Skip to content
U.S. Transhumanist Party – Official Website
  • Home
  • Posts
  • Values
  • Platform
  • Leadership
  • Advisors
  • Candidates
  • Highlights
  • FAQ
  • States & Allies
  • Free Membership
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Search Icon

U.S. Transhumanist Party – Official Website

U.S. Transhumanist Party – PUTTING SCIENCE, HEALTH, & TECHNOLOGY AT THE FOREFRONT OF AMERICAN POLITICS

U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for August 2017

U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for August 2017

August 2, 2017 Gennady Stolyarov II Comments 6 comments

logo_bg


The purpose of this post is to facilitate member comments pertaining to transhumanism and the U.S. Transhumanist Party, which might not specifically fit the subjects of any other post or article on the U.S. Transhumanist Party website. This is the place for members to offer suggestions or converse about any areas of emerging technologies and their political, moral, societal, cultural, and esthetic implications. The general discussion thread is also an ideal location to suggest or propose platform planks that may be considered for future platform voting.

The U.S. Transhumanist Party will endeavor to open one of these general comment threads per month. This comment thread pertains to the month of August 2017.

Type in your comments below. Please note that, to protect against spambots, the first comment by any individual will be moderated. After passing moderation, a civil commenter should be able to post comments without future moderation – although we cannot guarantee that the technical aspect of this functionality will work as intended 100% of the time.


General Discussion

Post navigation

PREVIOUS
Panel – Artificial Intelligence & Robots: Economy of the Future or End of Free Markets? – Michael Shermer, Edward Hudgins, Zoltan Istvan, Gennady Stolyarov II, Eric Shuss
NEXT
A “Disease” Approach in Life-Extension Advocacy Can Facilitate Communication with the General Public – Infographic by Elena Milova and Keith Comito

6 thoughts on “U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for August 2017”

  1. Scott Jurgens says:
    August 8, 2017 at 7:14 am

    I would like to bring up my concern for the language and assumptions about the American people used in Article III Section XXVII calling for the end of the electoral college.
    This section seems to make a very broad judgement about voters outside of metropolitan areas. The use of the phrase “poorly informed masses” doesn’t sit right with me, seeing as the same argument can be easily made about people who do not live in these so-called “culturally ossified” areas.
    How can we be a political party based in the United States of America and completely ignore places that this writer deems generally intolerant. I sense a strong pang of big party partisanship in this plank and other planks (I’ll bring up later) that I do not believe belong in our platform.

    The Judicial Watch has found that the big cities in California have more registered voters than citizens, cities which I believe the writer and supporters of this plank consider the bastion of modern thought and freedom compared to states that turned out to be red in this past election cycle–which were completely ignored by Mrs. Clinton.

    Let’s talk about this.

    http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-warns-california-clean-voter-registration-lists-face-federal-lawsuit/

    Reply
    1. Daniel Yeluashvili says:
      August 10, 2017 at 4:00 am

      Very eye-opening! While I agree that the partisan language of the platform plank is alienating to some readers, the Electoral College is a flawed system for a number of reasons.

      Firstly, since it is the Electoral College that elects the president and not the people, and since the electors within said college may pledge to vote for the candidate that most congressional districts support but sometimes become “faithless electors” and vote for whomever they please for a four-digit fee, America’s presidential election may technically be considered undemocratic. Senator Bernie Sanders has described this phenomenon with the dramatic term “oligarchy,” but I would simply call this illiberal, if not aristocratic.

      Secondly, given the fact that the Electoral College represents America’s voters by arbitrarily assigned districts rather than population, it is vulnerable to gerrymandering, the practice of re-drawing congressional districts to exclude specific populations and inhibit their power as voters.

      As an example, imagine a state containing two congressional districts, one Democratic and one Republican. Every ten years, Congress redraws such districts, with the next redrawing set to occur in 2020. If the Republican district in this scenario is re-drawn as two separate districts with Republican-majority populations in both of them, these districts will have greater influence on the presidential election than the single Democratic district.

      To this end, a number of plans exist to reform the Electoral College. These include the district plan, which would award extra electoral votes to the popular vote winners of each state, the proportional plan, which would disregard congressional districts entirely, the National Bonus Plan, which would give the national popular vote winner an extra 102 electoral votes, and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would simply replace the Electoral College with a popular vote.

      I supported the platform plank you mentioned not because of its partisan language, which I find as tasteless as you do, but because the Electoral College is an undemocratic system that requires modification, if not outright removal, as expediently as possible. In a future voting period, it would be possible to vote on new verbiage for this platform plank, which I would eagerly support.

      Reply
      1. Martin van der Kroon says:
        August 10, 2017 at 2:18 pm

        I understand the concern and point of view you both hold regarding ‘poorly informed masses’. I think there is indeed improvement to be made in the wording. However, as I interpret the text it goes more towards the historical reasoning, in a time when far less people were actually educated than now, rather than being a stab at a particular geographical demographic.

        We welcome your suggestions regarding edits of planks which do not inherently change the meaning of the original plank.

        Also, thank you both for your scrutiny, it is very important that people keep tabs on such things, and ensure that the U.S. Transhumanist Party maintains, and improves the standard of integrity, and fairness.

        Martin van der Kroon
        Director of Recruitment for the U.S. Transhumanist Party

        Reply
  2. Emil Holst says:
    August 13, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    I have some thoughts concerning the support for legalization of recreational drug use. Specifically the age restriction of use.

    Article III, section XIV states that “The United States Transhumanist Party supports an end to the costly drug war, which is often an infringement upon the lives and liberties of innocent citizens (…) The United States Transhumanist Party supports legalization of mild recreational drugs such as marijuana.”

    Furthermore Based on Section XLIX “The United States Transhumanist Party supports efforts to increase autonomy of individuals to decide over their own bodies and holds that individuals should have the legal right to undertake procedures including gender reassignment, hysterectomies, vasectomies, technological augmentation, cosmetic alterations, genetic enhancements, and physical supplementation at or after the age of 18 years, as long as this does not create health hazards or threats to other individuals.”

    We want people to have the right to choose what to do with their own body. But at the same time we don’t want to put ourself in serious risk if only recreation and not enhancement is involved. We have currently set a legal age restriction at 18 years old. I haven’t found any other statement of this in the constitution so I would guess the legalization of recreational drugs stated above could be argued falls under the same age restriction.

    Restricting youth from taking drugs makes sense. We don’t want their braindevelopment to be disrupted or hindered by the use of narcotics or nootropics while the brain is still in development. Including recreational drugs. A restriction of youth druguse would also mean we restrict the access to drugs while youths rewardcenters are hyper active and self control center is still under developed. This would also limit the risk for developing addiction.

    I would argue for the age to be set to 25 instead of 18. The cutoff point to adulthood and our our 18 year old age restriction is mostly culturally constructed as stated by Jennifer Lynn Tanner and Jeffary Jensen Arnett in their book.
    http://www.jeffreyarnett.com/arnett2009theemergenceofmergingadulthood.pdf

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/
    Neuropsyciatric study from 2013 arguing against 18 beeing the adult cut of point in brain development.
    Study concluding “The development and maturation of the prefrontal cortex occurs primarily during adolescence and is fully accomplished at the age of 25 years. The development of the prefrontal cortex is very important for complex behavioral performance, as this region of the brain helps accomplish executive brain functions.”

    “For instance, adolescents are more vulnerable to nicotine, alcohol, and other drug addictions because the limbic brain regions that govern impulse and motivation are not yet fully developed”

    Mental health daily article questioning when we are fully developed. And stating that the scientific consensus for the adult cut off point is between 25 year old.
    http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/

    Reply
  3. Scott Jurgens says:
    August 18, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    In Article III Section II, why is Anti-fa or Black Lives Matter not included? Both of these groups have proven “to segregate individuals on the basis of national origin, race, or ethnicity”.

    I do not believe the U.S. Transhumanist Party should ignore these groups on the alt-left, who commit violence against those who practice their free speech. Black Lives Matter–all the way down to its name is a racist group and is a part of identity politics, the same as the groups listed in this section. We must not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of the lies of the dying legacy media and forge forward to more open-source media that does not rely on monetary assistance from existing PACs of the Democratic and Republican parties. It is these media outlets that are striving to divide this country through false pretenses in order to break down any true liberating movement.

    If we are truly going to be a political party that focuses on future tech and all the societal implications of the coming singularity, we must recognize that we must make our own minds about what is going on in our country culturally, and not mimic what John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, CNN or Fox News about what they deem as the truth.

    Reply
    1. Martin van der Kroon says:
      August 20, 2017 at 3:34 pm

      Hello Scott,

      Thank you for your suggestion. You make a valid point that we could include other groups, or perhaps remove the current, and instead replace it with more general terminology, such as; groups discriminating based on race, ethnicity, and making claims of superiority or advocate for segregation or division based on race or ethnicity.

      I agree in part with your last paragraph. I think we should strive for a diverse palette of media sources including mainstream media sources. The mainstream media might have certain agendas, but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily untrue, more likely only highlighting a particular point, which is still valuable to be informed about. Does that make sense? What are your thoughts?

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Social Media

Constitution of the U.S. Transhumanist Party

Transhumanist Bill of Rights – Version 3.0

U.S. Transhumanist Party Facebook Feed

Free Transhumanist Symbols

Guidelines for Community Conduct

SUBMIT A POST

LEV: The Game

Subject Categories

    - Life Extension
    - Artificial Intelligence
    - Space Colonization
    - Robotics
    - Biotechnology
    - Nanotechnology
    - Autonomous Vehicles
    - 3D Printing
    - Cryptocurrencies
    - Vertical Farming
    - Universal Basic Income
    - Existential Risk
    - Rationality

Hashtags

    #USTranshumanistParty, #TranshumanistParty, #TranshumanistPolitics, #TomRoss2024, #RossTwedt2024

Recent Posts

  • Why Is Trump So Intent on Sending Illegal Immigrant Noncriminals to Prison Camps in El Salvador? – Article by Alex Nowrasteh
  • Tribute to John Kerecz (1961 – 2025)
  • The Copenhagen Consensus – How to Feed the Hungry – Article by Zach Richardson
  • The Issue of Food – Article by Luis Arroyo
  • Results of Platform Vote #9 and Vote on Proposals on Investigations and Emergency Declarations; Adopted Sections of the U.S. Transhumanist Party Constitution
  • Official Ballot Options for Platform Vote #9 and Proposals on Investigations and Emergency Declarations
  • Gennady Stolyarov I and Gennady Stolyarov II Discuss the Progress of Information Technology (2019)
  • Immortality: My Quest and Reasons for Seeking an Indefinite Lifespan – Article by Albi Ndoni
  • U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for 2025
  • U.S. Transhumanist Party Statement on the Murder of Brian Thompson
  • News Regarding THPedia, the Transhumanist Encyclopedia for Everyone – Invitation to Contribute – Statement by Gennady Stolyarov II
  • The Transhumanist Council: A Worthy Effort for a New Umbrella Transhumanist Organization
  • Report on the Montana Right to Try Act – Analysis by Shamar White
  • U.S. Transhumanist Party Comments on the Citizen Petition by Age Reversal Unity to Declare Aging a Disease
  • U.S. Transhumanist Party Chairman’s Eighth Anniversary Message
  • U.S. Transhumanist Party Statement on the Outcome of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
  • Preliminary Member-Reported Write-In Totals for Tom Ross and Daniel Twedt in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
  • U.S. Transhumanist Party and Nevada Transhumanist Party Positions on 2024 Nevada Ballot Questions
  • Where to Write In Tom Ross for President of the United States – and How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts
  • Celebration of U.S. Transhumanist Party 10th Anniversary and International Longevity Month

Recent Comments

  • Tamara Tamas on Tribute to John Kerecz (1961 – 2025)
  • R. Nicholas Starr on U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for 2025
  • Luis Arroyo on Tribute to John Kerecz (1961 – 2025)
  • shamar on U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for 2025
  • Gennady Stolyarov II on U.S. Transhumanist Party General Discussion Thread for 2025

Archives

  • June 2025 (1)
  • May 2025 (1)
  • March 2025 (3)
  • February 2025 (1)
  • January 2025 (3)
  • December 2024 (2)
  • November 2024 (6)
  • October 2024 (3)
  • September 2024 (2)
  • August 2024 (5)
  • July 2024 (4)
  • June 2024 (3)
  • May 2024 (1)
  • March 2024 (1)
  • February 2024 (1)
  • January 2024 (8)
  • October 2023 (11)
  • September 2023 (6)
  • August 2023 (1)
  • July 2023 (4)
  • May 2023 (3)
  • April 2023 (3)
  • March 2023 (2)
  • February 2023 (12)
  • January 2023 (23)
  • December 2022 (2)
  • November 2022 (2)
  • October 2022 (3)
  • August 2022 (3)
  • July 2022 (2)
  • May 2022 (6)
  • March 2022 (3)
  • February 2022 (4)
  • January 2022 (7)
  • December 2021 (11)
  • November 2021 (4)
  • October 2021 (5)
  • September 2021 (2)
  • August 2021 (2)
  • July 2021 (3)
  • June 2021 (2)
  • May 2021 (6)
  • April 2021 (7)
  • March 2021 (4)
  • February 2021 (5)
  • January 2021 (6)
  • December 2020 (10)
  • November 2020 (4)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (4)
  • July 2020 (5)
  • June 2020 (6)
  • May 2020 (3)
  • April 2020 (3)
  • March 2020 (6)
  • February 2020 (1)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (2)
  • October 2019 (9)
  • September 2019 (10)
  • August 2019 (12)
  • July 2019 (18)
  • June 2019 (17)
  • May 2019 (12)
  • April 2019 (8)
  • March 2019 (12)
  • February 2019 (7)
  • January 2019 (13)
  • December 2018 (9)
  • November 2018 (5)
  • October 2018 (9)
  • September 2018 (5)
  • August 2018 (10)
  • July 2018 (13)
  • June 2018 (14)
  • May 2018 (8)
  • April 2018 (8)
  • March 2018 (10)
  • February 2018 (15)
  • January 2018 (17)
  • December 2017 (8)
  • November 2017 (17)
  • October 2017 (19)
  • September 2017 (11)
  • August 2017 (11)
  • July 2017 (16)
  • June 2017 (15)
  • May 2017 (10)
  • April 2017 (7)
  • March 2017 (8)
  • February 2017 (16)
  • January 2017 (8)
  • December 2016 (6)
  • November 2016 (5)

Categories

  • Allied Projects
  • Announcements
  • Art
  • Candidates
  • Debate
  • Discussion Panels
  • Distributed Computing
  • Exposure Periods
  • Foreign Ambassadors
  • General Discussion
  • Guest Articles
  • Inclusion
  • Interviews
  • Legislative Analysis
  • Official Ballots
  • Petitions
  • Platform
  • Presentations
  • Press Releases
  • Research
  • Sample Ballots
  • Science Fiction
  • Statements
  • Tolerance
  • Virtual Enlightenment Salons
  • Vote Results
  • Working Groups

Victor Run Virtual Race – June 4-6, 2021

Historical Archive – 2020 U.S. Presidential Ticket – Charlie Kam and Liz Parrish


© 2025   Copyright - U.S. Transhumanist Party - All Rights Reserved | WordPress design: Art Ramon Paintings