Transhumanist Wager, The (61 page)

“Reason is the only means for human
survival on this planet. And it is also our only means for arriving at coherent
truths. Anything else belongs in the domain of the mystic, the domain of the
insane, or the domain of the thief whose aim is to take something valuable from
you for their own gain. The best way for an individual to apply reason in their
life, given their goals, is by constantly evaluating as many pertinent
scenarios as possible for their actions; then, undertaking the most
statistically probable ones to follow, that will work out in their greatest
favor. You must strive to emulate the pure computational process of a
goal-driven computer. Most of you do not use reason and logic so constantly in
life. Most of you regularly incorporate irrationality, erroneous past
prejudices, and the whims of spontaneous emotions in your daily decisions; your
minds weakly bend to what you want to see and feel regardless of what is really
happening. This is a byproduct of the baggage culture, where all your inner
yearnings, reactions, and interactions with the world are fabricated delusions,
part of an overreaching conformity trap. It’s impossible think and live that
way, and still make any transhuman sense of life.

 “Even using the utmost reasoning
of which your brains are capable, changing your current flawed values and
methods of living will be extremely difficult. For many of you, the thoughts
and irrational patterns of your daily lives are deeply ingrained in you. With
tremendous effort, however, you will succeed. Success will come if you emulate
Transhumanians in utilizing and vocalizing one word more than any other.
Believing in that sacrosanct word is the key to properly navigating an evolution
of values. That word is
why.

“In this new world, you must learn
to repeatedly ask yourselves,
Why?
It is the most important utterance
the individual should ever know. You should use this sacred word with obsessive
zeal; you should fall in love with the unknown and question everything.
Including this speech.
Why
is a word and a concept Earth’s leaders in
the past 10,000 years have tried to deny you in their efforts to harness and
control you. It is a word your biology has even thwarted you from saying, as it
unknowingly holds on to obsolete instincts. As a result, most of you don’t even
know you should be saying the word so frequently. Yet, without saying it,
you’ve automatically lost every battle that confronts you. The nature of such a
disguised dilemma makes your chances of fighting for yourselves impossible. You
don’t even know what there is to win, let alone what there is to fight for, or
that there even
is
a fight. So many people suffer from this essential
ignorance in their lives that there are haunting problems and handicaps in
their perspectives, beliefs, and consciousnesses. Many would struggle to the
death—and indeed do—just to prove they are right about everything they have
been conditioned to believe. Yet, this doesn’t change their ignorance or
problems one iota. The best action to meaningfully change your course in this
universe is to frequently start asking,
Why?

“The depressing truth is that
throughout history, all the way up until yesterday, most everything around has
betrayed you. Your cultures have manipulated you. Your morals have failed you.
Your religions have lied to you. Your governments have suppressed you. Your
media has tricked you. Your corporations have exploited you. Your biology has
hindered you. And your interpretations of it have blinded you. But now, from
this moment onward, all that is behind you. Today, my nation and I proclaim
your ignorance over. Today, the veil of illusion has been pulled off your
heads. Transhumania and I deem irrationality—via baggage culture and the
inability to overcome our outdated biology—rescinded. It’s time to join the new
transhuman reality and its way of being. It’s time for you to evolve your
values to see things transparently, and then to act appropriately. To do this
improperly—to do this any other way—is to muck up our chance to overcome death,
our own evolutionary ascent, and our ability to overcome whatever else the
universe can throw at us.

“On Transhumania, our own evolution
of values has made us understand what we are capable of and where we are going.
We learned to not live in the past, but on the edge, where evolution advances.
And we adjust our principles and actions as we go, based on that changing
edge—based on reasoning in our brains that instructs us what will work best
now, and also in the future. We live according to what we believe we are
becoming; we call it the
futurization of values
. We do it because we
know the universe is not finished. The universe is changing, evolving. And with
it, each of us is evolving. The human race is evolving. And in this evolution,
a modification of values is not only immediately necessary, but also constantly
necessary. This evolution and its futurization of values is the examination and
comprehension of everything we consider important, and it is the best foothold
we have in facilitating our climb to the highest powers we can achieve. By
living that way, we will inevitably
become
that way—the way we desire.

“The reason transhumanists became
far stronger than you is not in our numbers, our might, or our courage. It’s in
our understanding of how the philosophy of evolution takes place. Our
interpretation of values taught us that evolution and its ascent of technology
do not operate off democratic principles, but off principles of might, off
principles of survival. You have forgotten this. You need to remember the
truth, especially this one essential truth: Nothing and no one is equal. It is
crucial for all advanced thinking beings to understand the strength and
sophistication of the human race were founded upon the longstanding verity of
inequality. Simply said, each race is smarter than the other in some way. Each
sex is better than the other in some endeavor. Each body is better designed for
some activity than another. Each mind on the planet is better suited for
various actions than another. Everyone stands somewhere in a hierarchy of
individual, social, and universal worth. Distinction and differentiation of
beings are at the center of all life. We are all value-assessing entities. We
are all judgmental bigots. We should embrace that and act on it. Throughout
history, it’s the reason the strong became stronger and the weak became weaker,
until the weak were no more, and the strong had to compete against each
other—leaving, again, one group stronger than the other. This remarkable cycle
perpetuates the efficient technique of evolution. Most of you have circumvented
it in your orgies of democracy, your forays into collectivism, your promotion
of multiculturalism. Pretense at a politically correct universal equality has
left you weak-minded, unreasonable, and downtrodden. On Transhumania, we have
not forgotten the disparity of all values; we have embraced it.

“What, then, is the basis for
dealing with this fundamental inequality that pervades civilization, for a
morality that fits with transhumanists and their new world? What, then, if it’s
not to serve others? Or to work for the greater good? Or to uphold the commonly
accepted Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? All
those cheerleading, do-gooder maxims are nonsense to the transhumanist. The
basis of a transhumanist’s morality consists of this: I would do anything and
everything to get what I want—so long as it doesn’t meaningfully interfere with
the nature of the thing I want. Emulating the unwavering synchronized order of
a machine, a genuine transhumanist would undergo any path to become its finest
self. That’s its most dominant desire, to rise to its best and become as
powerful as possible. A transhumanist has no immediate concern for others, for
family, for state, for heritage, for humanity, for God; only for its power, and
the preservation and growth of that power.

 “Nonetheless, a transhumanist
maintains superb overall personal integrity, as well as strict logical and
reasonable methods for dealing with people and other values on this planet.
Currently, the transhumanist still very much needs other people and sees value
in what others can offer. A transhumanist sees much worth in using them for
what one can gain. And if that requires trading, or giving back in return, or
caring for others, then the transhumanist thinks it’s a good deal, a meaningful
deal, a fair deal. The transhumanist also likes the Earth and nature, and feels
bound to it—but knows the planet is not a permanent home; it’s just a starting
point. The transhumanist likes and supports materialism and the acquisition of
it—but not when it's dysfunctional or consumes people and their lives. The
transhumanist strives for happiness—but knows that scientific progress and
evolutionary fulfillment in one’s life is at least as important. The
transhumanist doesn’t believe in acting irrational—and never goes against
evolutionary ascent. The transhumanist supports the immediate family entity—but
knows the individual is always the most important factor. The transhumanist
doesn’t believe in nor cares about heritage, origin, or the past—only
potential, value, and the future. The transhumanist believes in discrimination
when it involves merit, efficacy, and consequence—and no other form of it. The
transhumanist believes people have the right to do with their bodies what they
want—unless it directly and obviously deters human enhancement and life
extension goals of other transhumanists; in such a case, may the stronger
force, seeking to evolve in the universe, win.

"Eventually, transhuman
entities and technology will advance so far that paradigm shifts of social and
moral standards will be required; especially, new mores that allow us to
successfully coexist amongst one another. Until then, however, this is what you
can expect on our planet in the near future: Transhumania will establish a
worldwide government to efficiently maintain civil society—as little government
as possible to remain expedient in reaching transhuman goals. Transhumania will
fund its government with taxation of everyone's income—as little taxation as
possible to reasonably govern. Transhumania will continue to support basic
human rights and freedoms—but only if it doesn't hinder or limit essential
transhuman ambitions. Transhumania will promote capitalism, competition, free
trade, and private property around the world—so long as it doesn't impede or counter
the overall transhuman mission. Transhumania will employ judicial due process
and fair laws of justice guiding social endeavors—but all courts, judges, and
lawmakers will now be required to promote the greater transhuman agenda.
Transhumania will strive to settle all disputes, conflicts, and problems
without violence—but it firmly believes in possessing the most powerful
weapons, having an aggressive police force, and using military might against
enemies. Transhumania will implement a strict worldwide family planning policy:
People who can reasonably and successfully raise children will be allowed to
procreate and encouraged to do so; all others will not be allowed to procreate.
Transhumania will support and advance the best healthcare and medical innovation
possible—but insists that all people acquire it themselves at their own expense
if they desire it. Transhumania will offer no retirement options nor public
pensions—transhumanists either die natural deaths, cryonically freeze
themselves while still alive, or, preferably, never retire. Transhumania will
halt all free government handouts to people—transhumanists do not believe in
welfare; your freebies are over.

"There is, however, one
all-important service Transhumania will provide completely gratis.
Transhumanists vehemently believe in comprehensive, religion-free, scholastic
education; from this moment forward, decreed by law of Transhumania, no one on
the planet is exempt from receiving an adequate one. If you do not have a
college education or the equivalent of it—if you don't know how to solve
advanced mathematical problems; can't competently read classical literature;
don't understand evolutionary biology; haven't written essays exploring the
humanities; don't know the essentials of modern physics; can't efficiently use
a computer; don't intimately know the planet's geography; can't recognize
important art and music—then you are going back to school. Transhumania doesn't
care whether you receive your education in formal classrooms, at night schools,
via online learning, or through self-teaching with regular outside testing—but
you will need to achieve an acceptable level of intellectual capacity and
performance in order to be allowed to live freely on Planet Earth. The new
cognitive advantages of mass education will help bring our civilization to
accept transhumanism and to overcome baggage culture. You do not have a choice
in this massive decree; this is a universal Transhumanian conscription—not one
for war, but for brains. In our modern world, ignorance is not only a tragedy,
but also a crime that will be punishable by excessive fines and hard labor in
prison.

"Additionally, for those who
interfere with the daunting task of educating the world—especially
chauvinistic, religious-minded men holding back females and family members they
think they own—you will be publicly executed.

“For many of you, the revolutionary
ideas of the forthcoming new society on Earth carry a stench of selfishness,
self-righteousness, pro-elitism, and oppression. They counter much of what you
have believed in and have experienced throughout life, so far. Yet, do not tell
me such a domineering, egotistical world is bound to fail. I tell you now: It
will not. Do you think a transhuman civilization based on self-merit, reason, abundant
education, and prodigious ambition will tear itself apart and destroy itself? I
tell you this civilization will thrive like nothing you can imagine. Many of
the weak, ignorant, lazy, and inconsequential people on the planet may get left
behind, but the human race’s evolutionary ascent will sharply rise. In time, we
will be healthier than ever, richer than ever, more educated than ever, and
more advanced than ever. Transhumanists’ fastidious expertise will push our
species to greater speeds and heights of progression, forcing everyone to be
better and better. We have already proved our mettle and worth in our quick
climb to power.