Sustainable Superabundance: A Universal Transhumanist Invitation

by David W. Wood

Beyond the fear and chaos of contemporary life, there is good news to share.

A new era is at hand: the era of sustainable superabundance. In this era, the positive potential of humanity can develop in truly profound ways.

The key to this new era is to take wise advantage of the remarkable capabilities of twenty-first century science and technology: robotics, biotech, neurotech, greentech, collabtech, artificial intelligence, and much more.

These technologies can provide all of us with the means to live better than well – to be healthier and fitter than ever before; nourished emotionally and spiritually as well as physically; and living at peace with ourselves, the environment, and our neighbours both near and far.

This is not a vision of today’s society writ large – a mere abundance of today’s goods, services, activities, relationships, and rewards. It’s a vision of a superabundance, with new qualities rather than just new quantities.

This is not a vision of returning to some imagined prior historical period – to some supposed bygone golden age. It’s a vision of advancing to a new society, featuring levels of human flourishing never before possible.

This is not a vision restricted to the few – to an elite percentage of today’s humanity. It’s a universal vision, for everyone, of a wide, diverse fellowship in which all can freely participate, and in which all can enjoy unprecedented benefits.

This is not a vision of the far-off future – something relevant, perhaps, to our great-grandchildren. It’s a vision of change that could accelerate dramatically throughout the 2020s – a vision that is intensely relevant as the year 2020 comes into view.

This is not a vision of a fixed, rigid utopia. It’s a vision of the collaborative creation of a sustainable, open-ended, evolving social framework. In this new framework, every one of us will be empowered to make and follow our own choices without fear or favour.

In this vision, the sky will no longer be the limit. In this vision, the cosmos beckons, with its vast resources and endless possibilities. In this vision, our destiny lies in the ongoing exploration and development of both outer and inner space, as we keep reaching forwards together to higher levels of consciousness and to experiences with ever greater significance.

But first, we face some hard, critical choices – choices that will determine our future. If we choose poorly, technology will do much more harm than good. If we choose poorly, a bleak future awaits us – wretched environmental decline, bitter social divisions, and a rapid descent into a dismal new dark age. Instead of the flourishing of the better angels of our human nature, it will be our inner demons that technology magnifies.

** This book - this Universal Transhumanist Invitation - explains the choices. **

“Sustainable Superabundance offers a profoundly uplifting vision for the 2020s and beyond”
– Natasha Vita-More, Executive Director, Humanity+

“David Wood is one of the best futurists around today, insightful and visionary, with a broad grasp of the issues, and passionate commitment to making the future a good place to live. This book will become a key resource for the development of practical technoprogressive policies”
– James Hughes, Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET)

“A welcome addition to the debate over how society should respond to the forthcoming Economic Singularity”
– Calum Chace, Author of Artificial Intelligence and the Two Singularities
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249 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2019

Reviews

[Yates Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is readable, accessible, with some very good ideas about the fundamentals of Transhumanism. The book presents this Philosophy or Political movement with very specific ideas which on occasion clash with other members' views, and in this sense, I think it is particularly important because "Woodean" Transhumanism is by far the most internally consistent, sustainable and realistic view of how to translate some of the core values of this movement.

I find some of the details of the book a bit simplistic and the book lacks in references to parallel and opposing views, but still, I find some of the core ideas as essential, well thought and consistent.

In particular, the emphasis on the intrinsic value of consciousness and sustainability, which may seem to mean little but actually these two ideas would counter the value of hive-like mind futures such as Kevin Kelly's Techium, to function they require some means to offer social fairness, and reflect the need to look at the external costs of technological innovation as part of the system and not external.

I would venture to say that the Woodean Transhumanist view is moving very close to the Ecomodernist position in an interesting way: thoughtful futurists unite?

Thank you David!

[Zahida Zahoor · Rating 1 out of 5]

This cult-like book lacks any detail or deep understanding of any of the topics it talks about. Poorly written with lots of meaningless phrases without any real evidence to back up the claims. David insults the readers' intelligence by making comments such as:
“the fact someone is an expert in one domain does not entail any special priority applies to their viewpoints in other domains”.
Or another example:
“just because the Khmer Rouge re-education camps in Cambodia were amongst humanity’s worst excesses, that’s no reason for all subsequent society to abandon any attempt at education” Crikey!
Lots of information in the book are wrong or misleading, for example, David states that genetics mainly plays a part in increasing the skills you have but the truth is the environment may play an even a bigger role.
Unfortunately, the wish-washy concepts fail to tackle the hows. How do we globally tackle climate change, sharing wealth and how to increase political influence over large powerful lobbyists? I think the few suggestions that are made in the book are inadequate and unrealistic in a world that is dominated by money and power.
One good thing about the book it does discuss the limitations of democracy and that we should aim for a better form of democracy. But will those in power really allow a true or better democracy that may reduce their power?

[Dalton Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Wood’s new book is full of insight about the implications of fast-changing technology for the future of humanity. It was a real joy to read.

There is a lot of information being presented here. The author does a wonderful job of bringing it all together; I enjoy his style of writing, the pace is smooth and I'm convinced of a good and very different future. I think David’s tone brings a gentle balance to the conversation with a restrained pragmatism and a sort of stoic old-school voice.

Early on David writes about top-level goals and with his ten core principles [https://hpluspedia.org/wiki/Ten_core_...] he outlines the set of values underlining a Transpolitica vision. Here then begins a bit of controversy into what exactly is the author talking about when he references the term “Superdemocracy.” Still, the book is super! informative, and it doesn't bother me at all that there are many unanswered questions.

It is important to note that this is the short version of an earlier work: Transcending Politics. In order to offer an easier read, Mr. Wood took the 423 pages (sourced using 499 references) and reworked all that into a brilliant 237-page invitation we can fit in our back pocket. This is a valuable accomplishment indeed.

Thank you, David.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to review a book about transhumanism without wanting to dive into a general discussion of the theme as a whole, as there is certainly much that can and needs to be said about the topic. However, here I'll try to stick to Wood's arguments. In this short text, Wood optimistically postulates that given the right set of political, economic, social, and technological circumstances and decision-making, the future can be one of "sustainable superabundance" for all. That if "we" make the right choices, "we" can have access to an excess of clean energy, food and water, material goods, health and longevity, intelligence, creativity, and collaboration/democracy. To his credit, he does also warn that this is a big "if" and that things could go terribly wrong, possibly resulting in mass death. The chapters go more in-depth on each of the themes presented, along with the possible outcomes.

Wood's argument is appealing in many respects. He is trying to create a "big tent" transhumanism aimed at uplifting humanity as a whole; of trying to envision a manner to collectively and responsibly direct processes already underway towards the most beneficial outcomes. In many ways, this text reminds me of an amped up, liberal version of Murray Bookchin's "Post-Scarcity Anarchism." Indeed, in Wood's vision we will end up not needing to work and can instead spend our time pursuing fulfilling and nourishing endeavors. But there is also plenty in the text that is not appealing, or at least that is an impediment to his vision.

For starters, while Wood includes acknowledgement in every chapter of the fact that profit motive currently drives decision making when it comes to energy, food, health, etc., he refuses to abandon capitalism. In his worldview, there is still room for the free market, corporations, nation-states, and hierarchical electoral politics. As such, I see his vision as doomed to failure, for so long as capitalism, nation-states, and hierarchies exist, there will exist forms of oppression, such as white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, ableism, nationalism, etc., as well as forms of profit-driven competition and the race to the bottom that have brought us to the current crisis we are facing: the racial capitalocene.

Wood counters that by acting rationally and with greater emotional intelligence, we can change our ways and thereby make sound social, economic, and political decisions that will trump the drive for short-term profit. Call me cynical, but I do not see that happening so long as capitalism exists. Additionally, I am skeptical of his call to technologically augment our emotional intelligence as a means to accomplish this task.

Finally, along with all of the above objections, there is a foundational one that is captured in the title itself: “Universal.” The notion of something being universal is very much a view wrapped up in modernity, humanism, and Western thought. The idea that what is good for one is good for all, or that we all have the same desires and aspirations is a line of thinking that leads to hegemonic impositions precisely like those such as racial capitalism and nation-states. I would much rather live in a future where multiple liberatory lifeways flourish, rather than a one-size-fits-all model of transhumanism.

To conclude, I would cautiously recommend this book to those interested in transhumanism and in reading about one particular vision of a potential future. I think many of the questions and issues he poses are important and worthy of consideration, even if I do not fully coincide with his politics or aspirations for the future.

[Peter Monien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally a vision that is concrete and worthwhile to attain: ".. prioritise the reduction of prices for all goods and services that are fundamental to an agreed base level of human flourishing. The end target of this strategy is that all goods and services fundamental for human flourishing should have zero price."