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Zero-Sum Superheroes

Zero-Sum Superheroes. Can Transhumanism Overcome 25 Centuries of Bad PR? Richard (RJ) Eskow. Allow me to present my credentials …. Disclaimer: This Presentation. Will be a high-speed data burst Will use terms imprecisely, of necessity Is meant as food for thought & discussion

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Zero-Sum Superheroes

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  1. Zero-Sum Superheroes Can Transhumanism Overcome 25 Centuries of Bad PR? Richard (RJ) Eskow

  2. Allow me to present my credentials …

  3. Disclaimer: This Presentation • Will be a high-speed data burst • Will use terms imprecisely, of necessity • Is meant as food for thought & discussion • Will address the roots of Transhumanism’s PR problem • Will propose some semi-serious solutions • We’ll be “admen (or Mad Men) of the future”

  4. Proposition • Transhumanism (advocacy for radical enhancement) is not a widely held position. • Ditto for related ideas, like “the Singularity,” the general idea of humanity merging with technology, etc. • There are deeply held, ancient folkways in our culture that create resistance to these ideas • A marketing problem – what about a marketing-style solution?

  5. There Is A Message .

  6. The Message … is everywhere.

  7. The Message … is invisible.

  8. The Message … is at least 2500 years old.

  9. The Message Is …

  10. TRANSHUMANISM IS LONELINESS

  11. TRANSHUMANISM IS OTHERNESS

  12. TRANSHUMANISM IS UGLINESS

  13. TRANSHUMANISM IS SACRIFICE

  14. TRANSHUMANISM IS FORBIDDEN

  15. TRANSHUMANISM IS ADDICTION

  16. TRANSHUMANISM IS PAIN

  17. TRANSHUMANISM IS DEATH

  18. The Zero-Sum Game • Our current limited physical/mental abilities are the Natural Order/God’s Will • Every time you win more than your share, you lose a proportional amount • You gain much, you lose much “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” - Matthew 16:26

  19. Nemesis

  20. M. Treder: A “fear” problem:Transhumans = Supervillians • Frankenstein • Island of Dr. Moreau • Terminator and Unfriendly AIs • Etc. … Enhanced humans have been promoted as “supervillains.” But, worse yet, they’ve been labeled …

  21. Superlosers

  22. Icarus

  23. Book of Genesis • Believed to have been written between the 10th and 5th centuries BCE • Believed completed by 5th Century BCE1 Time elapsed since “Tower of Babel” story first written: 25-30 centuries 1Youngblood (ed), Speiser, Roberts, etc.

  24. TOWER OF BABEL Knowledge

  25. TOWER OF BABEL Community

  26. Babel: Book of Genesis • And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech … And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. • And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. • Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: Sin #1: The name/common identity Sin #2: Unification/Hive Mind Sin #3: Unlimited power The Internet, leading to the Singularity …

  27. The Singularity Will Not Be Televised … not be televised … not be televised … not be televised … not be televised

  28. Architect’s rendition, proposed housing megacomplex in Tokyo Bay

  29. Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin,Folio 65 “Our Rabbis taught: There shall not be found among … a charmer.15  This applies to one who charms large objects, and to one who charms small ones,16  even snakes and scorpions. Abaye said: Therefore even to imprison wasps or scorpions [by charms], though the intention is to prevent them from doing harm, is forbidden. “ That is, no science but God’s science. Even when used for good – just a little good - it’s evil.

  30. Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin,Folio 65 “    He who enquireth of an ob (shaman) — is that not the same as one that consulteth the dead?18  — … this means one who starves himself and spends the night in a cemetery, so that an unclean spirit [of a demon] may rest upon him [to enable him to foretell the future].” Ungodly Science is the Science of the Dead. It’s forbidden … and scientists do icky things

  31. Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin,Folio 65 • R. Hanina and R. Oshaia spent every Sabbath eve in studying the 'Book of Creation',   by means of which they created a third-grown calf  and ate it.

  32. Golem of Prague

  33. Golem of Prague • Created from clay, with ‘emet’ (life) on his forehead • Became too powerful and went out of control • Rabbi changed ‘emet’ to ‘met’ (death) and stopped it NOTE: The Golem folktale in Eastern Europe arose at the same time as the Frankenstein story (18th Century)

  34. Origin of the GolemTalmud: Tractate Sanhedrin, Folio 65 • “Rabbah created a man,23  and sent him to R. Zera. R. Zera spoke to him, but received no answer. Thereupon he said unto him: 'Thou art a creature of the magicians. Return to thy dust.' Ungodly Creations cannot speak.

  35. Transhumanist Death Trip Shelley’s Alastor: “I have made my bed In charnels and on coffins, where black death Keeps record of the trophies won from thee, Hoping to still these obstinate questionings Of thee and thine, by forcing some lone ghost, Thy messenger, to render up the tale Of what we are.” Shelley says: “His mind is at length suddenly awakened and thirsts for intercourse with an intelligence similar to itself.”

  36. FAUST "he laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of Theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of Medicine."

  37. FAUST The Voice to the right cries: "Faust! Faust! desist from this proposal! Go on with the study of Theology, and you will be the happiest of mortals." The Voice to the left answers: "Faust! Faust! leave the study of Theology. Betake you to Necromancy, and you will be the happiest of mortals!"

  38. NECROMANCY “Communication with the Dead” – A form of immortality/longevity science

  39. THE BORG Individuality and Freedom

  40. The Borg Queen

  41. Question: Do women fare better than men in ancient Transhuman narratives? And why would the Borg need a ‘queen’ if they are a collective (parallel-processed) intelligence?

  42. Lovelessness/Loneliness

  43. “2000 Man” • Stones song from 1968 (“Satanic Majesties”) • “My name is a number, a piece of plastic film” • “Oh, Daddy” – generation gap • “My wife doesn’t understand me at all” • “I really misuse her” • “I am having an affair with a random computer”* In other words, the same old futureshock alienation. *(Note: Dynamic Random Access Memory was patented in 1968)

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