For those of us who consider ourselves techno-politically neutral, Alyssa Ford's article in today's UTNE: "The Next Digital Divide" may come as a shock. Are you a transhumanist or a technophobe?
"Biopolitics, a term coined by Trinity College professor James Hughes, places pro-technology transhumanists on one pole and people who are suspicious of technology on the other. According to Hughes, transhumanists are members of "an emergent philosophical movement which says that humans can and should become more than human through technological enhancements." The term transhuman is shorthand for transitional human -- people who are in the process of becoming "posthuman" or "cyborgs."
The article makes some interesting points on how divergent groups have become strange political bedfellows as a result of technology.
According to the article, "Hughes identifies 11 subgroups, including "disability transhumanists" who argue for their right to technology and "gay transhumanists" who want children conceived outside of the opposite-sex paradigm (i.e., cloning)." I am hoping that there is enough room in the opposite pole, social conservatives, for just as many subgroups...not to mention subgroups within large sections of the global populace who have no idea that bio-technology-politics exists or impacts their lives.
In previous posts I have written about the digital divide in terms of the have's, the have not's, and the have many's...for now, I am categorizing biopolitics in the digital divide realm of the have many's. I'd also recommend some marketing help for the transhumanists movement...there simply MUST be a more positive label, and I can only imagine the weirdness of what a logo might look like...let's not go there.