Cynic Direct Action Blog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno-progressivism

excerpt:

Techno-progressivism maintains that accounts of “progress” should focus on scientific and technical dimensions, as well as ethical and social ones. For most techno-progressive perspectives, then, the growth of scientific knowledge or the accumulation of technological powers will not represent the achievement of proper progress unless and until it is accompanied by a just distribution of the costs, risks, and benefits of these new knowledges and capacities. At the same time, for most techno-progressive critics and advocates, the achievement of better democracy, greater fairness, less violence, and a wider rights culture are all desirable, but inadequate in themselves to confront the quandaries of contemporary technological societies unless and until they are accompanied by progress in science and technology to support and implement these values.^[2]

Strong techno-progressive positions include support for the civil right of a person to either maintain or modify his or her own mind and body, on his or her own terms, through informed, consensual recourse to, or refusal of, available therapeutic or enabling biomedical technology.^[3]

• Technocritic Dale Carrico with his accounts of techno-progressivism^[2]
• Philosopher Donna Haraway with her accounts of cyborg theory^[4]
• Cultural critic Mark Dery and his accounts of cyberculture^[5]
• Science journalist Chris Mooney with his account of the U.S. Republican Party’s war on science^[6]
• Futurist Bruce Sterling with his Viridian design movement^[7]
• Futurists Alex Steffen and Jamais Cascio and their Worldchanging blog^[8]
• Science journalist Annalee Newitz with her accounts of the biopunk movement^[9][10]

• Bioethicist James Hughes of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies with his accounts of “democratic transhumanism“^[11

Controversy

Technocritic Dale Carrico, an academic known for using term "techno-progressive" as a shorthand to describe progressive politics that emphasize technoscientific issues,[12] has expressed concern that some transhumanist ideologues are using the term to describe themselves, with the consequence of possibly misleading the public regarding their actual cultural, social and political views, which may or may not be compatible with critical techno-progressivism.[13]