domingo, 27 de noviembre de 2016

BioEdge: Transhumanist candidate for president now supports Trump

BioEdge: Transhumanist candidate for president now supports Trump
Bioedge
Transhumanist candidate for president now supports Trump
     
A Zoltan for President poster   
To no one’s great surprise, the candidate of the Transhumanist Party in the US presidential election did not win. However Zoltan Istvan is far from unhappy with the result.
“I never ran to win the presidency, but rather to spread word about the transhumanist movement and its goal to conquer death with science and technology,” he told Inverse magazine. “And my campaign, after 731 days, has been seen by likely 100 million people. I think transhumanism grew tremendously as a result, so I’m thrilled I could contribute to the transhumanism movement so dramatically.”
Nor is he unhappy with the prospect of President Donald Trump. “Unlike many others, I’m quite okay about a Trump presidency,” he said. “My main thing is science — and Trump will be good for science, since if he really wants to Make America Great Again, then he’ll have to beat China in it. And China is doing amazing science and tech, and so Trump will be forced to help technology and science move forward in America to keep up.”
Mr Istvan has offered his services to Trump as a science and technology advisor. He also plans to get more experience in politics and to prepare for a tilt at the presidency in 2020. “Whatever I do, I’m in the long war to conquer death with transhumanism, so I’m just beginning this crusade for the movement.”
Bioedge
Bioedge
There is quite a bit of literature in bioethics journals about the ethics of telling white lies to patients, especially with terminally ill patients. But a far more common ethical conundrum has been strangely neglected: whether children should be told the truth about Santa Claus. This, thankfully, has been remedied. Two psychologists have written an article in The Lancet Psychiatry arguing that children’s moral compass could be permanently deranged by the disappointment of learning that their parents have been telling them lies.
Kathy McKay, a clinical psychologist at the University of New England, Australia and a co-author, told The Guardian: “The Santa myth is such an involved lie, such a long-lasting one, between parents and children, that if a relationship is vulnerable, this may be the final straw. If parents can lie so convincingly and over such a long time, what else can they lie about?”
The psychologists follow in the footsteps of Richard Dawkins, who saw through the myth of Santa Claus at the tender age of 21 months. He told a conference in 2014: “Is it a good thing to go along with the fantasies of childhood, magical as they are? Or should we be fostering a spirit of scepticism? I think it's rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism.”
We’d like to open up comments on BioEdge to a discussion of this issue. 

Michael Cook
Editor
BioEdge
This week in BioEdge
 
by Xavier Symons | Nov 26, 2016
An Australian nurse and fertility specialist has been arrested in Cambodia.
 
by Xavier Symons | Nov 26, 2016
New HFEA figures indicate that close to 2.5 million embryos have been discarded in the UK.
 
by Xavier Symons | Nov 26, 2016
An increasing number of gay couples in the US are turning to surrogacy.
 
by Michael Cook | Nov 26, 2016
But it will face powerful opposition from industry and patients.
 
by Michael Cook | Nov 26, 2016
But insists that have they have "an ethical duty to care for dying patients so that death is allowed to occur in comfort and with…
 
by Michael Cook | Nov 26, 2016
Nitschke wants to use drones to deliver euthanasia.
 
by Michael Cook | Nov 26, 2016
Zoltan Istvan is preparing to run again in 2020.
 
by Michael Cook | Nov 25, 2016
Dutch journalist writes book about the death of his brother
 
by Michael Cook | Nov 25, 2016
Downloadable PDF show embryo in amazing detail
BioEdge
Suite 12A, Level 2 | 5 George St | North Strathfield NSW 2137 | Australia
Phone: +61 2 8005 8605
Mobile: 0422-691-615
New Media Foundation | Level 2, 5 George St | North Strathfield NSW 2137 | AUSTRALIA | +61 2 8005 8605

No hay comentarios: