Gennady Stolyarov II – Chairman
Bobby Ridge – Secretary-Treasurer
B.J. Murphy – Director of Social Media
Franco Cortese – Director of Scholarship
Martin van der Kroon – Director of Recruitment
Scott Jurgens – Director of Applied Innovation

Gennady Stolyarov II – Chairman

Gennady Stolyarov II (G. Stolyarov II) became the second Chairman in the history of the Transhumanist Party in November 2016. Mr. Stolyarov is an actuary,  independent philosophical essayist, science-fiction novelist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov regularly produces YouTube Videos discussing life extension, libertarianism, and related subjects.

In December 2013, Mr. Stolyarov published Death is Wrong, an ambitious children’s book on life extension, illustrated by his wife Wendy Stolyarov. Death is Wrong can be found on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats, and can also be freely downloaded in PDF format in the English, Russian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese languages.

Mr. Stolyarov is the Chief Executive and one of the founding members of the Nevada Transhumanist Party, established in August 2015.

Mr. Stolyarov has contributed articles to the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), The Wave Chronicle, Le Québécois Libre, Brighter Brains Institute, Immortal Life, Enter Stage Right,  Rebirth of Reason, The Liberal Institute, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Mr. Stolyarov holds the professional insurance designations of Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS), Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA), Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Reinsurance (ARe), Associate in Regulation and Compliance (ARC), Associate in Personal Insurance (API), Associate in Insurance Services (AIS), Accredited Insurance Examiner (AIE), and Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF).

Mr. Stolyarov has written a science-fiction novel, Eden against the Colossus, a philosophical treatise, A Rational Cosmology,  a play, Implied Consent, and a free self-help treatise, The Best Self-Help is Free.

In an effort to assist the spread of rational ideas, Mr. Stolyarov published his articles on Associated Content (subsequently the Yahoo! Contributor Network and Yahoo! Voices) from 2007 until Yahoo! closed this venue in 2014. Mr. Stolyarov held the highest Clout Level (10) possible on the Yahoo! Contributor Network and was one of its Page View Millionaires, with over 3,191,000 views. Mr. Stolyarov’s selected writings from that era have been preserved on this page.

 Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted here.

Bobby Ridge – Secretary-Treasurer

Bobby Ridge has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Science from California State University of Sacramento (CSUS) and is striving to achieve his MD in Neurology. He only recently became a Transhumanist. He conducts research for CSUS’s Psychology Department and his own personal research on the epistemology and Scientiometrics of the Scientific Method. He also co-owns Togo’s in Citrus Heights, CA. Mr. Ridge considers transhumanism to describe the future of humanity taking its next steps in evolution, which are both puissant and daunting. With the exponential increase in information technology, Mr. Ridge considers it important for us to become a science-based species to prevent a dystopian-type future from occurring.

Mr. Ridge can be contacted here.

B.J. Murphy – Director of Social Media

B.J. Murphy is a writer, author, futurist, and activist. He has done work as a Technology Adviser for short films and television and is an Ambassador for both the A.I. company Persona and robotics company BodAi. He’s an Editor and Social Media Manager for Serious Wonder, Affiliate Scholar for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and is a co-author of both The Future of Business: Critical Insights Into a Rapidly Changing World From 60 Future Thinkers and 50:50 – Scenarios for the Next 50 Years.

Mr. Murphy can be contacted here. 

Franco Cortese – Director of Scholarship

Franco Cortese is the Deputy Director of the Biogerontology Research Foundation and a member of its Board of Trustees. He believes that the most effective and economical approach to the treatment of age-related diseases – which represent, from both a quantitative and qualitative standpoint, some of the most significant diseases afflicting humanity today – is through the extension of healthspan via biomedical interventions focusing on the prevention, negation, and/or slowing of accumulated age-related phenotypic deviation. In addition to his administrative and research activities, Cortese has also written extensively on the ethical, socioeconomic, political, logistical, and philosophical implications of biomedical gerontology.

He is also active as a research scholar in the field of the philosophy of technology, focusing on the ethical, sociological, philosophical, and political issues surrounding emerging technologies in general and human enhancement technology in particular through his work as an Affiliate Scholar of the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies (IEET), a technoprogressive policy institute focusing on the social implications of emerging technologies. His most recent research in this area has involved articulating a novel variant of technological determinism titled technic self-determination (Cortese, F. A. B. (2014). Technic Self-Determination. In Stephen John Thompson (Ed.), Global Issues and Ethical Considerations in Human Enhancement Technologies (pp. 203-224). Hershey, PA: IGI Global; Cortese, F. A. B. (2016). The Technoethical Ethos of Technic Self-Determination. International Journal of Technoethics (IJT), 7(2), 1-27), which posits a reciprocally causative relationship between technology and society, construing technology to be a crucial and reciprocally causative ontological fundament of human nature.

Among other broader research topics relating to the ethical, philosophical, and sociopolitical implications of emerging technologies in general, his current research involves defending the development and proliferation of human enhancement technologies (HET) as a viable means of increasing the capacity for self-determination, autonomy, and sovereignty at the level of both society and the individual and of reducing unnecessary suffering in the world at large by increasing the capacity for individuals to determine the controlling circumstances of their selves and lives. Contrary to many critics of HET, Cortese argues that the use of HET exemplifies – and indeed even intensifies – our most human capacity and faculty – namely, the desire for increased self-determination, which he refers to as the will toward self-determination. Furthermore, he argues that the use of HET bears fundamental ontological continuity with the human condition in general and the historically ubiquitous will toward self-determination in particular, and that, as such, the development and proliferation of HET need not be a dehumanizing force, but rather could very well serve to increase the very capacity that characterizes us as human more accurately than anything else, provided that it is developed and proliferated democratically and ethically.

Cortese’s other current positions and affiliations include Associate at Deep Knowledge Life Sciences, Research Scientist at ELPIs Foundation for Indefinite Lifespans, Scientific Advisor for Lifeboat Foundation (Life Extension Advisory Board and Futurists Advisory Board), Honorary Fellow of Brighter Brains Institute, Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Interdisciplinary Philosophic Studies, International Coordinator of Cryonics Switzerland, Ambassador for the Seasteading Institute, Assistant Editor at Ria University Press, Member of the International Longevity Alliance, Chair and Co-Founder of the Canadian Longevity Alliance, and Reviewer for the Global Futures Intelligence System at The Millennium Project.

Mr. Cortese can be contacted here.

Martin van der Kroon – Director of Recruitment

Martin van der Kroon is critical thinker, rhetorician, educator, and world traveler. He has taught public speaking, cultural communication, and small-group communication. As an avid traveler Martin has lived in various countries, and has traveled many more in his search to experience different cultures, interacting with people, and understanding the merits of other societies, their benefits and oddities.

Martin does not hold ideological positions or religious perspectives, instead valuing ideas based on their merits, while respecting that others may hold different worldviews. His theoretical perspective lens could best be described as a 360⁰ kaleidoscope, viewing the world and its issues from as many angles as possible. As a critical thinker, he enjoys nudging boundaries and provoking thought in others.

He holds the novel idea that, in order for people to trust a party or government, it should have integrity and honesty, be transparent, and have the public interest at heart.

Martin understands that innovation is rapidly increasing, that technology is part of our lives and the world we live in, and that a lot can be done to make lives, business, government, and in effect the world more healthy, educated, effective, pleasant, and comfortable.

Mr. van der Kroon can be contacted here.

Scott Jurgens – Director of Applied Innovation

Scott Jurgens recently earned a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Kinesiology at California State University, Sacramento. He pursued this degree due to his interest in the industry of Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O or O&P). He studied human anatomy, physiology, nutrition, and movement over the course of this program to understand how current P&O devices help those with disabilities. His next goal is to earn a Master of Sciences degree in P&O so that he might become a certified P&O clinician.

Mr. Jurgens’s interest in the Transhumanist Party stems from a curiosity about the capability of humans to replicate their intelligence, whether a soul is a component of our being, and what truly defines life. During last year’s election, he gained a better understanding of what he valued in a Presidential candidate as well as the United States government and looks toward the Transhumanist Party to help educate him regarding his areas of curiosity about the future and futurism.

Employing the use of 3D modeling software, a 3D scanner, and 3D printer, Mr. Jurgens is designing a prosthetic cover for his father’s prosthesis to add style and form. He hopes to incorporate kinematic and biometric sensors to such a cover to increase the productivity and accuracy for his prosthetist so that his father and hopefully other amputees may enjoy more comfort and confidence.

Mr. Jurgens can be contacted here.