Aubrey de Grey Love him or hate him, gerontologist Aubrey de Grey has revolutionized the way we look at human aging. He’s an advocate of radical life extension who believes that the application of advanced rejuvenation techniques may help many humans alive today live exceptionally long lives. What makes de Grey particularly unique is that he’s the first gerontologist to put together an actual action plan for combating aging; he’s one of the first thinkers to conceptualize aging as a disease unto itself. Rather than looking at the aging process as something that’s inexorable or overly complicated, his macro-approach (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) consists of a collection of proposed techniques that would work to not just rejuvenate the human body, but to stop aging altogether. Back in 2006, MIT’s Technology Review offered $20,000 to any molecular biologist who could demonstrate that de Grey’s SENS is “so wrong that it was unworthy of learned debate.” No one was able to claim the prize. But a 2005 EMBO report concluded that none of his therapies “has ever been shown to extend the lifespan of any organism, let alone humans.” Regardless of the efficacy of de Grey’s approach, he represents the first generation of gerontologists to dedicate their work to the problem that is human aging. Moreover, he’s given voice to the burgeoning radical life extension movement.
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Aubrey de Grey

Love him or hate him, gerontologist Aubrey de Grey has revolutionized the way we look at human aging.

He’s an advocate of radical life extension who believes that the application of advanced rejuvenation techniques may help many humans alive today live exceptionally long lives. What makes de Grey particularly unique is that he’s the first gerontologist to put together an actual action plan for combating aging; he’s one of the first thinkers to conceptualize aging as a disease unto itself. Rather than looking at the aging process as something that’s inexorable or overly complicated, his macro-approach (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) consists of a collection of proposed techniques that would work to not just rejuvenate the human body, but to stop aging altogether.

Back in 2006, MIT’s Technology Review offered $20,000 to any molecular biologist who could demonstrate that de Grey’s SENS is “so wrong that it was unworthy of learned debate.” No one was able to claim the prize. But a 2005 EMBO report concluded that none of his therapies “has ever been shown to extend the lifespan of any organism, let alone humans.” Regardless of the efficacy of de Grey’s approach, he represents the first generation of gerontologists to dedicate their work to the problem that is human aging. Moreover, he’s given voice to the burgeoning radical life extension movement.

Nick Bostrom Swedish philosopher and neuroscientist Nick Bostrom is one of the finest futurists in the business, who is renowned for taking heady concepts to the next level. He has suggested, for example, that we may be living in a simulation, and that an artificial superintelligence may eventually take over the world — if not destroy us all together. And indeed, one of his primary concerns is in assessing the potential for existential risks. An advocate of transhumanism and human enhancement, he co-founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 (now Humanity+), and currently runs the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford.
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Nick Bostrom

Swedish philosopher and neuroscientist Nick Bostrom is one of the finest futurists in the business, who is renowned for taking heady concepts to the next level. He has suggested, for example, that we may be living in a simulation, and that an artificial superintelligence may eventually take over the world — if not destroy us all together. And indeed, one of his primary concerns is in assessing the potential for existential risks. An advocate of transhumanism and human enhancement, he co-founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 (now Humanity+), and currently runs the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford.

Freeman Dyson Theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson is one of the first thinkers to consider the potential for megascale engineering projects. His 1959 paper, “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation,” outlined a way for an advanced civilization to utilize all of the energy radiated by their sun — an idea that has since inspired other technologists to speculate about similar projects, like Matrioshka and J-Brains.
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Freeman Dyson

Theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson is one of the first thinkers to consider the potential for megascale engineering projects.

His 1959 paper, “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation,” outlined a way for an advanced civilization to utilize all of the energy radiated by their sun — an idea that has since inspired other technologists to speculate about similar projects, like Matrioshka and J-Brains.

Peter Singer He’s primarily regarded as a philosopher, ethicist, and animal rights advocate, but Princeton’s Peter Singer has also made a significant impact to futurist discourse — albeit it through rather unconventional channels. Singer, as a utilitarian, social progressive, and personhood-centered ethicist, has argued that the suffering of animals, especially apes and large mammals, should be put on par with the suffering of children and developmentally disabled adults. To that end, he founded the Great Ape Project, an initiative that seeks to confer basic legal rights to non-human great apes, namely chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. It’s a precursor to my own Rights of Non-Human Persons Program, which also includes dolphins, whales, elephants — and makes provisions for artificial intelligence. Singer has also suggested that chickens be genetically engineered so that they experience less suffering. And in 2001, Singer’s A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution, and Cooperation argued that there is a biological basis for human selfishness and hierarchy — one that has thwarted our attempts at egalitarian reform. What’s needed, says Singer, is the application of new genetic and neurological sciences to identify and modify the aspects of human nature that cause conflict and competition — what today would be regarded as moral enhancement. He supports voluntary genetic improvement, but rejects coercive eugenic pseudo-science.
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Peter Singer

He’s primarily regarded as a philosopher, ethicist, and animal rights advocate, but Princeton’s Peter Singer has also made a significant impact to futurist discourse — albeit it through rather unconventional channels.

Singer, as a utilitarian, social progressive, and personhood-centered ethicist, has argued that the suffering of animals, especially apes and large mammals, should be put on par with the suffering of children and developmentally disabled adults. To that end, he founded the Great Ape Project, an initiative that seeks to confer basic legal rights to non-human great apes, namely chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. It’s a precursor to my own Rights of Non-Human Persons Program, which also includes dolphins, whales, elephants — and makes provisions for artificial intelligence. Singer has also suggested that chickens be genetically engineered so that they experience less suffering.

And in 2001, Singer’s A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution, and Cooperation argued that there is a biological basis for human selfishness and hierarchy — one that has thwarted our attempts at egalitarian reform. What’s needed, says Singer, is the application of new genetic and neurological sciences to identify and modify the aspects of human nature that cause conflict and competition — what today would be regarded as moral enhancement. He supports voluntary genetic improvement, but rejects coercive eugenic pseudo-science.

Donna Haraway Donna Haraway made a name for herself after the publication of her 1984 essay, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s.” At the time, it was seen as a reaction to the rise of anti-technological ecofeminism, but it has since been interpreted and reinterpreted by everyone from postmodernist lefties through to transhumanist postgenderists. Referring to Haraway as a Cyborgian Socialist-Feminist, the futurist and sociologist James Hughes describes her legacy this way: Haraway argued that it was precisely in the eroding boundary between human beings and machines, and between women and machines in particular, that we can find liberation from the old patriarchal dualisms. Haraway says she would rather be a cyborg than a goddess, and proposes that the cyborg could be the liberatory mythos for women. This essay, and Haraway’s subsequent writings, have inspired a new cultural studies sub-discipline of “cyborgology,” made up of feminist culture and science fiction critics, exploring cyborgs and the woman-machine interface in various permutations. And as Wired’s Hari Kunzru noted, “Sociologists and academics from around the world have taken her lead and come to the same conclusion about themselves. In terms of the general shift from thinking of individuals as isolated from the “world” to thinking of them as nodes on networks, the 1990s may well be remembered as the beginning of the cyborg era.”
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Donna Haraway

Donna Haraway made a name for herself after the publication of her 1984 essay, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s.” At the time, it was seen as a reaction to the rise of anti-technological ecofeminism, but it has since been interpreted and reinterpreted by everyone from postmodernist lefties through to transhumanist postgenderists.

Referring to Haraway as a Cyborgian Socialist-Feminist, the futurist and sociologist James Hughes describes her legacy this way:

Haraway argued that it was precisely in the eroding boundary between human beings and machines, and between women and machines in particular, that we can find liberation from the old patriarchal dualisms. Haraway says she would rather be a cyborg than a goddess, and proposes that the cyborg could be the liberatory mythos for women. This essay, and Haraway’s subsequent writings, have inspired a new cultural studies sub-discipline of “cyborgology,” made up of feminist culture and science fiction critics, exploring cyborgs and the woman-machine interface in various permutations.

And as Wired’s Hari Kunzru noted, “Sociologists and academics from around the world have taken her lead and come to the same conclusion about themselves. In terms of the general shift from thinking of individuals as isolated from the “world” to thinking of them as nodes on networks, the 1990s may well be remembered as the beginning of the cyborg era.”

K. Eric Drexler Back in 1959, the renowned physicist Richard Feynman delivered an extraordinary lecture titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” in which he talked about the “experimental physics” of “manipulating and controlling things on a small scale.” This idea largely languished, probably because it was ahead of its time. It wouldn’t be until 1986 and the publication of K. Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology that the idea of molecular engineering would finally take root and take its modern form. Drexler, by virtue of this book and his subsequent lectures and writings, was the first futurist to give coherency to the prospect of molecular nanotechnology. Given the potential for working at such a small scale, Drexler foresaw the rise of universal assemblers (also called molecular assemblers, or simply “fabs”) — machines that can build objects atom by atom (basically Star Trek replicators). He predicted that we’ll eventually use nanotech to clear the environment of toxins, grow rockets from a single seed, and create biocompatible robots that will be injected into our bodies. But unlike Robert Ettinger, Drexler actually came up with a viable technique for reanimating individuals in cryonic suspension; he envisioned fleets of molecular robots guided by sophisticated AI that would reconstruct a person thawed from liquid nitrogen. But he also foresaw the negative consequences, such as weaponized nanotechnology and the potential for grey goo — an out-of-control scourge of self-replicating micro-machines. As an aside, Drexler also predicted hypertext.
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K. Eric Drexler

Back in 1959, the renowned physicist Richard Feynman delivered an extraordinary lecture titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” in which he talked about the “experimental physics” of “manipulating and controlling things on a small scale.” This idea largely languished, probably because it was ahead of its time. It wouldn’t be until 1986 and the publication of K. Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology that the idea of molecular engineering would finally take root and take its modern form.

Drexler, by virtue of this book and his subsequent lectures and writings, was the first futurist to give coherency to the prospect of molecular nanotechnology. Given the potential for working at such a small scale, Drexler foresaw the rise of universal assemblers (also called molecular assemblers, or simply “fabs”) — machines that can build objects atom by atom (basically Star Trek replicators). He predicted that we’ll eventually use nanotech to clear the environment of toxins, grow rockets from a single seed, and create biocompatible robots that will be injected into our bodies. But unlike Robert Ettinger, Drexler actually came up with a viable technique for reanimating individuals in cryonic suspension; he envisioned fleets of molecular robots guided by sophisticated AI that would reconstruct a person thawed from liquid nitrogen.

But he also foresaw the negative consequences, such as weaponized nanotechnology and the potential for grey goo — an out-of-control scourge of self-replicating micro-machines.

As an aside, Drexler also predicted hypertext.

Timothy Leary Timothy Leary is typically associated with drug culture and the phrase, “tune in, turn on, and drop out,” but his contributions to futurism are just as significant — and surprisingly related. He developed his own futurist philosophy called S.M.I2.L.E, which stands for Space Migration, Increased Intelligence, and Life Extension. These ideas developed out of Leary’s life-long interest in seeing humanity evolve beyond its outdated morality, which would prove to be highly influential within certain segments of the transhumanist community. As a futurist, Leary is also important in that he was an early advocate for cognitive liberty and potential for neurodiversity. Through his own brand of psychedelic futurism, he argued that we have the right to modify our minds and create our own psychological experiences. He believed that each psychological modality — no matter how bizarre or unconventional — could still be ascribed a certain value. What’s more, given the extreme nature of certain psychedelic experiences, he also demonstrated the potential for human consciousness to function beyond what’s considered normal. More.
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Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary is typically associated with drug culture and the phrase, “tune in, turn on, and drop out,” but his contributions to futurism are just as significant — and surprisingly related. He developed his own futurist philosophy called S.M.I2.L.E, which stands for Space Migration, Increased Intelligence, and Life Extension. These ideas developed out of Leary’s life-long interest in seeing humanity evolve beyond its outdated morality, which would prove to be highly influential within certain segments of the transhumanist community.

As a futurist, Leary is also important in that he was an early advocate for cognitive liberty and potential for neurodiversity. Through his own brand of psychedelic futurism, he argued that we have the right to modify our minds and create our own psychological experiences. He believed that each psychological modality — no matter how bizarre or unconventional — could still be ascribed a certain value. What’s more, given the extreme nature of certain psychedelic experiences, he also demonstrated the potential for human consciousness to function beyond what’s considered normal. More.

I. J. Good British mathematician I. J. Good was one of the first thinkers — if not the first — to properly articulate the problem that is the pending Technological Singularity. Predating Hans Moravec, Ray Kurzweil, and Vernor Vinge by several decades, Good penned an article in 1965 warning about the dramatic potential for recursively improving artificial intelligence. He wrote: Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make. The phrase intelligence explosion has since been adopted by futurists critical of “soft” Singularity scenarios, like a slow takeoff event, or Kurzweilian notions of the steady, accelerating growth of all technologies (including intelligence). His work has influenced AI theorists like Eliezer Yudkowsky, Ben Goertzel, and of course, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (formerly the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence). Interestingly, Good served as a cryptologist at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing during World War II. He also worked as a consultant on supercomputers for Stanley Kubrick for the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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I. J. Good

British mathematician I. J. Good was one of the first thinkers — if not the first — to properly articulate the problem that is the pending Technological Singularity. Predating Hans Moravec, Ray Kurzweil, and Vernor Vinge by several decades, Good penned an article in 1965 warning about the dramatic potential for recursively improving artificial intelligence.

He wrote:

Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.

The phrase intelligence explosion has since been adopted by futurists critical of “soft” Singularity scenarios, like a slow takeoff event, or Kurzweilian notions of the steady, accelerating growth of all technologies (including intelligence). His work has influenced AI theorists like Eliezer Yudkowsky, Ben Goertzel, and of course, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (formerly the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence).

Interestingly, Good served as a cryptologist at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing during World War II. He also worked as a consultant on supercomputers for Stanley Kubrick for the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Shulamith Firestone Back in 1970, at the tender age of 25, Shulamith Firestone kickstarted the cyberfeminist movement by virtue of her book, The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. To come up with her unique feminist philosophy, Firestone took 19th and 20th century socialist thinking and fused it with Freudian psychoanalysis and the existentialist perspectives of Simone de Beauvoir. Firestone argued that gender inequality was the result of a patriarchal social structure that had been imposed upon women on account of their necessary role as incubators. She felt that pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing imposed physical, social, and psychological disadvantages upon women — and that the only way for women to free themselves from these biological impositions would be to seize control of reproduction. She advocated for the development of cybernetic and assistive reproductive technologies, including artificial wombs, gender selection, and in vitro fertilization. In addition, she advocated for the dissemination of contraception, abortion, and state support for child-rearing.
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Shulamith Firestone

Back in 1970, at the tender age of 25, Shulamith Firestone kickstarted the cyberfeminist movement by virtue of her book, The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. To come up with her unique feminist philosophy, Firestone took 19th and 20th century socialist thinking and fused it with Freudian psychoanalysis and the existentialist perspectives of Simone de Beauvoir.

Firestone argued that gender inequality was the result of a patriarchal social structure that had been imposed upon women on account of their necessary role as incubators. She felt that pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing imposed physical, social, and psychological disadvantages upon women — and that the only way for women to free themselves from these biological impositions would be to seize control of reproduction. She advocated for the development of cybernetic and assistive reproductive technologies, including artificial wombs, gender selection, and in vitro fertilization. In addition, she advocated for the dissemination of contraception, abortion, and state support for child-rearing.

John Desmond Bernal In 1929, the Irish physicist J.D. Bernal published The World, The Flesh and the Devil — a piece of work that Arthur C. Clarke would later call “the most brilliant attempt at scientific prediction ever made.” In the book, Bernal speculated that humans would eventually construct a type of space habitat for permanent residence, what has since been dubbed the Bernal sphere. He also predicted that humans might someday choose to go about cybernetic implantation, writing that, “Normal man is an evolutionary dead end; mechanical man, apparently a break in organic evolution, is more in the true tradition of a further evolution.” And in fact, his vision of cyborgs was more radical than most; he thought that we might eventually be able to migrate our brains into a “short cylinder” where our nerve cells would be kept circulating at a uniform temperature — a definite precursor to the idea of mind uploading. This “brain cylinder” could be wirelessly connected to powerful external devices that would serve as new sense organs. The brain itself would be subject to continual refinement and redesign, including “mental improvement.” Keep in mind that this was in 1929!
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John Desmond Bernal


In 1929, the Irish physicist J.D. Bernal published The World, The Flesh and the Devil — a piece of work that Arthur C. Clarke would later call “the most brilliant attempt at scientific prediction ever made.” In the book, Bernal speculated that humans would eventually construct a type of space habitat for permanent residence, what has since been dubbed the Bernal sphere. He also predicted that humans might someday choose to go about cybernetic implantation, writing that, “Normal man is an evolutionary dead end; mechanical man, apparently a break in organic evolution, is more in the true tradition of a further evolution.” And in fact, his vision of cyborgs was more radical than most; he thought that we might eventually be able to migrate our brains into a “short cylinder” where our nerve cells would be kept circulating at a uniform temperature — a definite precursor to the idea of mind uploading. This “brain cylinder” could be wirelessly connected to powerful external devices that would serve as new sense organs. The brain itself would be subject to continual refinement and redesign, including “mental improvement.” Keep in mind that this was in 1929!

J.B.S. Haldane Artificial wombs, human cloning, and human genetic engineering? It was the evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane whose shocking predictions inspired his friend Aldous Huxley to write his dystopian masterpiece, Brave New World. Writing in his short work, Daedalus; or, science and the future, Haldane suggested that humanity would soon use genetics for self-improvement and engage in the practice of cloning. He also predicted “ectogenesis” (artificial wombs), the manipulation of genes (what today we would call gene therapy and RNA interference), and fertilization outside the human body (in vitro fertilization). Haldane is famous for once saying, “I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”
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J.B.S. Haldane


Artificial wombs, human cloning, and human genetic engineering?


It was the evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane whose shocking predictions inspired his friend Aldous Huxley to write his dystopian masterpiece, Brave New World. Writing in his short work, Daedalus; or, science and the future, Haldane suggested that humanity would soon use genetics for self-improvement and engage in the practice of cloning. He also predicted “ectogenesis” (artificial wombs), the manipulation of genes (what today we would call gene therapy and RNA interference), and fertilization outside the human body (in vitro fertilization). Haldane is famous for once saying, “I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin The Technological Singularity Writing in his posthumously published book, The Phenomenon of Man, the French Jesuit priest and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin speculated that humanity was on an evolutionary trajectory that would result in one final transformation. Taking Vernadsky’s idea of the noosphere to its (seemingly) logical conclusion, he surmised that humanity would eventually achieve an “Omega Point,” or what some futurists today might call the Technological Singularity. Chardin argued that the evolution of intelligent life was goal driven (Lamarckianism), and that it would eventually reach a stage of ultimate complexity and conscious awareness. He posited the Law of Complexity/Consciousness, in which he argued that the universe is constantly evolving towards increasing levels of material complexity and consciousness. Eventually, he thought, an Omega Point would be achieved in which conscious life would become transcendent and independent of the physical universe. Chardin’s ideas would go on to inspire such thinkers as Ray Kurzweil, including the development of his Law of Accelerating Returns.
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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin


The Technological Singularity


Writing in his posthumously published book, The Phenomenon of Man, the French Jesuit priest and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin speculated that humanity was on an evolutionary trajectory that would result in one final transformation. Taking Vernadsky’s idea of the noosphere to its (seemingly) logical conclusion, he surmised that humanity would eventually achieve an “Omega Point,” or what some futurists today might call the Technological Singularity. Chardin argued that the evolution of intelligent life was goal driven (Lamarckianism), and that it would eventually reach a stage of ultimate complexity and conscious awareness. He posited the Law of Complexity/Consciousness, in which he argued that the universe is constantly evolving towards increasing levels of material complexity and consciousness. Eventually, he thought, an Omega Point would be achieved in which conscious life would become transcendent and independent of the physical universe. Chardin’s ideas would go on to inspire such thinkers as Ray Kurzweil, including the development of his Law of Accelerating Returns.

Vladimir Vernadsky The global brain Another Russian cosmist, Vladimir Vernadsky was a mineralogist and geochemist who posited the idea of the noosphere, what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin would later describe as the “sphere of human thought.” In his original theory, Vernadsky suggested that the noosphere would be the third phase of life on earth, after the “geosphere” (inanimate matter) and “biosphere” (biological life). The engine driving the noosphere, however, would be human cognition. Vernadsky thought that intelligence (or consciousness) would eventually converge and form a massive network of collaborating individuals. Today, its modern equivalent includes the World Wide Web, the global brain hypothesis, and some interpretations of the Technological Singularity.
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Vladimir Vernadsky


The global brain


Another Russian cosmist, Vladimir Vernadsky was a mineralogist and geochemist who posited the idea of the noosphere, what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin would later describe as the “sphere of human thought.” In his original theory, Vernadsky suggested that the noosphere would be the third phase of life on earth, after the “geosphere” (inanimate matter) and “biosphere” (biological life). The engine driving the noosphere, however, would be human cognition. Vernadsky thought that intelligence (or consciousness) would eventually converge and form a massive network of collaborating individuals. Today, its modern equivalent includes the World Wide Web, the global brain hypothesis, and some interpretations of the Technological Singularity.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Space elevator, human space flight, self-sustaining space habitats, and interstellar colonization? Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is probably the greatest scientific visionary to ever come out of Russia. Tsiolkovsky was a seminal figure in the Russian cosmism movement (a precursor to transhumanism) and was heavily influenced by Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (1827-1903) who advocated for radical life extension, resurrection of the dead, and ocean colonization. In 1895, inspired by the newly-constructed Eiffel Tower in Paris, he was the first to come up with the idea of the space elevator (though his model described a freestanding tower reaching from the surface of Earth to the height of geostationary orbit, as opposed to the more modern vision in which tensile strength would keep it together). And while earlier mathematicians such as Isaac Newton, Leonhard Euler and Joseph Louis Lagrange may have described the physical dynamics of objects traveling through space, it was the Jules Verne-inspired Tsiolkovsky who first suggested that humans could actually be sent into space (he developed the now-famous rocket equation describing rocket-based propulsion), travel from planet to planet, and permanently live there. In addition, he thought that space colonization would lead to the perfection of humanity, along with virtual immortality and a carefree existence. And in his 1928 book, The Will of the Universe. The Unknown Intelligence, he predicted that humanity would eventually colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy
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Konstantin Tsiolkovsky


Space elevator, human space flight, self-sustaining space habitats, and interstellar colonization?


Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is probably the greatest scientific visionary to ever come out of Russia. Tsiolkovsky was a seminal figure in the Russian cosmism movement (a precursor to transhumanism) and was heavily influenced by Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (1827-1903) who advocated for radical life extension, resurrection of the dead, and ocean colonization. In 1895, inspired by the newly-constructed Eiffel Tower in Paris, he was the first to come up with the idea of the space elevator (though his model described a freestanding tower reaching from the surface of Earth to the height of geostationary orbit, as opposed to the more modern vision in which tensile strength would keep it together). And while earlier mathematicians such as Isaac Newton, Leonhard Euler and Joseph Louis Lagrange may have described the physical dynamics of objects traveling through space, it was the Jules Verne-inspired Tsiolkovsky who first suggested that humans could actually be sent into space (he developed the now-famous rocket equation describing rocket-based propulsion), travel from planet to planet, and permanently live there. In addition, he thought that space colonization would lead to the perfection of humanity, along with virtual immortality and a carefree existence. And in his 1928 book, The Will of the Universe. The Unknown Intelligence, he predicted that humanity would eventually colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy

Marquis de Condorcet Perpetual progress, radical life extension, and brain enhancement? Unlike Diderot, Marquis de Condorcet was a vociferous supporter of the idea of perpetual human progress through the application of reason, science, and technology. A hugely influential Enlightenment era thinker who contributed significantly to the rise of secular humanism, Condorcet was also a brilliant mathematician and political scientist. His ideas on the “perfectibility of human society” would later provoke Thomas Malthus into writing his famous paper on unsustainable population growth. His most influential work was Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (written in prison, where else) in which he argued that reason and science can and should be applied to better develop humanity’s intellectual and moral faculties. He also felt that the limited human lifespan was a major contributor to various inequalities and social injustices — and that it could be overcome. To that end, Condorcet argued that discoveries in the sciences and the arts will result in the “true perfection of the intellectual, moral, or physical faculties of man, an improvement which may result from a perfection either of the instruments used to heighten the intensity of these faculties and to direct their use or of the natural constitution of man…”
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Marquis de Condorcet


Perpetual progress, radical life extension, and brain enhancement?


Unlike Diderot, Marquis de Condorcet was a vociferous supporter of the idea of perpetual human progress through the application of reason, science, and technology. A hugely influential Enlightenment era thinker who contributed significantly to the rise of secular humanism, Condorcet was also a brilliant mathematician and political scientist. His ideas on the “perfectibility of human society” would later provoke Thomas Malthus into writing his famous paper on unsustainable population growth. His most influential work was Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (written in prison, where else) in which he argued that reason and science can and should be applied to better develop humanity’s intellectual and moral faculties. He also felt that the limited human lifespan was a major contributor to various inequalities and social injustices — and that it could be overcome. To that end, Condorcet argued that discoveries in the sciences and the arts will result in the “true perfection of the intellectual, moral, or physical faculties of man, an improvement which may result from a perfection either of the instruments used to heighten the intensity of these faculties and to direct their use or of the natural constitution of man…”