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Title
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Effective altruism : doing transhumanism better
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Author
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Abstract
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| Effective Altruism (EA) is a Trojan horse for transhumanism, through which EA movement leaders and funders aim to naturalize transhumanism as the logical extension of the existing global aid and development sector. This paper traces transhumanism’s mainstreaming, first via its rebranding as a humanitarian effort to save lives, protect vulnerable populations, and ensure global flourishing (what I term ‘transhumanitarianism’), and later by embedding transhumanitarianism in EA (now under the rubric of ‘longtermism’). A key component of this strategy was inverting transhumanism’s techno-optimism to instead focus on safety and preventing existential risks (‘x-risk’) from emerging technologies like AI and biotechnology, while simultaneously advocating for the creation of these same technologies. The paper focuses on some components of this strategy: the use of inoculation, speculative ethics, anticipatory governance, and the mobilization of apocalyptic discourse as means for producing material outcomes in the form of policy and research agendas. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Working papers / University of Antwerp. Institute of Development Policy and Management; Université d'Anvers. Institut de politique et de gestion du développement. - Antwerp
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Source (series)
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IOB working paper ; 2023.04
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Publication
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Antwerp
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Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp
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2023
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ISSN
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2294-8643
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Volume/pages
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21 p.
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Full text (open access)
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