Snakes & Skyscrapers

Brainstorming: What Would a "Vitalist Cult" Look Like?

As Ingemar Patrick Linden recently pointed out, death places #51 on the list of what Americans fear most out of 90 other things. Our programmed doom evokes less terror than heights, sharks, and government snooping. In fairness, there are good reasons for us to have evolved this “death complacency”. Pursuing immortality was a fool’s errand for 90% of the ~100 billion humans who have ever lived, so psychological copes to rationalize death were adaptive. Otherwise, you’d waste your time at best, or at worst, croak from some quack therapy, such as China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang, who reportedly died from mercury poisoning. However, such fatalism seems much less rational in the current era, now that we carve runes on sand to make it think and technology performs feats our ancestors would have considered magical on a daily basis.

Some people naturally “grok” this logic - early on in their online lives, they come across a life extension activist like Aubrey de Grey, or Mikhail Batin (in Russia), or a broader transhumanist philosopher like Ray Kurzweil (this describes me) - and don’t really need any further arguments. I suspect that most people who were ever going to be receptive to those arguments have already encountered them in some form or other, and don’t need to be convinced. However, though they might passively support radical life extension - “sure, wouldn’t it be cool to live to read every book and visit every city!” - getting them to devote a substantial percentage of their time, money, or energy proselytizing the cause or working on the science directly is another matter. Tens of millions have come across Bostrom’s Fable of the Dragon Tyrant. But parties that make radical life extension a central plank of their platform, such as the US Transhumanist Party or Germany’s Party for Rejuvenation Research, garner rounding error levels of electoral support. The field commands perhaps 2,000 serious researchers around the world and gets $5 billion in annual funding. It’s near irrelevant even so far as biotech goes, let alone the R&D sector as a whole.

To accelerate life extension I think what we need is a cult fraternal society and in this post I will suggest two ways we can incubate one.

The Snake Cult

Aligned communities that share major goals or values usually have some signals and symbols that members use to identify each other. These organizations can be ideological, religious, ethnic, linguistic, or various combinations thereof. Esperantists were a linguistic society on the surface, but probably played a greater role as humanists and internationalists. Mormonism developed a set of arcane (and slightly titillating) initiation rituals on top of the idiosyncratic theology. Freemasonry was primarily a mutual aid society, politically “normie” - patriotic, religious, supportive of the British Empire - but with “secret” handshakes and passwords, and symbols such as the Square and Compasses or the All-Seeing Eye. All three of them thrived at their peak, and Mormonism is still going strong.

Museum of Freemasonry in London, UK. Rings, lapel pins, and even pocket watches were decorated with Masonic symbolism to make it easier for members to recognize each other. Own photo.

Right now, my impression is that to the extent that the longevity community has an “aesthetic”, it is based on clean food and clean living - “healthy breakfasts” based on vegan or vegetarian cuisine, and cold plunges and sauna; while “vices” such as alcohol and fast food are frowned upon. Although this doubtless reflects this community’s (unsurprisingly) well above average interest in health and fitness, I don’t think it is a sufficiently distinct aesthetic to be very inspirational by itself, and in its worst expressions, actually risks undermining some of the core philosophical tenets of life extension. The dietary woo du jour - Blueprint Protocol today, paleo and “bulletproof coffee” back in the early 2010s - isn’t going to bring us immortality (perhaps 2-3 more years at best), nor is it going to channel more human and financial capital into the science. In the worst case scenario, it may even repel some talent, should public perceptions of the community become excessively colored by its more “wooish” elements.

This is obviously not to say I am against “wellness” per se. But we have to be clear that it though there is some overlap - just as there is with the worlds of crypto, or rationalism - these are still two quite distinct worldviews. What I propose is a more concrete, physically visible identifier for people who subscribe to radical life extension in the sense of “making death optional.” Radical life extension isn’t a politically radical or super-controversial proposal, so there doesn’t seem to be much point in secret signs and handshakes. However, I think physical objects such as lapel pins, rings, or other items of jewelry or body art that display some agreed upon community symbol could play a positive role in reinforcing community identity and fostering moments of serendipity in random cafes and airport lounges across the world.

The Great Serpent: the symbol of the Aes Sedai magical society in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time.

I will be happy to see vitalists brainstorm this, though personally I already have a suggestion: The Ouroboros.

1. The snake as a skin-shedding organism represents the concept of change while preserving its essence. Some of the earliest cults were snake cults. In the Biblical mythos, the snake imparted the gift of knowledge to Eve, who then passed it on to Adam. There is an obscure but fascinating theory that this was actually a metaphor for the appearance of self-reflective consciousness, which may have occurred in women before men¹. Interestingly, cobra venom has a compound similar to psilocybe, the psychedelic compound in mushrooms. One natural anti-venom is rutin. Where is it found? Apples! (This psychedelic envenomation was accompanied by ritual slaying of the snake, which is possibly where the Dragon-slaying myths originated).

2. The Rod of Asclepius - a serpent entwined around a staff - represents medicine and healthcare. In this interpretation, the ouroboros - a snake that entwines back onto itself - may be taken to represent a form of medicine that has become self-sustaining and self-renewing; the rod, a harsh and angular object that promises pain like needles and scalpels, has become redundant.

3. The snake eating its own tail is an ancient symbol of Eternal Life in alchemy, Gnosticism, and even SFF literature.

You have all these new tech startups naming themselves after various entities in Tolkien’s legendarium. But let’s read another book. In Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, the Aes Sedai - an all-female magical society - wear a ring in the form of a Great Serpent. “Aes Sedai” means “Servant of All” in the Old Tongue, which actually seems rather appropriate for life extension proselytizers². The Aes Sedai were themselves likely somewhat inspired by the Bene Gesserit of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Speculatively, their name might be a far future linguistic mutation of Latin that roughly means “bearer of good [works]” - also quite apt. The Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit gain their clairvoyant powers by ingesting the spice melange, a toxic byproduct of drowned sandworms. The sandworms themselves represent the “spice” of life and are themselves immortal.

4. From more practical considerations, the ouroboros is distinctive and its circular form makes it highly functional. In particular, it can be elegantly integrated with wearables. (Perhaps the Oura Ring can do a special edition for vitalists?). Another potential canvass is the body itself in the form of tattoos or other body art. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but quite popular with “Grinders” and the artistic countercultures that revolve around core transhumanism.

Again, it’s important to keep in mind the logic behind this strategy. There are many people who somewhat support life extension (e.g. 38% in a 2013 PEW poll). It’s not really the marginal or super-controversial position that some vitalists believe it to be³. But it’s also not something that’s at the top of most people’s minds due to death complacency. It does tend to become more of a concern when you get Stage 4 cancer, but by then it’s too late to do much, and you have other priorities such as medical treatment and writing wills anyway. Only a very small percentage of the world’s population is ready to make substantial let alone drastic changes to their lives to accelerate radical life extension timelines.

Having visible symbols and identifiers out there will imprint itself on social perceptions and perhaps move the fear of death from #51 on people’s list of concerns to, say, #21; certainly not that cardinal a change in absolute terms, but that’s still thousands more researchers and activists entering this sector on the margins. Since the sector is still very small, that would be a huge impact. By easing member identification, it will also increase the numbers of chance meetings with productive outcomes between vitalists (serendipity). Even amongst the hardcore - say, researchers, activists, and founders who directly work in this sector, or regulars at conferences such as Vitalist Bay or RAADFest - there are wildly differing levels of commitment. So even there, more interactions in different settings at more consistent intervals means more opportunities for these people to find a niche in this sector. Perhaps a new Vitalist podcast needs a community manager, or a rejuvenation startup is on the lookout for an AI specialist, or Jellyfish DAO wants to fund a fantasy movie in which the immortality-seekers are the good guys for a change. The greater the incidence of such horizontal connections within any given network - be it a corporation, a country, a cult, or a clandestine society - the more efficient it is at generating results and making an impact on the world.

If this is something that you believe then why not wear it proudly on your sleeves?

Map: Historical Geography by John F. Smith (1888). The terminus, labeled Immortality, is in San Francisco. Prophetic?

Biosingularity Museum

One other thing successful cults (therefore are not considered to be cults) do is build hubs for interfacing with the general public in ways that maximize their status and prestige. These are often museums. The Grand Lodge of Freemasonry in London hosts the Museum of Freemasonry. It is free to visit, and paints a very attractive image of the society, emphasizing its patriotism and early ethnic and religious tolerance. This is also done by high agency ethnic and religious groups. The Ismailis, a progressive Muslim sect, maintain very nice cultural centers around the world that organize open days to explain their traditions. Jewish organizations have funded lavish museums of Jewish culture and history in many of the world’s major cities from Berlin to Washington D.C. At the highest level, the world’s major countries run language learning centers and cultural embassies such as the Confucius Institute (China), the Goethe Institute (Germany), or the British Council (UK) in order to promote their “soft power.”

The world obviously has no shortage of technical museums documenting science and engineering. But awe-inspiring as many of them are, they tend to be monuments to past glories - not the inspiring and tastefully deranged visions of the future that we really need. There are, to be sure, some that bill themselves as “futurist” museums. One example that comes to mind is the Futurium Museum in Berlin. Sadly, its name is a lie, since its primary role is to pay homage to the German state’s degrowth and bioconservative ideology than anything else. The exhibit on human genetic enhancement gives pride of place to a hectoring bioethicist who goes off against He Jiankui for working outside institutions. That says it all.

Now in fairness there are a number of house-museums about transhumanist individuals. In central Russia, with which I am familiar, there is the Library Museum of Nikolay Fyodorov in Moscow, which doubles as a small research center, and the museum-apartment of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk. In the Bay Area, Zoltan Istvan organized the Immortality Bus tour as part of his 2016 Presidential campaign in an interesting fusion of political activism and performance art. There are meetup groups and even somewhat aligned semi-permanent social hubs - Lighthaven in Berkeley, which is run by the same people who maintain LessWrong, comes to mind. And there are of course many temporary art exhibitions, pop-up villages, and conferences on transhumanist themes.

However, I am unaware of any specifically transhumanist museums. At any rate, not in the SF Bay Area. Which is perhaps surprising, since it’s undoubtedly the global epicenter of this ideology. Nor is it exactly a poor community; there are no end of Silicon Valley multi-millionaires in this demographic.

So here’s the pitch: A museum in the SF Bay Area, preliminary name: The Biosingularity Museum, featuring:

1. Permanent collection about the history of transhumanism from Russian cosmism through 1920s Futurism, Extropianism, the appearance of modern transhumanism as we know it from the 1980s, and contemporary branches such as bio/acc and Vitalism. We want it to be bio-focused for several reasons. First, space technology is already very much documented and “explored”; you don’t have to convince normies that space is cool. Likewise, there are many major computer museums from Bletchley Park to Mountain View. Not many low-hanging fruit there. AI in particular is hot and might well create utopia or kill us all within the next decade. Which if anything is another reason to promote a bio-centric agenda, insofar as it nudges probabilities, however marginal, towards outcomes that are good for the biosphere.

Consequently, I envisage this museum having a special focus on human enhancement and radical life extension. Artifacts might include original editions of works by Nikolay Fyodorov, J.B.S. Haldane, and Robert C.W. Ettinger; original Alcor cryopods and Neuralink prototype models; brochures from historically notable transhumanist events and conferences, with a special focus on the SF Bay Area; and interactive exhibits from existing companies developing products in the space (complete with the usual partnerships and discount codes). Perhaps Long Now might donate one of their clocks, and I gather Zoltan Istvan is still looking to find a permanent home for his coffin-shaped Immortality Bus. The collections will be interactive where feasible, and tastefully integrated with NFTs.

3. Resources permitting, it may be worth associating the museum with a thematic aesthetic style. Perhaps Swiss artist H.R. Giger’s intriguing if disturbing “biomechanical” visions made famous by the Aliens franchise. (This also inspired the indie video game Scorn). Not 100% sure if this is a good idea or not - it could either be too edgy (xenomorphs aren’t exactly utopia-coded), or alternatively might come off as gaudy if not done exactly right. A safer bet might be the Cyber-Baroque/Neo-Renaissance interior decor of the Deus Ex video games. Or it could play it really safe and go with standard vines-on-concrete biopunk.

4. The best museums aren’t depositories gathering dust. They double as social hubs, spaces for art exhibitions and guest lectures, and research units in their own right. The Biosingularity Museum will have a bookshop selling physical books from The Singularity is Near to The Network State. It may also be worthwhile to double it as a library for members. Bookshops these days make most of their money from coffee shops and public events, so it will be important to include them as well. It can incorporate the latest “wellness” trends/fads - nutty pudding today, perhaps “bulletproof coffee” for the oldtimers - but the social core should be the “coffee salon” that has served as the social fulcrum for eccentric and future-oriented communities since 17C.

The Jewish Museum in Moscow has a tripartite structure. Own photos.

5. Finally, though perhaps overly ambitious, the most elite museums double as original research units in their own right. In my view one such “perfect” museum is the lavishly funded Jewish Museum in Moscow. It starts off with an inspirational 4D film relaying the Jewish story from the Covenant to the Exodus. It is a simple narrative, easily accessible to the normiest of 00 IQ normies, but at the same time also plays a central role in setting the thematic and ideological tone for the rest of the exhibit. (I think the “normie” narrative for transhumanism might look something like Sarif’s transhumanist ending in Deus Ex: Human Revolution). The permanent exhibit contains the standard museum fare - in this case, artifacts related to Jewish history and culture in Russia - targeted at the 115 IQ college-educated demographic that frequents such museums. The third and final part is a research center centered around the Schneerson Library for the most committed scholars who represent the 130 IQ element. They uncover new data about the Jewish experience, contextualize it within existing narratives of Jewish history, and feed their work back into the museum’s other constituent parts to further optimize and refine them. Connecting these elements is a cafe, which serves as the social hub, and an exhibition and lecture space called the Center of Tolerance (which propounds a humanistic ideology). Aesthetically, as with many Jewish museums, it hews to a brutalist style that I take to be reflective of the relatively traumatic nature of the Jewish story.

This may serve as a rough template for how the Biosingularity Museum might be set up and organized.

As regards the integrated research unit… Well, this is the main reason I went on this whole museum tangent in the first place.

Scenes from Frontier Tower. Own photos.

This summer will see the inauguration of Frontier Tower in the heart of San Francisco. This is a 16 storey skyscraper whose various floors will host office spaces devoted to biotech, crypto/Web3, AI, neuroscience, robotics, and other “frontier” tech. Other floors will host general community spaces, a gym, and a “human flourishing” center. There is even a basement that can host raves. As in a classical university, or a “pop-up village” like Zuzalu or Edge Esmeralda, the main idea is that all of these spaces should cross-pollinate each other, e.g. use AI to map brain connectomes, or set up crypto-based DeSci/Bio DAOs. The Tower’s social fulcrum will be the coffee lounge on the 16th floor. It’s like something from a cyberpunk video game and I am incredibly excited to see what they make of it.

Frontier Tower will also have a public-facing space. What can they do with it? Having a space for public events, conferences, and guest lectures goes without speaking. Another part of the space can offer wellness services. Then again, this is San Francisco. The richest major urban cluster in the world. It’s not like it’s hard to find “ “healthy breakfasts” or anything from rock climbing gyms to cryo spas here. But a museum that’s integrated into a cross-disciplinary frontier research hub - now that might be something that’s quite unique. Just throwing that out there.

1. Andrew Cutler’s Eve Theory of Consciousness.

2. In fairness, as in 99% of fantasy, Robert Jordan portrays the search for immortality in a negative light. The Forsaken, a group of powerful fallen sorcerers, gained their immortality through a Faustian bargain with the Dark One, the evil deity of that universe. Though in that universe reincarnation is provably real, so death isn’t as final or I suppose as “bad” as in ours; the “Great Serpent” that the Aes Sedai rings depict refers to the mechanism driving this reincarnation machine through the cycles of Ages, and the Dark One’s goal is to destroy it.

3. This would sooner describe IQ/acc with its more overt eugenic connotations.