The World's Most Dangerous Idea

A key deadline is approaching for the World’s Most Dangerous Idea. If you prefer safety over liberty, the status quo over adaptive progress; then by all means, feel free to click on to the next fleeting glimpse. On the other hand, one may want to consider that:<blockquote>Francis Fukuyama, a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, called transhumanism the “World’s Most Dangerous Idea.” He is not alone in his deliberate misuse of transhumanist ideas. There are dozens of organizations that use their multi-million dollar coffers [and pulpits] to spread anti-transhumanist memes and lobby politicians.</blockquote>It’s always a dangerous proposition to change the status quo; but when the the status quo itself becomes one of the biggest dangers to species survival and thrival, a population is generally reduced to two fundamental choices to facilitate self-preservationist change: Dangerous Actions or Dangerous Ideas.

Dangerous Actions are expressions of violence directed against others to exact behavioral compliance. Examples run the range from domestic abuse to preemptive bombing of sovereign nations. The long struggles in Ireland and Palestine are historical poster children for this approach to change. Generally, the only thing that changes are the names on the graves. Tyrants, of course, consider this the only Safe Change because it keeps them empowered and populations in fear.

Dangerous Ideas are often so-identified because they are extraordinarily rational and compelling expressions of dissatisfaction with a status quo dominated by groups of increasingly Dangerous Actors on a cultural or global stage. A prime example of a truly Dangerous Idea in the face of such a threat was the U.S. Constitution; arguably, one of the Most Dangerous Ideas of all time. So dangerous, in fact, that those who would see this Constitution’s principles worthy of preservation, extension, and yes augmentation into a posthuman future are now apparently deemed a threat by people like Fukuyama and Friends, who seem to favor the ongoing systematic dismantling of that Constitution in order that they might maintain a status quo in which their own superstitions, legends, customs, norms, and social and economic hierarchies remain in control.

Yes, a vibrant, interactive, radically democratic and rational technoprogressive transhumanism may indeed become the World’s Most Dangerous idea; an idea so Dangerous that all future democratic human progress may depend on it. Many alternate histories have been written about what would have happened had the American Revolution not succeeded, had the Constitution not been ratified, had the Nazi’s won the Second World War. We may again be living in such a history Right Now; a history that will be determined by the outcome of an increasingly technologically mediated showdown between Dangerous Actions and Dangerous Ideas.

So which will it be? Now is the time to vote for IDEAS in a way that can best activate the positive changes required to preserve our Constitutional liberties while extending our innate constitutional capabilities. Now is the time to support the World Transhumanist Association’s (WTA) first major fundraising campaign as a practical vehicle for accomplishing our shared goals. For just a few more days, you can DOUBLE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS by pitching it just a very few dollars. It’s important that we raise this energy from EVERYONE, rather than just a few, so that we know build a distributed, fault-tolerant, peer-to-peer network for positive change. So check it out and today, and please consider doing your small part. for those who may be new to the WTA, here is just a brief introduction:<blockquote>The WTA has done a lot with a little. We have grown to 4,700 members worldwide, and transhumanist topics are increasingly part of mainstream debate, yet last year our budget was only $8,000. Now we want to see how much more we can do with more.

The immediate objective is to upgrade our communications to give transhumanist opinions a stronger voice. The generous matching grant by the Life Extension Foundation and Cartmell Holdings means that if we raise $25,000 independently we will secure a total of $50,000 in funding for the WTA, enabling the organization to shift into a higher gear. Please help us take advantage of this opportunity.

Any gift you make to the WTA will be matched dollar-for-dollar until January 31, 2008.</blockquote>