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categories: ["people"]categories: ["people"]tags: ["transhumanism", "movements", "libertarianism", "extropy", "intellectual history", "mailing lists"]tags: ["transhumanism", "movements", "libertarianism", "extropy", "intellectual history", "mailing lists"]summary: "The first organized transhumanist movement, built around a set of optimistic principles for self-directed human transformation and dissolved as an institution in 2006."summary: "The first organized transhumanist movement, built around a set of optimistic principles for self-directed human transformation and dissolved as an institution in 2006."updated: "2026-07-27"updated: "2026-10-29"issues: ["The mailing-list section names many participants without a citation.", "The Extropy Institute's 2006 closing statement is paraphrased with no source."]issues: ["The mailing-list section names many participants without a citation.", "The Extropy Institute's 2006 closing statement is paraphrased with no source."]------ lines 26–42 → 26–4212 unchanged lines not shown
}}`````` **Extropianism** is the first organized [[transhumanism|transhumanist]] movement, formulated in California in the late 1980s around a set of principles favouring perpetual self-improvement, rational optimism, decentralized order, and the deliberate use of technology to overcome biological limits. Its institutional life was short — the Extropy Institute closed in 2006 — but its mailing list functioned as an incubator for a set of ideas and people that went on to shape [[artificial-general-intelligence|AI]] risk research, cryptocurrency, and the modern longevity industry.**Extropianism** is the first organized [[transhumanism|transhumanist]] movement, formulated in California in the late 1980s around a set of principles favouring perpetual self-improvement, rational optimism, decentralized order, and the deliberate use of technology to overcome biological limits. Its institutional life was short (the Extropy Institute closed in 2006), but its mailing list incubated ideas and people that went on to shape [[artificial-general-intelligence|AI]] risk research, cryptocurrency, and the modern longevity industry. ## The name## The name "Extropy" was coined as an informal antonym of entropy: a measure of a system's intelligence, functional order, vitality, and capacity for improvement. Its authors were explicit that it is not a physical quantity and not measurable, and warned against treating it as one.[^more1998] The term functioned as a banner rather than a concept, signalling that the movement's orientation was toward growth and organization in a universe that tends the other way."Extropy" was coined as an informal antonym of entropy: a measure of a system's intelligence, functional order, vitality, and capacity for improvement. Its authors stated explicitly that it is not a physical quantity and not measurable, and warned against treating it as one.[^more1998] The term served as a banner rather than a concept: it signalled that the movement was oriented toward growth and organization in a universe that tends the other way. ## Origins## Origins Max More, then a philosophy graduate student who had changed his name from Max O'Connor, and Tom Bell, writing as T. O. Morrow, launched *Extropy: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought* in 1988. Its early issues collected material on [[cryonics]], nanotechnology as [[eric-drexler]] had described it, [[nootropics]], space settlement, artificial intelligence, and libertarian political economy — a combination that had existed as scattered enthusiasms and had not previously been given a name and a coherent philosophy.Max More, then a philosophy graduate student who had changed his name from Max O'Connor, and Tom Bell, writing as T. O. Morrow, launched *Extropy: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought* in 1988. Its early issues collected material on [[cryonics]], nanotechnology as [[eric-drexler]] had described it, [[nootropics]], space settlement, artificial intelligence, and libertarian political economy. These had existed as scattered enthusiasms but had not previously been given a shared name and a coherent philosophy. More's 1990 essay "Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy" articulated the position as a philosophy of life rather than a technology forecast, and set out the first version of the principles.[^more1990] The Extropy Institute was incorporated in 1992 as a nonprofit to run conferences and publish the journal. Its meetings, held through the 1990s, were among the first venues where cryonicists, AI researchers, nanotechnology advocates, and life-extension proponents met as a single community. Ed Regis's 1994 *Wired* profile brought the group to a general readership, and fixed a public image — chosen names, self-experimentation, and a taste for the ninety-ninth percentile of technological optimism — that the movement never entirely shed.[^regis1994]More's 1990 essay "Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy" articulated the position as a philosophy of life rather than a technology forecast, and set out the first version of the principles.[^more1990] The Extropy Institute was incorporated in 1992 as a nonprofit to run conferences and publish the journal. Its meetings, held through the 1990s, were among the first venues where cryonicists, AI researchers, nanotechnology advocates, and life-extension proponents met as a single community. Ed Regis's 1994 *Wired* profile brought the group to a general readership and fixed a public image that the movement never entirely shed: chosen names, self-experimentation, and a taste for the ninety-ninth percentile of technological optimism.[^regis1994] ```timeline```timeline[[lines 55–70 → 55–7012 unchanged lines not shown
The Principles of Extropy went through several revisions between 1990 and 2003. The final version listed seven: perpetual progress, self-transformation, practical optimism, intelligent technology, open society (information and democracy), self-direction, and rational thinking.[^more2003] Earlier versions included "boundless expansion", "dynamic optimism" and "spontaneous order", the last drawn directly from Friedrich Hayek.The Principles of Extropy went through several revisions between 1990 and 2003. The final version listed seven: perpetual progress, self-transformation, practical optimism, intelligent technology, open society (information and democracy), self-direction, and rational thinking.[^more2003] Earlier versions included "boundless expansion", "dynamic optimism" and "spontaneous order", the last drawn directly from Friedrich Hayek. The principles were framed as an attitude to be adopted rather than propositions to be verified, and the documents said so. Several are worth distinguishing because they became points of divergence within transhumanism:The principles were framed as an attitude to be adopted rather than propositions to be verified, and the documents said so. Three of them later became points of divergence within transhumanism: - **Self-transformation** holds that a person may legitimately redesign their own body, mind and character, and is the ancestor of the [[morphological-freedom]] argument.- **Self-transformation** holds that a person may legitimately redesign their own body, mind and character, and is the ancestor of the [[morphological-freedom]] argument.- **Practical optimism** was explicitly distinguished from faith or blind hope; it asserts that optimism is instrumentally useful because pessimism suppresses effort, not that good outcomes are likely.- **Practical optimism** was explicitly distinguished from faith or blind hope. It asserts that optimism is instrumentally useful because pessimism suppresses effort; it does not assert that good outcomes are likely.- **Spontaneous order**, and the open-society principle that replaced it, encoded a preference for decentralized coordination over central planning that made early extropianism politically libertarian in a way that later transhumanist organizations deliberately were not.- **Spontaneous order**, and the open-society principle that replaced it, encoded a preference for decentralized coordination over central planning that made early extropianism politically libertarian in a way that later transhumanist organizations deliberately were not. More's [[precautionary-principle|proactionary principle]], drafted in 2004, extended this into risk policy: it asks decision-makers to weigh the costs of restricting a technology, including the lives lost to its absence, against the costs of permitting it, rather than treating inaction as the default safe option.More's [[precautionary-principle|proactionary principle]], drafted in 2004, extended this into risk policy: it asks decision-makers to weigh the costs of restricting a technology, including the lives lost to its absence, against the costs of permitting it, rather than treating inaction as the default safe option. > [!note] Terminology> [!note] Terminology> Extropianism is not a synonym for transhumanism. It is one movement within it, distinguished by an explicit libertarian politics and a stated attitude of optimism. Later transhumanist organizations such as [[humanity-plus]] were founded partly to separate the broader philosophical position from these commitments.> Extropianism and transhumanism are not synonyms. Extropianism is one movement within transhumanism, distinguished by an explicit libertarian politics and a stated attitude of optimism. Later transhumanist organizations such as [[humanity-plus]] were founded partly to separate the broader philosophical position from these commitments. ## The mailing list## The mailing list lines 72–78 → 72–781 unchanged line not shown
Participants included [[nick-bostrom]] and [[anders-sandberg]], who carried the [[existential-risk]] and [[whole-brain-emulation]] research programmes into academia; Eliezer Yudkowsky, whose arguments about AI risk grew out of and then against the list's optimism; the economist Robin Hanson; [[ray-kurzweil]] and Drexler as occasional presences; and the cryptographers Hal Finney, Nick Szabo and Wei Dai. Szabo's bit gold and Dai's b-money proposals, both direct antecedents of Bitcoin, were circulated in this milieu, and Finney received the first Bitcoin transaction and was later cryopreserved at [[alcor]].Participants included [[nick-bostrom]] and [[anders-sandberg]], who carried the [[existential-risk]] and [[whole-brain-emulation]] research programmes into academia; Eliezer Yudkowsky, whose arguments about AI risk grew out of and then against the list's optimism; the economist Robin Hanson; [[ray-kurzweil]] and Drexler as occasional presences; and the cryptographers Hal Finney, Nick Szabo and Wei Dai. Szabo's bit gold and Dai's b-money proposals, both direct antecedents of Bitcoin, were circulated in this milieu, and Finney received the first Bitcoin transaction and was later cryopreserved at [[alcor]]. This concentration is the strongest claim extropianism has on historical attention. A list with a few hundred subscribers produced, within twenty years, the intellectual seeds of contemporary AI safety research, of cryptocurrency, and of a substantial part of the [[longevity-escape-velocity|life-extension]] funding ecosystem.This concentration of people is the strongest reason extropianism draws historical attention. Within twenty years, a list with a few hundred subscribers produced the intellectual seeds of contemporary AI safety research, of cryptocurrency, and of a substantial part of the [[longevity-escape-velocity|life-extension]] funding ecosystem. ## Dissolution and afterlife## Dissolution and afterlife lines 80–100 → 80–1001 unchanged line not shown
More went on to lead Alcor for most of the 2010s. [[natasha-vita-more]], who had developed a parallel strand of transhumanist art and body design and who married More, took leadership roles in Humanity+ and edited the movement's principal anthology.[^reader2013]More went on to lead Alcor for most of the 2010s. [[natasha-vita-more]], who had developed a parallel strand of transhumanist art and body design and who married More, took leadership roles in Humanity+ and edited the movement's principal anthology.[^reader2013] The ideas dispersed rather than died. Contemporary [[effective-accelerationism]] restates practical optimism and the proactionary principle in the vocabulary of thermodynamics and startup culture, largely without acknowledging the lineage. [[biohacking|Grinder]] subculture inherited self-transformation as a physical practice. [[singularitarianism]] took the technology forecast and dropped the politics. The [[posthuman|posthuman]] end-state that extropian writing described is now discussed mainly in bioethics, where it is treated as a claim to be evaluated rather than a goal to be pursued.The ideas dispersed rather than dying out. Contemporary [[effective-accelerationism]] restates practical optimism and the proactionary principle in the vocabulary of thermodynamics and startup culture, largely without acknowledging the lineage. [[biohacking|Grinder]] subculture inherited self-transformation as a physical practice. [[singularitarianism]] took the technology forecast and dropped the politics. The [[posthuman|posthuman]] end-state that extropian writing described is now discussed mainly in bioethics, where it is treated as a claim to be evaluated rather than a goal to be pursued. ## Criticism## Criticism Three lines of criticism have held up.Three lines of criticism have held up. The first is that the movement's optimism was a stance rather than a conclusion, and that stating this openly does not immunize it. Deciding in advance to expect good outcomes is a poor procedure for estimating probabilities, and the extropian forecast record — [[medical-nanorobots|nanomedicine]], [[mind-uploading]], and radical life extension all expected within decades — reflects it.The first is that the movement's optimism was a stance rather than a conclusion, and that stating this openly does not protect it from criticism. Deciding in advance to expect good outcomes is a poor procedure for estimating probabilities, and the extropian forecast record reflects it: [[medical-nanorobots|nanomedicine]], [[mind-uploading]], and radical life extension were all expected within decades. The second is political. Bioconservative critics and left-leaning transhumanists agreed, from opposite directions, that a movement combining private [[human-enhancement|enhancement]] with hostility to regulation had no account of who would be left behind. The [[access-and-inequality]] problem was visible in extropian writing mainly as an objection to be rebutted. James Hughes's argument for a democratic transhumanism was written explicitly against this tendency.The second is political. Bioconservative critics and left-leaning transhumanists agreed, from opposite directions, that a movement combining private [[human-enhancement|enhancement]] with hostility to regulation had no account of who would be left behind. The [[access-and-inequality]] problem was visible in extropian writing mainly as an objection to be rebutted. James Hughes's argument for a democratic transhumanism was written explicitly against this tendency. The third is that "extropy" itself never did any work. Presented as the movement's organizing concept, it turned out to be a mood rather than a measure, and the documents defining it conceded the point.The third is that "extropy" itself never did any analytical work. Presented as the movement's organizing concept, it turned out to be a mood rather than a measure, and the documents defining it conceded as much. ## Legacy## Legacy Extropianism's significance is as a social formation rather than a body of theory. It assembled, named, and networked a set of positions that had previously been separate hobbies, and it did so early enough that the people it assembled were still young. Judged by its own principles it failed: the technologies it anticipated arrived slowly or not at all, and the institution dissolved. Judged by the second-order question of which conversations it started, its influence on AI risk, digital currency and longevity funding is out of all proportion to its size — which raises the harder question of whether the small, self-selected online community remains an efficient way to originate ideas, or whether that was a feature of a particular decade of the internet.Extropianism matters as a social formation rather than as a body of theory. It assembled, named, and networked a set of positions that had previously been separate hobbies, and it did so early enough that the people it assembled were still young. Judged by its own principles it failed: the technologies it anticipated arrived slowly or not at all, and the institution dissolved. Judged by which conversations it started, its influence on AI risk, digital currency and longevity funding is out of all proportion to its size. That raises a harder question: whether the small, self-selected online community remains an efficient way to originate ideas, or whether its success belonged to a particular decade of the internet. ## See also## See also removed, struck through added, underlinedLine numbers count the serialised markdown of each revision, frontmatter included.
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