I’m not willing to venture on but they do so with a non-dogmatic approach which I find admirable.

Here’s our exchange:

MT What kind of reception have you recieved from the more secular side of the transhumanist movement since you started Future Hi?

PH Overall a lot more than I ever expected. Future Hi was started in large part as a reaction to what I felt was a selling out of transhumanism to purely mechanistic grounds. Because of this dominating trend in transhumanism, a lot, way more the secular transhumanists would care to admit, have been alienated and driven away from the ‘offical’ transhumanist community. What is frustrating about the secular transhumanist community is they believe they are the only voice of transhumanism, an exclusive voice, where we take a more inclusive approach. A few months ago I wrote up a series of joking posts on our own exclusivity. I was amazed at how many didn’t get the joke, whcih ironically was part of the joke.

MT The United States seems to be deeply divided on a number of bioethical questions such as stem cells, reproductive rights and the legalization of recreational drugs. Do you forsee this divide narrowing at all in the forseeable future?

PH Yes, definitely. Every time a new technology comes along, there isalways an initial fear of its implications. If you see the generaltrend in the US towards stem-cells you will see that every year thereis an increasing number of people who accept it as a genuine andhighly promising avenue of medical progress. As for recreationaldrugs, the same also holds true. The war on drugs is a dismal failurein every way. Even if for some reason they manage to keep theirrational hysteria up to any degree, the current wasteful anti-druglaws are simply not economically sustainable. Besides, when youcontinually lie about the real nature of the problem, eventuallypeople start figuring it out. I spend a lot of time with today’syoung people, and you’d be suprised at just how open minded they are about drugs and drug legalization.

MT Are there certain kinds of enhancements that you are more interested in than others?

PH Yes, definitely. Although I count myself to be highly progressiveregarding general enhancements, I long ago dropped my ego’s desire tobe some kind of front runner. I’m too old now to be taking risks withmy health. So when it comes to something as simple as new longevitysupplements, I only use those supplements that have a long proventrack record of effectiveness. Regarding more cybernetic type enhancements coming down the road, that same applies. I am dubious ofmost initial technological “enhancements”, especially considering thesorry state of technologly quality control that passes for most consumer products these days. It’s one thing to have your car steearor computer crash, but an entirely another to have a neural interface in my skull malfunction!

MT Are there any misconceptions people tend to have about pyschedelic transhumanists that you’d like to set straight?

PH Yes, on the secular transhumanist side they tend to see us asbasically unscientific because we embrace things born out from directexperience that have YET to be validated scientifically. Yet, I am asscientific and rationalist as they come, I just don’t stop there - and that is the key. There is way more to the universe that our puny and prideful little brains are possibly capable of understanding. When you begin to get “underneath the hood” as it were in your own brain, you begin to see just how flimsy all of this so-called “rationality” actually is. I’m not dissing it, only pointing out how incredible limited it is at our current level of intelligence. The mistake I see most often is those who place all of their emphasis on being “rational” never get outside of that box long enough to know there are unlimited pathways beyond it. The truth is these transcendent states are very rational, hyper-rational in comparison. But from the limited perspective of these rationalists, it doesn’t make sense. I’m honestly not trying to put them down in any way, but it’s kind of like talking C++ to a computer who only understand Fortran. They keep insisting that since you’re not speaking Fortran and using proper Fortran syntax, you are wrong, misguided, deluded or just plain stupid. However, I believe it is our responsibilty, not theirs, as psychedelic transhumanists to find new, more effective ways to communicate our knowledge using the lingua franca of the status quo.

MTWhich existing technology do you think has the most underrated potential?

PH That’s a tough one. There are so many technological developments now that I lost track long ago which promising avenues to follow. My guess there are thousands of unsuspecting technologies just waiting for the right brains to put them to good use in the right ways to make them very powerful. We could easily see very disruptive technologies coming to frution any time.

Related

Future Hi (link)
Paul’s about page (link)

Related posts:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response to this post, or trackback from your own site. Wax-political uses threaded comments so you can reply to any comment directly by clicking on the relevent reply to comment link.