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May 27, 2017

Radicals — Outsiders changing the world

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, life extension, transhumanism

Jamie Bartlett’s new book Radicals features #transhumanism in his opening chapter. He’s on a book tour and discusses his time on the Immortality Bus for about 10 minutes in this video below:


Society is badly served by the limited set of ideas which occupy our cultural mainstream. To cope with the increasing pace of change, we need big new ideas. Where might these ideas come from?

In this London Futurists presentation, Jamie Bartlett, Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think tank Demos, shared his thoughts on a number of “radical” outsiders — a variety of individuals, groups and movements who reject the way we live now, and who are attempting to find alternatives.

Drawing on material from his recent book, “Radicals: Outsiders changing the world”, the talk gives particular attention to: Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist Party candidate for the US President; Tommy Robinson of Pegida UK; and and Vít Jedlička, the founder of the self-declared libertarian micronation Liberland.

The event was chaired by David Wood. The camera was operated by Kiran Manam.

Apologies for the poor audio quality for the first eight minutes of the recording (before the main audio recorder was switched on, oops…)

For more details about this event, see https://www.meetup.com/London-Futurists/events/238148196/.

For more details about the speaker’s book, see https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radicals-Jamie-Bartlett-ebook/dp/B01K6ROZPC.

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  1. These are some of my thougts regarding the future.
    This is from my forum which started in 1997 and was online for 10 years.
    Eternal Life Society
    Migrating to Infinite Space-Time.
    “We Can Become the Engineers of Our Own Body Chemistry.
    - In the Right Environment We Can Live Forever”

    Once we get off the finite surface of the planet earth and are capable of living in potentially infinite orbital space, there is no reason to have a finite lifespan.

    As engineers of our own body chemistry we can disable the genes that dictate the termination of our lifespan, as scientists have already demonstrated with plants and animals. There is no inherent limit to the “Lebensraum” (living space) in orbital space as there is on our planetary surface.

    The life span of each organism is determined by the environment to which it has adapted.

    The new environment will be our imagination which we can only fill if we live forever. We have to be immortal. There is no inherent limit to our imagination as long as there is time and space.

    The incentive to be a member in good standing in society is the pursuit of immortality. Humankind’s social activity, ultimately its urge to mate, is an instinct, just like the instinct to live. If the purpose of society is to protect and enhance the wellbeing of its members, then providing the means to achieve immortality should be one of its highest priorities. The “New World” must provide individuals with access to the experts, the education and the means to achieve immortality.

    The difference between our present world based on the formation and protection of family, tribe, nation and the “New World” is that the latter must have as its goal the pursuit of individual immortality