Ep. 17 - William Gillis on Anarcho-Transhumanism
In this installment of the Future Grind podcast, host Ryan O’Shea is joined by anarcho-transhumanist William Gillis. William currently serves as Coordinating Director of the Center for a Stateless Society and an editor of “Anarcho-Transhuman - A Journal of Radical Possibility & Striving”. His writing can also be found on his personal page, Human Iterations. We discuss the concept of anarcho-transhumanism, William’s past as a primitivist, existential risk, AI, and more.
It’s time for your frequent disclaimer that the thoughts of the guests on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of Future Grind or myself. I disagreed with quite a bit of what William said, but I think that he’s addressing some very important topics, makes some great points, and is definitely worth learning from.
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Show Notes
What is anarcho-transhumanism? [2:00]
How William discovered transhumanism [3:03]
How William shifted from primitivism to transhumanism [5:05]
Anarcho-Transhuman: A Journal of Radical Possibility & Striving [7:50]
Anarcho-Transhuman Issue #4: Space? [9:04]
Ubiquitous nukes & printing AR-15s [10:50]
Choices: Primitivism, Authoritarianism, Extinction, or Anarchism [15:00]
Ryan's Opinion: the utopian anarchist future is unlikely and flawed [20:00]
Complexity & the Social Singularity [22:04]
Humans as predictable machines [26:26]
An anarchist’s thoughts on transhumanist politics [27:27]
Thoughts on an AI government [29:00]
The potential of blockchain, cryptocurrency, & DAOs [32:22]
Resources to learn more about anarchism & anarcho-transhumanism [34:55]
Where to find William and his work [37:23]
Mentioned
Fermi Paradox
Zoltan Istvan, The Transhumanist Party
Peter Gelderloos
- Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation
- Anarchy Works: Examples of Anarchist Ideas in Practice
Kevin Carson
- Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective
- The Desktop Regulatory State
- Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
Elinor Ostrom
Voltairine de Cleyre
Errico Malatesta
Blueshifted.net
"An Anarcho-Transhumanist Manifesto"
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