The Immortals - Ep 9. Nerd Rapture
10/02/23 • 14 min
1 Listener
The immortalist movement in Silicon Valley shares a lot with evangelical religions, says Dr Emile P Torres, a philosopher and former Nick Bostrom acolyte. In both, he explains, there’s a heaven in which the faithful will experience unsurpassed bliss and delight, and an apocalypse, which will separate out the people who can go there.
After a decade at the epicentre of the transhumanist research community, Emile became concerned with the number of apocalyptic stories of techno-utopia that were being shared online. Was this philosophical movement becoming radicalised? When Emile raises the question, the consequences are swift and severe. Excommunicated, harassed and threatened.
With influential and powerful technology billionaires as some of its faithful, is Emile right? Is this movement really one of the most dangerous secular ideologies?
In this series, technology reporter and psychologist Aleks Krotoski explores the frontiers of the extreme longevity pioneers. They've made their money in Silicon Valley. And with their technology solutions - PayPal, Facebook, cryptocurrencies - they've ushered in the world that we live in today, with all its unintended consequences. Some of them now want to solve the "problem" of aging, or even death, and they are making bigger strides than we may think.
Can they? Should they?
A Pillowfort production for BBC Radio 4
New episodes released Mondays. If you're in the UK, listen to the full series of Intrigue: The Immortals first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3WEQS5W
The immortalist movement in Silicon Valley shares a lot with evangelical religions, says Dr Emile P Torres, a philosopher and former Nick Bostrom acolyte. In both, he explains, there’s a heaven in which the faithful will experience unsurpassed bliss and delight, and an apocalypse, which will separate out the people who can go there.
After a decade at the epicentre of the transhumanist research community, Emile became concerned with the number of apocalyptic stories of techno-utopia that were being shared online. Was this philosophical movement becoming radicalised? When Emile raises the question, the consequences are swift and severe. Excommunicated, harassed and threatened.
With influential and powerful technology billionaires as some of its faithful, is Emile right? Is this movement really one of the most dangerous secular ideologies?
In this series, technology reporter and psychologist Aleks Krotoski explores the frontiers of the extreme longevity pioneers. They've made their money in Silicon Valley. And with their technology solutions - PayPal, Facebook, cryptocurrencies - they've ushered in the world that we live in today, with all its unintended consequences. Some of them now want to solve the "problem" of aging, or even death, and they are making bigger strides than we may think.
Can they? Should they?
A Pillowfort production for BBC Radio 4
New episodes released Mondays. If you're in the UK, listen to the full series of Intrigue: The Immortals first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3WEQS5W
Previous Episode
The Immortals - Ep 8. The Prophet
A new philosphical movement is gathering steam in Silicon Valley, one that promises immortality by using technology to solve the problem of death. This movement is led by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom.
Professor Bostrom is the author of Fable of the Dragon Tyrant, the original manuscript of the modern immortality movement. It was published in 2005 in the Journal of Medical Ethics as a response to what Bostrom described as the absurdity of the inevitability of accepting ageing and death. Far from being a one-off, the Fable is one of the core texts that form part of a moral philosophy of the future of humanity called transhumanism. Adherents believe that we will achieve immortality by merging with artificial intelligence and becoming “post-human", and that the next step in our human evolution is nigh.
In this series, technology reporter and psychologist Aleks Krotoski explores the frontiers of the extreme longevity pioneers. They've made their money in Silicon Valley. And with their technology solutions - PayPal, Facebook, cryptocurrencies - they've ushered in the world that we live in today, with all its unintended consequences. Some of them now want to solve the "problem" of aging, or even death, and they are making bigger strides than we may think.
Can they? Should they?
A Pillowfort production for BBC Radio 4
New episodes released Mondays. If you're in the UK, listen to the full series of Intrigue: The Immortals first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3WEQS5W
Next Episode
The Immortals - Ep 10. After the Dragon
The idea of living forever has captivated us for millennia, but rarely do people imagine what would happen the day after the fountain of youth is discovered. Today’s technology entrepreneurs pushing an immortality agenda - through their investments and their influence - seem only focussed on the pursuit.
Whether or not immortality is a distant possibility, how do we cope with living longer en route to forever? Where’s the planning for that? It’s a great opportunity for innovative thinkers but, from what we’ve seen over the last two decades of technological disruption, these real but smaller goals aren’t nearly as enticing as the big ones.
In this series, technology reporter and psychologist Aleks Krotoski explores the frontiers of the extreme longevity pioneers. They've made their money in Silicon Valley. And with their technology solutions - PayPal, Facebook, cryptocurrencies - they've ushered in the world that we live in today, with all its unintended consequences. Some of them now want to solve the "problem" of aging, or even death, and they are making bigger strides than we may think.
Can they? Should they?
A Pillowfort production for BBC Radio 4
New episodes released Mondays. If you're in the UK, listen to the full series of Intrigue: The Immortals first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3WEQS5W
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