{"id":32860,"date":"2016-04-20T15:33:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T21:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=32860"},"modified":"2016-04-20T15:33:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T21:33:52","slug":"the-new-yorker-mormon-transhumanism-and-the-immortality-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/the-new-yorker-mormon-transhumanism-and-the-immortality-upgrade.html","title":{"rendered":"The New Yorker: “Mormon Transhumanism and the Immortality Upgrade”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rahman<\/a>
A beautiful though irrelevant photograph by Asif Rahman, from Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I had lunch today with Christopher Bradford, the newly elected president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association<\/a>, whom I\u2019ve known for most of my life and\u00a0for an even larger\u00a0majority of his. \u00a0He mentioned this soon-to-appear New Yorker<\/em> article to me . . . et voil\u00e0<\/em>, it has now appeared<\/em>\u00a0and he\u2019s sent me the link:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/tech\/elements\/mormon-transhumanism-and-the-immortality-upgrade?utm_content=buffer4ad32&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My attitude toward Mormon transhumanism is, as the New Yorker\u2019s<\/em> author says, one of \u201ccautious interest.\u201d \u00a0I first began paying attention to it a number of years ago when I heard a Latter-day Saint scientist and engineer\u00a0talking about about the future-science idea of \u201cterraforming\u201d planets to make them humanly habitable and proposing that the book of Genesis actually describes such a process.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I found the idea intriguing, and I still do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By contrast, interesting though I find this<\/em> piece, it\u2019s ultimately rather insubstantial and unsatisfying to me:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is how our minds may actually live on after death: A psychologist explains how memory gives the dead a second life.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m reminded\u00a0of a National Enquirer<\/em> headline that I once saw several decades back. \u00a0The Enquirer<\/em> promised proof!<\/em><\/strong><\/span> that Elvis was alive in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wondering how the editors of the Enquirer<\/em> intended to deliver on their dramatic promise, I looked around to make sure that nobody I knew was watching, and opened a copy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It turns out that Elvis\u2019s memory<\/em> lives on in Hawaii for Priscilla Presley, and that, when she visits, she\u00a0thinks about him there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pretty weak stuff.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I had lunch today with Christopher Bradford, the newly elected president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, whom I\u2019ve known for most of my life and\u00a0for an even larger\u00a0majority of his. \u00a0He mentioned this soon-to-appear New Yorker article to me . . . et voil\u00e0, it has now appeared\u00a0and he\u2019s sent me the link: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe New Yorker: "Mormon Transhumanism and the Immortality Upgrade"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I had lunch today with Christopher Bradford, the newly elected president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, whom I've known for most\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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