Will Saletan and the Transhumanists

As promised, here is Will Saletan’s slant on the Stanford transhumanist conference. My article is written too, although I don’t yet know when it will appear. This is my favorite paragraph from Saletan’s recounting, which pretty well nails the scene:

“Remember those kids who played Dungeons & Dragons and ran the science-fiction club in your high school? They’ve become transhumanists. Their resident immortalist, Aubrey de Grey, walks around in sneakers, a ponytail, and a 14-inch beard that he strokes like a cat. One of the CCLE officials at the conference calls herself Wrye Sententia; the other dresses like an LSD trip. This was the kind of conference where people talked about the Matrix the way Christians talk about the Bible, and where speakers apologized for their discomfort with piercings or tattoos.”

And the patriarchy, Will: We mustn’t forget how transhumanism can help end the dreaded patriarchy!