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Stefano Vaj and the Complicated Politics of Italian Transhumanism
Recently the fight between the two transhumanist groups in Italy has spilled over onto English language blogs. One side is accused of harboring fascists, the other of being conservatives and closet Papists. I’ve asked one of the individuals at the center of the controversy, Stefano Vaj, to present a statement of his political stance here which will hopefully help clarify this very confusing and troubling situation.
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Posted by len goodman on 10/05 at 02:14 PM
In my recent book THE MELTDOWN CHRONICLES, I discuss the mixture of the two most important problems facing our species: The need for a new form of economics and Transhumanism. Are we in the primary stages of replaying what happened to the Neanderthals and Crosmagnon (us)? Will the confluence of overpopulation and evolution force the issue of a new "superhomo sapiens?"
It doesnt take too much imagination to see the trends building up. Either we turn to real solutions or the hand of Darwin will be making some drastic changes soon. We are the first species to be able to actually modify ourselves and our destiny. But, one only hopes that we move up a few levels in consciousness before we make the changes we are capable of making. Indeed, we now find ourselves carefully putting our species in between the rock and hard place.
For more discussion on this important topic, go toe www.neweconomicparadigm.com
Posted by Lincoln Cannon on 10/05 at 11:35 PM
James, I'd enjoy and likely benefit from reading more about your thoughts on the religious beliefs of Mormon Transhumanists.
Posted by fabio on 10/06 at 05:19 AM
Dear James,
you describe me as a libertarian, a description I find restrictive. Not that I think your readers will be that interested in my personal political persuasion - what bugs me it's that your comment might be taken to mean that my website (estropico.org) is a libertarian website, which would be an unfair description. In fact, I've put a lot of effort into developing Estropico into an open, diverse and multifaceted website where transhumanists both on the right and left of the political spectrum (perhaps the more dynamic parts of both sides) will find useful and interesting material. Not to mention upwingers and those that might just be interested in the more techie side of transhumanism. However, I do sincerely hope that neofascists and other extremists will find it not quite to their taste... 
Part of that effort is the publication of material from left-of-centre transhumanists, such as in the case of your recent An Epistle on H+ to the Italian Catholics http://www.humanityplus.org/read/2009/09/an-epistle-on-h-to-the-italian-catholics/ which you were kind enough to send me and that I translated and presented, as you know, to a recent Italian Catholic Church event on the theme of "Earthly Immortality".
Another step in the same direction has been the opening of my blog (estropico.blogspot.com) to a number of guest bloggers, many of whom (a majority, in fact) are clearly on the left. Here's the list, should anyone want to check by themselves by having a look at their websites/blogs: http://estropico.blogspot.com/2008/09/annuncio-estropico-blog-apre-ai-guest.html
Talking of libertarianism...
James, it seems to me, from your comments, that you might still be sore from the clashes, a few years ago, between leftist and libertarian transhumanists - and I can understand why. But please don't make the mistake of assuming that this is an Italian version of all that, because it's not.
This is about neofascism raising it's ugly head.
Up until the arrival of the Italian neofascists (and I mean both Vaj and the other, much less cuddly ones) at the Italian Transhumanist Association (AIT), I and the other members of the Italian Transhumanist Network (the Network) had collaborated with Campa, Prisco and other leftists at AIT. And the inevitable political differences had not led to a split, as did the nomination (as opposed to election) of Vaj as "national secretary" of AIT. Furthermore, a majority of the founding members of the Network are clearly on the left. Here's the list of all the Network members, should anyone want to check by themselves: www.transumanisti.org
(automated translation has a long way to go, but it's enough to give you an idea).
I'd like to leave other, separate, comments on your and Vaj's articles, but please do let me know if I'm overstaying my welcome.
Cheers,
Fabio
Posted by fabio on 10/06 at 06:00 AM
I'd like to make a suggestion to the readers of this site, if I may. Do not take Vaj's statements regarding the Italian Transhumanist Network and its members at face value, but go and check by yourselves if we really are "conservatives and closet Papists" and the many other, at time surreal, accusations hurled at us by Vaj in his article. The problem, of course, is that most of the material on our websites is in Italian... Try this then: here's the google-translated sitemap of my own website (estropico.com). It is one of the members of the Network and is by far the one with the most material. Have a look at the titles of the articles published and at the names of the authors, and see what you think:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http://www.estropico.com/id36.htm&sl=it&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
The site is being migrated to a new domain (estropico.org) but most of the material is still on the old site, so you'll miss a few recent articles from James Hughes, Max More and Nick Bostrom, among others.
The (rather convenient) mistake Vaj makes in his accusations, is to take some comments on some mailing list by somebody connected to the Network, and assume they are some sort of "party line" carved in stone, ignoring the fact that they are only personal opinions. Our Network is the opposite of monolithic and all full members (i.e. those with an online presence) are completely free to promote their own flavour of transhumanism in complete indepence from each other. And, as I mentioned in my previous comment, a lot of them happen to be on the left side of the political spectrum and are rather offended at being described as admirers of Mr Berlusconi and/or the Pope...
Cheers,
Fabio
Posted by Giulio Prisco on 10/06 at 07:37 AM
I wish Vaj... was now a good world federalist who agreed with me on the need for a standing UN army.
I used to support world federalism, and I still do, but with emphasis on _federalism_: a federation of autonomous entities.
An enlightened world government would be great, but a dictatorial world government would be a nightmare, and we would not have any escape route: there would be nowhere else to go.
And being human nature what it is, I cannot rule out the possibility of a dictatorial world government. Perhaps not a violent dictatorship (but again, you never know), but certainly a benevolent nanny-state dictatorship that punishes victimless crimes and interfere in every aspect of citizen's private lives.
Proposition 8 is an example of how a majority can oppress a minority in the name of "moral values" crap. Unfortunately, these things do tend to happen.
So while I am in favor of global governance for global issues, I am also in favor of strong local autonomies. I feel safer knowing that I can go somewhere else if things become bad where I am.
The UN army: it is a joke, you know that. No nation state will ever allow the UN to have real decision making power, let alone the means to enforce it. Simply because nation states will never accept to give up sovereignty and power. I feel the road to world federalism must pass through fragmentation of existing nation states with much more power to local autonomies (the US, or Swiss model). The EU? No thanks. It is the Europe of nation states, I want a Europe of European citizens.
Posted by Stefano Vaj on 10/06 at 07:26 PM
"Dear James,
you describe me as a libertarian, a description I find restrictive."
As you may see above, I do not make this mistake.
In fact, besides your more vehement denials in Italian to be a libertarian of any kind, to I do not usually employ the word "libertarian" to refer to somebody whose actual neoconservative and authoritarian leanings are quite obvious to those who understand our language, not any more that I would consider "libertarian" the Moral Majority in the US or the Guantanamo camp.
Nor, for that matter, I would have wasted my time in discussing here your positions, which AFAIK are invisible on the international scene, unless they were part of a broader and more complex scenario which has raised some legitimate concerns as to the general political evolution currently affecting our common country.
But of course you are welcome to extend your comments to this latter aspect, if you care to express publicly your views thereupon.
Posted by fabio on 10/07 at 12:46 PM
Dear Stefano, I have already posted a link to the google-translated sitemap of my website, Estropico (see my comment above, the fourth from the top), so that anyone who comes by this page can go an check by themselves whether there is any truth in your accusations.
Posted by Stefano Vaj on 10/07 at 04:01 PM
Indeed. I do encourage them to skim though your literature, with the help of Google Translator, and I remain available to indicate privately to those interested the juiciest morsels.
And, btw, I am not "accusing" you of anything. Simple statements of facts. I have no doubt that in Italy you may easily find a public who shares, and approves of, the positions mentioned in my original piece, still explicitely stated in your site, and would consider their promotion worth a praise, rather than a blame.
Too bad many of them will not share the alleged "transhumanist" angle under which they are presented, the latter being a little unusual amongst those of the same persuasion.
Posted by fabio on 10/08 at 05:24 AM
Fine by me. I also encourage anyone interested in more info on the more explicitly neofascist writings of the many "overhumanists" authors to contact me in private: estropico "at" gmail.com
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