Transhumanism advocates human immortality through technology and genetic engineering. this acheivement is essential in transhumanist precepts. if immortality was ever achieved, how can transhumanism be reconciled or compatible with one of the central tenets of meritocracy which is the 100% inheritance tax?
This interests me because I am both a Meritocrat and a Transhumanist.
If humans become immortal, what happens with 100% inheritance tax?
Technically transhumanism is totally against the philosophy of Mike Hockney upon which Meritocracy is based. In monadic panpsychism death and reincarnation is necessary for the developing soul, however Mike Hockneyâs philosophy isnât a mandatory prerequisite for the ideals of the Meritocracy party but rather your own personal views. So your own opinion in regards to transhumanism doesnât really matter within the political wing of Hockneyâs philosophy.
My concern is that by essentially eliminating death or tremendously extending life at least people will find a loophole to the no dynasties policy. If people donât die they can and will continue to accumulate wealth if they are financially successful creating once again a wealthy elite. this concerns me because at both times I want to uphold the no nepotism principle and the life extension precepts of Trans-humanism.
btw Im also an atheist and I am not interested in a âspiritualâ meritocracy but a secular one
Im suggesting that some humane measure be taken in case this would happen. preferably one that does not impede an individuals right to extend his or her life but prevents nepotism or dynasties.
This topic is complete speculation, but letâs say that humans do reach immortality then Iâm sure the meritocrats of the future will have thought about the ramifications of a permanent wealthy elite. If the People have the power then it wonât be an issue.
If the People donât have the power, then itâs the same situation as we have now.
I suppose you could have a tax that takes effect when people hit a certain age. For instance, once you hit 100 (or after every 100 years) all assets over a certain numeration would go back to society? I think if it did ever happen we would be evolved enough for it not to be an issue.
1 Like
If we ever have the technological capacity to make ourselves immortal, then Iâm sure we wonât need an economy, nor money; thus, there will also be no need for taxes of any kind. Itâs a bit of a self-answering question, this one.
The goal of this research is not immortality the way you are thinking of it, it is just the pursuit of life extension of the human body, but it is not an infinite extension. And honestlyâŚlets implement an inheritance tax before we have this discussion.
âIf humans become immortal, what happens with 100% inheritance tax?â
This is exactly the kind of unrealistic question that will make meritocracy the laughing stock & a joke of social-political movements.
Letâs focus on reality & finding a way to win over the majority of mortal humans to agreeing with 100% millionaireâs estate tax.
3 Likes
Well we have learned a lot about how death is genetically programmed into out DNA. In theory immortality could be possible through genetic engineering. But there might be a bigger problem with transhumanism which probably makes it completely unfeasible. What would we do about reproduction? Are we supposed to keep multiplying on this little rock forever? And if we stop reproduction, wouldnât it prevent us from evolving any further? I doubt a Meritocratic government would fund any research into making humans immortal. Genetic engineering is great for disease prevention, but it would probably be wise to allow natural evolution to take its course. Also we shouldnât forget that we have a much larger issue: over population. Making people immortal would be a major step backward on this front.
Genetic engineering is a very powerful tool. We can use it to end so much unnecessary suffering around the world. We could also use it to bring great harm to society. At the end of the day, itâs just another reason we need a Meritocracy. Any decision on exactly how to use such a powerful thing needs to be in the hands of competent leaders who are capable of dealing with it. That is what I would explain to someone anyway.
I don't believe it is an unrealistic question. Technological advancement seems to be exponentially increasing especially in the field of medicine and Transhumanism does push the agenda of biological immortality although this may not be happening any time soon I was curious as to what would be Meritocracy's Stance especially after reading the article of Libertarian Transhumanism in www.Meritocracyparty.org
It would also be great if we could identify common goals and values with other groups such as Transhumanists to gain their support for our cause.
You should rephrase that into an action that you will take, if you want it to actually happen.
2 Likes
This problem has already been solved.
The 100% inheritance tax will also apply to living persons attempting to transfer significant amounts of wealth from one living individual to another living individual. Else a terminally ill person could pass on inheritance in the month before their death.
Therefore one immortal individual could not build up an army of henchmen, directors, managers, etc⌠to carry out his master/slave philosophy over others. To do such a task would require many large transfers of wealth to buy out all these people who would form his pyramid of control.
The point of all this inheritance tax is simply so that one person cannot dominate or âownâ another person. Every human being should be treated as a precious gem with infinite potential. Each human should have the freedom to follow their own spark.
But would it prevent them from accumulating obscene wealth over time?
I have already introduced Meritocracy to transhumanist groups and some have shown interest. Their concern however is that the implementation of the death tax may be an obstacle for their objectives to life expansion and biological immortality. Illumanists on the other hand are anti-transhumanists and I personally do not adhere to the authority of Micheal Hockney and wish not to rely on the approval of illumanists as to who we do or who we donât allow to join Meritocracy .
Meritocracy is against excessive rewards of wealth. So it has been suggested that a cap of $1-million per year income for any individual is reasonable. Now at that rate of $1-million per year, it would take 100-years to earn $100-million. Iâve personally known someone who owns $300-million and thatâs not enough money to influence a country or an entire culture. The kind of money you need to manipulate a country and itâs culture is about $10-billion to $100-billion or more. So that would take an immortal earning $1-million per year, about 10,000-years to 100,000-years to accumulate that amount of wealth. Even then the financial systems of Meritocracy would be monitoring all large transfers of wealth or repetitive small transfers of wealth. You could say âOh that sounds like Big Brotherâ, but you then have to research the philosophical difference between âNegative Libertyâ and âPositive Libertyâ.
Just as we should all be watching our neighbors to see if they are acquiring or storing vast amounts of weapons, storing vast amounts of money is equally as dangerous. If someone is spending there money on themselves, there experiences, there personal growth, then thereâs usually no problem. But if someone is spending there money to build up a pyramid control structure to dominate others, then we should be vigilant and alert so we can protect our world.
1 Like
Preempting your next response:
But what then?
Ok so itâs the year 12,015-AD, 10,000-years from now, and we have a 10,000-year old immortal running around with $10-Billion dollars. Who cares? itâs the 121st-century, we have laser guns and spaceships, if you donât like it you can fly to Mars or another Galaxy. If our legal system is so inept by then Iâm sure some rogue citizens will take the law into their own hands. Just because youâre immortal doesnât mean you canât be run over by a bus or die in some accident, if they fly Malaysia Airlines chances are they would die on their 100th flight.
P.S. Iâve already said that financial system of Meritocracy would monitor all unusual transactions and all unusual flows of money. If someone is trying to create a master/slave structure it will be noticed long before that person lives to be older then your grandma, in fact a computerized system would pick up on it straight away and the person would be apprehended within a week.
1 Like
The problem is resources are not infinite, even after weâve mastered inter-planetary travel. If someone accumulated that much capital, no matter how long it took, it would automatically take away from the rest of society.