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The Transhumanist Wager (2013)

by Zoltan Istvan(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0988616114 (ISBN13: 9780988616110)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Futurity Imagine Media LLC

review 1: Would have rated much higher if the opponents of transhumanism weren't strawman figures of corruption, greed and stupidity, preventing any kind of interesting moral dilemmas or thought-experiments. I had hoped to come out of this with a better understanding of what the risks and opportunities are with taking a strong transhuman approach, but the author presents no downsides. The transhuman world Jethro Knights erects is a wet dream for American liberals. This world is being presented as a utopia worth demolishing all the world's individual cultures and historical artifacts for. But personally I wouldn't want to live there. And the arrogant confidence with which it's presented is offputting. If you've read first novels written by journalists before, the lapses in good story... moretelling technique shouldn't be too jarring or disrupting. The backgrounds and personalities of the non-strawman characters are convincingly crafted and really help give color to the story.
review 2: Transhumanist Wager and Our AnticipationOne who is grieving the death of his loved one cannot have a clear vision, for tears shroud his eyes. At the time when he feels numb and hopelessly struck in grief, what stronger mental support could he have than Jethro Knights’s promise for an immortal life? This is what I experienced during the last few weeks. On March 24, 2014, my brother passed away prematurely— I lost my genius loving brother. And I noticed that the stress of this loss was getting the best of me stealthily. I decided this time not to celebrate Indian New Year held generally during the mid part of April and thus to stay away from all social gatherings. It is then Zoltan Istvan’s book, The Transhumanist Wager, came to me as a moving force, which seemed to replete my energy and emotional reserves. Based on three broad areas of Philosophy, Religion and Science & Technology, it is the story of a crusader’s (Jethro Knights) vow— a promise to build the best possible world, where the chief mantra is ‘overcome the finite nature of humans’ or very bluntly, ‘conquer the death’ and the means is science and technology.Split up into 35 chapters, the novel, as I understood, predominantly sent out the messages:We should• have high regard for our existence• enhance our existence by becoming our best self with the optimum use of the blessings of science and technology• eradicate all the impediments, physical, social or cultural, that come in the way of our goal.With well-knitted ideas, the author led the readers to his unprecedented goal, Transhumanism, wading through Jethro Knights’ apparently two dimensional traits: egoistic — altruistic and rational — impulsive. These seemingly dualistic characters are spread all over the story. Accordingly the readers require a careful reading to avoid any misapprehension of Jethro Knights and his mission. On several occasions, he seemed horribly egoistic like when he said to Frederick Vilimich, “…it means we don’t live for others, even our most cherished loved ones”. This might leave one in wonder if a transhumanist does not have any concern for others. However, the transhumanist idea of a new world, as articulated by Jethro Knights, is based unequivocally on altruistic ideal. Probably the ‘egoistic’ in TEF manifesto means that the transhumanist must act as an end in himself, not as a means to others.Again, Jethro initially appeared as an impassive iron man who thought reason to be the sole guide for his mission. He confirmed it when he left his love, Joe Bach, in Kashmir to pursue his final goal. But probably it is not the whole of his character. For at the surprise of everyone, later he proved to be a loving and caring husband, who eventually revered Joe’s Zen belief of impermanence. Furthermore, he demonstrated his passion in his empathy for Frederick Vilimich, the most intriguing character of the story, who carried all the way a seemingly never possible hope to get back his wife and son died years ago. So it is evident that the transhumanist does not advocate passionless reason. Rather it supports an unwavering reason not misled by any constructs borne out of our petty emotions.The story is outstandingly reader-engaging. Almost at the end of it, Jethro said to Dr. Preston Langmore, “It’s fitting I should die, my friend”. It is then I started counting the number of pages left only to speculate about the direction of the story! Like Dr. Langmore and probably like many other readers, I thought, ‘Is he going to surrender to death?’ Then I said to myself, ‘No. It is a transhumanist wager on mortality.’Strikingly, the transhumanist life extension and human enhancement science is reminiscent of anti-aging practices and the immortality quest of Indian Philosophical Thoughts. Nearly 5000 years ago, Yoga declared that by the sincere practice of astanga yoga or eightfold path of disciplines, man will unearth that he never dies, he only changes and hence there is nothing to fear death. Again, mind uploading and bionics seem to endorse the Vedic concept of the perpetuity of the soul and the mortality of the body respectively. Indeed, it is encouraging to see the shared interest of both spiritualism and transhumanism.However, the most appalling part of the story for me is radicalism in ideologies and the lust for power, be it faith (of Reverend Belinas) or rigorous reason (of Jethro Knights). Jethro’s violence seems right so far as it was used to defend his good cause. But the act of the hero I found most difficult to support was when he attacked the nations almost during truce, the time when he was certain that no one could triumph over him anymore. Hence an uncomfortable question that the transhumanist may have to wrestle with is: what would be the foundation of their new ethical system with violence at use? Another part that I find hard to acknowledge is the discontinuation of holidays for religious festivals. For festivals of any sort, regardless of what religious faiths we possess, create environment for sharing spontaneous joy and merriment, which in turn promote love and compassion, which again strengthen our bond.Overall, the story is nice and thrilling. Hope it will gain wide popularity. Thank you, Zoltan Istvan. ……………… less

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