Marck Sackler gives an insight on David Wood & Delta Wisdom recent publication.
Is indefinite extension of human life expectancy possible? If it’s possible, should we do it? Should we enhance human capabilities in the process? If we do all this, can we manage our already strained sustainability issues in world where transhuman people rarely die?
For David Wood, long time chair of the London Futurists, the answer to all these questions is a resounding yes. In a follow-up to his 2016 volume, The Abolition of Aging, he gives a cogent and detailed accounting of a range of challenges and how they could be dealt with, to provide a superabundance not only of material, but of just about everything else human beings need to thrive.
From energy and food, to materials, health, intelligence and even creativity, he provides us with his vision of how we can make a better world in a transhumanist future.
Of course, there is a tone of optimism here, as the very first sentence of book relates:
Beyond the fear and chaos of contemporary life, there is good news to share.
While some of his ideas may seem over the top (one sub-heading in the chapter Towards Abundant Food, reads “Feeding one hundred billion people), Wood is no Pollyanna. He is well aware of the potholes in the road to a better tomorrow. Hacked A.I., rogue nanotechnology, environmental degradation, demagoguery and short-term profit motive are among the many barriers he sees to attaining the book’s many goals. He eschews the term “techno-optimism” in favor of the preferred “optimistic techno-realism.”
Wood defines transhumanism as the notion that “we can take advantage of science and technology to control our own evolution and get to a better place,” and he describes the book as “an invitation to get involved in the process.”
You may not agree with every aspect of his vision. (Would we really want of world of 100 billion people, even if we could sustain it?) But you can certainly admire Wood’s passion and proactive approach to the many challenges of our future. You can certainly read, react, and respond.
[avatar user=”Mark Sackler” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”https://seekingdelphi.com/” target=”_blank” /] Mark Sackler is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists, Blogging and podcasting about the future at seekingdelphi.com, a Senior Foresight Analyst at Omansky Group, LLC and now North American correspondent for Age of Robots magazine.
