What term do you prefer?
The term transhumanist and transhumanism are frequently disparaged for a number of reasons,[1] often discouraging people from wanting to associate with the movement as a whole as a consequence. It is however defended by many including Zoltan Istvan.[2]
Within a futurist context there are a number of closely related terms that can be used either in conjunction with, or as an alternative to transhumanism:
Favoured terms[]
- Posthumanist - Often having a focus on far future events, it can be simply a synonym for transhumanism. Additionally, philosophical posthumanism can be considered a successor to mainstream Humanism. As similar such term is Humanism 2.0.[1]
- Humanity+ - The name of the international organisation itself is considered a synonym for transhumanism
- H+ (and variants) - The abbreviation and symbol of Humanity+ has spawned a number of semi-synonymous symbols to allow different streams of transhumanist thought to more distinctly identify themselves
- Life extensionist or Longevist - A more mid-future focused term for someone who's focus is primarily traditional life extension
- Techno... - Many positive terms with the prefix 'techno' exist, including technolibertarian, technoprogressive and techno-optimist
- Biohacker - to strengthen connections with the hacker subcuture of creativity around biotechnology
- Radical futurist - the term may be preferred to express interested in transhumanism as a subset of futurism
Contextual terms[]
- Futurist - A futurist is someone who studies or otherwise has an interest in futurism.
- Cyborgist - A more specific term with the focus on cybernetic human augmentation, but can also describe the technologically interconnected world we live in as described in Cyborg Anthropology
- Singularitarian - A less popular term, more often adopted by those with the focus on the technological singularity and the radical impact on technology on society as a whole rather than the individual
- Immortalist - A further future focused life extensionist, with more techno-utopian overtones
- Techno-utopian - utopian can be used in both a supportive and disparaging context
- Technophile - sometimes implies an uncritical appreciation of technology developments
Disfavoured terms[]
- Rapture of the Nerds - we prefer geeks
- Robot Cult
- Borganist - a term coined by libertarian Mike Lorrey to criticise collectivist inevitablism[3]
See also[]
- Criticism of transhumanism
- Comparison of futurist related ideas and positions
- Transhumanism definitions