A reprint of a comment I made on another wordpress blog that I expect to be deleted.

Which is to say, this is specifically a comment about the article here (warning, it is a long article that ends in a bit of paranoia [cointelpro hasn’t contacted me yet]):

http://bevjoradicallesbian.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/transmen-are-still-women-part-2-of-the-pretenders-defining-lesbians-out-of-existence/

It’s a real shame I turned out so narcissistic… here’s the comment:

I wonder if this gets deleted… Anyway, I somehow managed to navigate here and read your post and found that even though I disagree with you intensely about the trans movement using what you erroneously call ‘pseudo-science’, I find myself agreeing with pretty much every point you make that DOESN’T follow from that very questionable assumption. Since you have stated that you believe that we fall back on ‘pseudo-science’ to justify who we are, I feel it somewhat necessary to point out that medical science tends (‘tends’ may be a bit of an understatement here) to back up the claims of trans people. Here are some links to actual science done by actual empiricists published in actual peer-reviewed journals that strongly support and imply (more understatement) that trans people are born with different physiologies and genetics in comparison to cisgendered people that causes what we identify as the phenomena of transsexualism.

citation one, supports the concept of a genetic cause of transsexualism in persons born with an XY chromosome:

http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(08)01087-1/abstract

citation two, supports the concept of a genetic cause of transsexualism in persons born with an XX chromosome:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.fertnstert.2007.05.056

citation three, a group of studies and follow-ups researching the links between brain structure and transsexualism:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2F378068a0

http://dx.doi.org/10.1210%2Fjc.85.5.2034

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11826131

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.yhbeh.2006.06.011

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15724806

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fbrain%2Fawn276

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.neuroimage.2009.03.048

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20562024

http://dx.doi.org/10.1530%2Feje.1.02248

If you are going to call something ‘pseudo-science’, you should be prepared to prove it. The links above are all peer-reviewed scientific journals with a reputation for accuracy, integrity and empirical rigor. I would very much love to see the evidence you have for this being ‘pseudo-science’, since it seems like exactly the opposite of that. When people use the scientific method to acquire and interpret data for the purpose of determining the truth-value of a given hypothesis we call it ‘science’, NOT ‘pseudo-science’.

Transhuman evolution

So, humanity is probably reaching the limits of biological evolution. Quite simply put, natural selection only works if those who are less fit to live and breed die before they procreate. This is no longer the case for large sections of the human species, with our continually advancing technological prowess, we have rendered laughable many threats that once killed millions upon millions of people. Diseases such as typhoid (salmonella enterica), cholera (vibrio cholerae), tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis) and the black plague (yersinia pestis) are no longer much of a problem in the first world, and there is every reason to suspect that this trend is continuing to the rest of the world, if slowly (more on this bullshit here later).

These diseases have literally killed millions upon millions of people, those with better immune systems lived to pass on their genes while those with poor immune systems were likelier to die before making any babies. As medicine progresses, even those with horrible immune systems or people without immune systems at all can live long enough to pass on genes. I am not saying this is a bad thing, please do not misunderstand me. I am saying here that natural selection is happening more effectively in the diseases we treat than in humanity. Evolving diseases are a terrifying thing, it may be unlikely, but there is a possibility of the HIV virus becoming, say, airborne. You can be sure that it will be possible for someone to engineer such a thing, sooner or later as well.

Which brings me to the point. We had goddamned well better start evolving at a faster rate. Humanity is resilient and adaptable, and could maybe survive something like a super-plague or what-have-you, maybe even an extinction-level meteor strike. What about the second super-plague? The third meteor strike? It is just a matter of time before we go the way of the dinosaurs. We have to master the universe before it masters us, and technologically-assisted evolution is what will make that happen. This kind of evolution is much faster than the natural kind. The average person in the western world can talk to people and see things anywhere on the planet, almost instantaneously. Humans have had this ability for less than a hundred years. In the next twenty years alone, there will be developments in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and computer science that will dwarf our current achievements, assuming the fundamentalists don’t manage to kill us all before then. Space science will give us the solar system as a playground and a huge new source of materials and energy. These technologies will converge and they will be integrated into the human experience. We will engineer our own evolution, making ourselves into beings that our ancestors would consider gods. The future of tissue engineering raises the prospect of human immortality. Already, experiments are underway with a device that is literally a 3D printer for organs and body parts. Organ failure? Grow a new one! Brain aging? Grow some new neurons! This is an exciting time to be alive, things like death and scarcity may well be eliminated in our lifetime.

Singularity as fallacy? Perhaps, but if an actual artificial intelligence is possible, we will make one. If it can modify itself, it will. Each new version is better than the last, digital evolution in action. It is a natural thing for our race to evolve, and it is a natural thing for our race to go extinct. Both of these WILL happen, sooner or later. Maybe both at the same time as we merge with our technology. There’s nothing that says we cannot create artificial neurons with nanotechnology, or improved neurons with biological engineering. The human race will create a successor or die trying, a transhuman race to seed the galaxy with intelligence.

I, for one, am looking forward to it.