ANOTHER ONE FOR THE TRANSHUMANISM SCRAPBOOK: FIRST IT WAS MICE, NOW ...
When Dr. Scott D. de Hart and I were researching and writing Transhumanism: A Grimoire of Alchemical Agendas, we were almost at a loss on how to compose the book, since events seemed to be overtaking predictions as fast as the prognosticators could make them. One of the conclusions we very early came to, however, was that any form of direct engineering of humanity, such as genetic engineering, was a form of social engineering, and that many of the emerging technologies would spell new areas and implications for society, particularly in the realm of jurisprudence.
One of the stories we discovered and wrote about, and that I have blogged about subsequently on this website, was the instance of mice having been "born" to not two, but by dint of some sophisticated gene splicing, to three parents. Other stories have filtered in, that mice or rats have been born to two male parents, or two female parents, and so on. As the technologies advance, the stories get more bizarre, but it's the one about a mouse having three parents that interests us here. When my co-author and I first discussed the possibility of this particular technology being applied to humans, we had a small conversation on how long it would take. I opted for the "safe" view that it would be within two to five years. Dr. de Hart said "I think it's already being done."
Well, apparently, he may have been right. Consider this:
The implications of this "research" are rather disturbing, not the least because it appears it was carried out in semi-secrecy to avoid public scrutiny over the ethics involved. But perhaps the real significance is that it once again - and now with some urgency - highlights the need for a discussion of human nature, of what it is and means to be human. Equally significantly, how will jurisprudence handle this? I would submit it would be a dangerous path to tread to maintain that, because these individuals have three genetic parents rather than two, that they are somehow less human, or, conversely, more human, than the rest of us. It is a discussion that needs to be had, particularly for its social consequences and for jurisprudence. Consider just the small matter of inheritance: will such individuals affect inheritance laws? My guess would be yes: for at some point such individuals will seek to establish stakes in estates based upon their genetic heredity, it is only a matter of time.
Questions such as these drive home once again that the technological modification of and interface with humanity is going to drive social change at a rate humanity is not experienced before. We need to begin having that discussion now.
See you on the flip side.
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Did you see the latest on Vigilante Citizen? And I refer specifically to “Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic athlete with prosthetic legs quickly became the figurehead of transhumanism and its “infinite potential”. Last month, he was charged for the murder of his girlfriend. Oddly enough, the slogan of his Nike ad was “I am the bullet in the chamber”.
http://vigilantcitizen.com/pics-of-the-month/symbolic-pics-of-the-month-0313/
And I wonder if this man has gone under some kind of MKULTRA mind control, and like others before him, I think of Brittany Spears, he has progressively lost it. Or he was programmed to kill his girlfriend?
And then there is the film “Cloud Atlas,” the transhuman waitresses. I do believe we are well on the way. And much has been done already without anyone knowing.
“Oddly enough, the slogan of his Nike ad was “I am the bullet in the chamber”- I don’f find it odd at all- just another of countless examples how so much is right in our faces but most cannot (don’t want to) see- you’re obviously connecting dots, Gail- and it never ceases to amaze me how once one knows what to look for you don’t even have to look for it anymore- it just jumps out at you-
here in Germany a few months ago a billboard add for the cell phone co. Vodafone showed a rainbow-colored, melting popsickle that had morphed into the shape of the satanic hand sign with the index finger and pinkie up-right and the thumb pressing the middle fingers into the palm- not to mention IKEA’s new rival furniture store ad billboarded a simple stool whose seat-front morphs/bulges as the eye of Horus-
there were so many anomalies to the official Pistorius story- this “incident” hit the German press like a sledgehammer then miraculously disappeared faster than a f**t in a dust storm-
“I do believe we are well on the way. And much has been done already without anyone knowing”- you and me both-
stay well- regards-
Larry.
Jurisprudence is way ahead Dr. the French have removed ‘father’ and ‘mother’ from law and replaced it with ‘parent’.
Anothet transhumanist project announced in China
http://blacklistednews.com/
titled:
Chinese Eugenics Factory Collects “Genius” DNA To Breed “Enhanced” People.
According to sources “..,they’d almost finished doing the sequencing for the BGI Cognitive Genetics Project…
…”The Chinese may launch their euginics operations for economic reasons, history teaches us that such breeding programs always co-exist with population reduction intiatives – under whatever pretexes are being pushed.”
“Questions such as these drive home once again that the technological modification of and interface with humanity is going to drive social change at a rate humanity is not experienced before. We need to begin having that discussion now.”
We most certainly need to have it, but our cultural engineering predisposes us to avoiding such questions and conversations as if they were Death itself.
“…’You lay the second brick crooked, and look, the next will reflect it.’
Yes, indeed, he took my cents anyway.
He say, ‘It’s ‘How?’ before ‘Why?’, like that Tower to the Sky, with Man’s Pride that had us lost in ourselves.
‘Cause ain’t no power to the ‘I’ with the clouds in our minds—it ain’t the ‘How’, it’s ‘Why’ I’m locked in this Hell.'”
— Qwel, “Spit Your Lit”; from the album Dark Day
I will hazard a guess that “three parents” is an issue that will only come up in a lab setting: inheritance laws will probably never have anything to do with it.
I just realized a great quote from Robert Anton Wilson that really fits in with your transhumanist theme:
“Reality is whatEVER you can get away with” (I added the ‘EVER’).
His intent, I think, was more of a “new age” idea like “we can do more than we are being told” sort of thing.
But that quote definitely applies to the physical modification of humanity, and those who are doing it.
Soon they’ll be coming down the GM conveyor belt, manufactured to customized factory specs.
EXTRA$ available.
A mind-clobbering elitist miniscule few will be given the version of “royal jelly”.
I found out about this reading a article on this on the New Scientist website today. Go to their website http:// http://www.newscientist.com. Well the Victor Frankensteins are hard working on this and who knows what else we don’t know off makes your blood run cold. Have a nice day and pleasant dreams tonight everyone.