In case like me, you were also wondering what Transhumanists are supposed to believe in:

> transhumanists have deepened their belief in a fated future in which the human species will achieve “augmented” evolution through fusing with machines, leading to the emergence of an artificial superintelligence that will far outstrip all human knowledge and achieve God-like powers (The Singularity). This digital deity will lead us to a new era, in which all human biological limitations will be transcended; bringing about end to sickness, suffering and even death, and leading us to colonise the cosmos

This is only talking about a very specific and extreme type of transhumanist. Not acknowledging that makes the author sound like a crank to me.

If you wear glasses or had braces or use an insulin pump, then, congratulations, you're a transhumanist. The rest is just a matter of degrees.

Why does use of technology to improve one's life need an identity marker?

The more I hear about Transhumanism, the more I think that people in NorCal need some real problems to deal with.

EDIT: The tech industry went from resolving everyday problems ("how do I make spreadsheets more quickly", "how do I send this information to a person on the other side of the country") to trying to play God with AI.

I guess it was inevitable. Any philosophy oriented toward a better tomorrow eventually accrues passionate evangelists, and with enough groundswell verges on becoming a movement, often manifesting at least one cult or political party in the process.

I now know what it is, that alone is a reason to read the article. But has other interesting info.

>Transhumanism first emerged in Silicon Valley in the 1990s

That alone give me pause over this movement :)

Um. The Singularity isn't religious in its origin. It's literally a reference to a mathematical singularity.

I'm not entirely opposed to the article's characterization, but this is a big one to get wrong. What the term has become in its pseudo-cult modern context is entirely divorced from what it came out of.

I don't know; there was definitely an apocalyptic quality to the Singularity in Marooned In Real Time, and superintelligences in A Fire Upon the Deep were literally referred to as Gods (there's a brief reference to Applied Theology in there, IIRC.) So you could argue that there was at least an unconscious parallel to religion in the way Vernor Vinge saw the Singularity.