X-Message-Number: 32978
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 11:20:34 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: Cosmism
References: <>

 From Eugen Leitl: 


http://transvision2010.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/transvision-2010-presentation-by-eugen-leitl/:

>Thus, the core problem in cryonics is the absence of a philosophical 
>and moral basis for cryonics and the accompanying ethics and dogma 
>required to enforce it.


David Stodolsky comments:

>This overlooks cosmism, which does provide a basis for cryonics:
>
>http://sites.google.com/a/cosmism.info/cosmism/what-is-cosmism
>
>
>Unfortunately, some work on cosmism by transhumanists have distorted 
>the meaning of that worldview.

The article David refers to is an encouraging, cryonics-friendly 
summary of cosmism. Cosmism got started in Russia, its principal 
founder being Nikolai Fedorov (name variously spelled), who d.1903. 
So cosmism has ostensibly been going for more than a century in its 
homeland, however conditions were tough there for a long time, which 
no doubt impeded its growth. In the U.S. and elsewhere similar 
philosophies and movements have arisen and are growing. Some websites 
of other groups that attempt to address the idea of a "philosophical 
and moral basis" for transhumanist ideas and projects including cryonics are:

Society for Universal Immortalism: http://www.universalimmortalism.org
Terasem Movement Transreligion: http://www.terasemfaith.org/html/faqs.html
Turing Church [very recent, don't think it has its own website yet 
but try this]: http://www.slideshare.net/giulioprisco/transpirit2010
Society for Venturism: http://www.venturist.org

MP

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