Life extension – a conservative enterprise

Life extension – a conservative enterprise? Some fin-de-siecle and early twentieth-century precursors of transhumanism.

Journal of Evolution and Technology, 21, 13-26, 2010. 

Ilia Stambler

Abstract

The beginning of the modern period in the pursuit of radical human enhancement and longevity can be traced to fin-de-siecle/early twentieth-century scientific and technological optimism and therapeutic activism. The works of several authors of the period – Fedorov, Stephens, Bogdanov, Nietzsche and Finot – reveal conflicting ideological and social pathways toward the goals of human enhancement and life extension. Each author represents a particular existing social order, and his vision of human advancement may be seen as a continuation and extension of that order. Therefore, the pursuit of life extension may be considered a fundamentally conservative (or conservationist) enterprise.

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http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/stambler20100328

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