Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World [Paperback]

Fm-2030. (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (January 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446388068
• ISBN-13: 978-0446388061
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book, especially the questionnaire, will certainly help & guide readers to put Ashby's Law to work in your own life!, March 27, 2007

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World (Paperback)

Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World
by FM-2030

Towards the end of the eighties, I had came across a few unusual books, which retrospectively had somehow influenced what I am doing today & in fact what I love to do today i.e. to pursue future-focused, change-oriented, brain-based technologies.

This unique book was one of them. It had been brilliantly written by a 'self-described chronic optimist' & a widely-traveled futurist/philosopher of Iranian origin, whose adopted name, FM-2030, seemed to resonate with his life-long obsessive conviction to create "a world of boundless wealth, endless life & unlimited free refills." [His real name was F M Esfandiary. I understand FM-2030 died from pancreatic cancer on July 8, 2000 at the age of 69, & was placed in cryonic suspension at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, where his body remains today.]

Although I do not subscribe to all the author's beliefs & values as embodied in his book, I certainly admired his bold initiatives & far-sightedness.

This wonderful book spelt out both personal strategies & practical pathways to help people to achieve longevity & immortality. To me, it had served as a comprehensive field guide to life extension or 'transhumanism', which was the term the author would prefer to use.

From my personal perspective, the greatest learning experience I got out of this book is learning - & understanding - how to access & apply available technolgies &/or new products or services to extend human capabilities & capacities in an ethical, safe & responsible manner.

As far as application in the personal/individual sphere is concerned, my primary interest lies in the physical & mental enhancement areas. I would term it 'intelligence amplification or enhancement.'

In this respect & ever since the eighties, this book, among a few other good ones, has happened to be my precursor to finding, accessing & learning about other good books & resources (to name a few, Brain/Mind Bulletin, MegaBrain Report, OMNI, IONS, UTNE Reader, Knowledge Systems, Whole Earth Catalog, Loompanics Catalog, Tools for Exploration, etc.) as part of my relentless personal journey to enjoy a better mind, a better body & a better life!

The book was more or less written in the form of a questionnaire format. At the time I read the book, I found the questions to be most thought-provoking.

The key chapters are as follows:

- How Updated Is Your Vocabulary;
- How Telespheral-age (postindustrial) Are You;
- How Information Rich Are You;
- How Time Rich Are You;
- How Fluid Are You;
- How High Tech Is Your Attention Span;
- What Is Your Cultural Orientation;
- How Power Oriented Are You;
- How Affluent Are You;
- How Ritualistic Are You;
- How Creative Are You;
- How Emotional Are You;
- How Intelligent Are You;
- How Family Oriented Are You;
- How Ecology Conscious Are You;
- How Telecommunitized Are You;
- How Global Are You;
- How Cosmic Are You;
- What Is Your Ideological Orientation;
- How Future Oriented Are You;
- How Optimistic or Pessimistic Are You About the Future;
- What Is Your Level of Humanity;
- How Immortality Oriented Are You; and
- How Transhuman Are You; followed by:
- Conclusion: Aligning and Accelerating Your Rate of Personal Growth;

I believe many readers would probably have heard or read about Ashby's Law, or better known to NLP practioners/followers as the 'Law of Requisite Variety.' Well, one thing I am very sure of is that this book, especially the questionnaire, will certainly help & guide readers to put the law to work in your own life!

[For the uninitiated, the Law states that, according to my personal interpretation, in order to survive - & thrive - in a constantly changing world, your personal or internal rate of change in terms of variability of options, must equal or exceed the environmental or external rate of change.]

Although the author had written several other books, including the landmark trilogy comprising 'Optimism One', 'Upwingers' & 'Telespheres', this is his only book I have access to, perused & assimilated.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Are you a Transhuman is Essential Reading!, January 30, 2004

By 

Natasha Vita-More - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World (Paperback)

Social Change on the Head of a Pin

How many theories of social change can fit on the head of a pin and not fall off? As many as can balance.

Are You A Transhuman is essential reading because it presents the concept of multi-tracking in practices a way of living in the world that is on one hand highly technological and, on the other, very compassionate.

This book covers a broad range of transhumanist interests and perceived goals that have affected and will continue affect social change in the coming years. For example, FM-2030 was known for being a highly visionary individual. Because a myopic perspective in the fields of science, technology, and politics did not dogmatize his skills as a writer and lecturer, he could grasp ideas by a larger view.

Transhumans and transhumanism is not just about technology. It is about expanding human understanding and intelligence. This book is a collectable and a must read for anyone interested in the future of humanity.

Natasha Vita-More

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ambassador from the future, January 22, 2006

By 

M. A. Plus "Advanced Atheist" (Mayer, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World (Paperback)

FM-2030's books and ideas have received a fair amount of criticism over the years, even from people inclined to share his outlook. Philosopher Nick Bostrom in his "History of Transhumanist Thought" (2005) implies that FM emphasized the superficial or symbolic aspects of "transhuman" living more than the substance. And John LaValley in a review of "Are You a Transhuman?" (AYAT) in "Cryonics" magazine in 1990 compares FM to a mime who stands by a laborer digging a ditch and imitates his actions: The laborer and the mime both make the same movements, but the laborer actually moves the earth. (You can find both of these articles on the Web through Google.)

And yet, many of FM's speculations about the lifestyles and values of "Future Man" sound more plausible now than when he first publicized them in the 1970's and 1980's. James Hughes in his book "Citizen Cyborg" (2004) writes highly of FM's philosophy and compares his political world view with that of European social democrats' and the Greens'. (As Hughes says, FM's "Up" political orientation tilts 45 degrees to the Left.) FM's 1973 book "Up-Wingers" also merits a citation in the recommended reading list at the back of Joel Garreau's "Radical Evolution" (2005), though with the disclaimer that the early Transhumanists' speculations like FM's seemed pretty weird until recently, when scientific and technological progress now make many of them look nearly feasible. Despite the fact that much of what FM writes sounds like a compilation of liberal political correctness and bad science fiction cliches, beneath the noise you can find some interesting signals about thinkable ways of life in the 21st Century.

AYAT does have its problems, as other reviewers have pointed out. I identified how FM apparently didn't understand the difference between wage income and investment income when he writes about "wealth"; plenty of "well paid" people dependent on their boss's competence and good will for their paychecks don't qualify as "wealthy," as they discover when they lose their jobs and don't have enough income from trust funds, bonds, stocks, annuities and so forth to take care of their needs. (Your investments, unlike your boss, can't fire you, much less withhold payment because of your state of health, work habits, recreational drug consumption, sexual preferences, controversial beliefs or unwillingness to sleep with the boss.)

FM gave us a mixed bag, in other words. It should go without saying that you have to apply critical thinking to everything you read so that you can separate the good from the bad.