Humanity: The Remix

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Still others backed away from a cloning ban, fearing their support would be exploited by pro-lifers.

"This is where the situation gets very, very complicated for the deep ecologists," says Hughes. "Roe v. Wade made the issue 'viability' and set an arbitrary standard at six months, a position that the deep ecologists have felt comfortable accepting. But how will they respond when we have developed artificial wombs that can gestate an embryo all the way to term, and viability officially becomes conception? It's a very real conflict for them."

His answer is what he calls "personhood theory," a concept from bioethics that would grant rights to self-aware "persons," not humans per se. Babies, adults, the great apes, whales, dolphins, artificial intelligence, and perhaps extraterrestrials are among the entities that deserve personhood rights, he says. Embryos, fetuses, the brain dead -- these beings may be human in terms of DNA, but in this view they are not persons. Hughes uses such concepts to articulate a new political axis of his own -- between what he calls the new "biopolitical right" and people in favor of technological exploration. In September, prominent transhumanists will meet with reproduction-rights advocates, disability-rights advocates, drug-policy reformers, and transgendered activists at a seminar in Berkeley to discuss a possible coalition of their own. Hughes credits transgendered people with "fighting some of the first battles to define their own bodies and lives."

"Ultimately, we're working to create a world where people have control over their own bodies and minds," he says. "We want a socially responsible world, a sexy, high-tech, radically democratic world."

It's worth noting that efforts in Congress to control cloning in recent years have failed. The conflict over abortion is said to be the major reason why. President Bush's limit on federal funding for stem cell research remains in place, but its effect could be eroding. California, birthplace of the Extropians, has begun building its own stem cell industry with $3 billion in development funds that voters approved last fall. One researcher there says he plans to start human tests on a stem cell therapy for damaged spinal nerves next year. Even as advocates for the ill laud the California initiative, various pro-choice groups recently called for more controls on harvesting human eggs, warning that a market for them could threaten women's health. But that hasn't quelled the public demand for cures or the biotech sector's hope of profit. Driven by such forces, other states are planning research programs of their own.

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