Natasha Vita-More: revision 1 to 2

Revision 1

Revision 2

categories: ["people"]

tags: ["transhumanism", "design", "cryonics", "human enhancement", "art"]

summary: "American designer and theorist who wrote the Transhumanist Arts Statement, designed the Primo Posthuman body concept, and led Humanity+ for much of the 2010s."

summary: "American designer and theorist who wrote the Transhumanist Arts Statement, designed the Primo Posthuman body concept, and led Humanity+ for much of the 2010s."

updated: "2026-07-27"

updated: "2026-10-29"

issues: ["Birth year and birth name in the infobox carry no source.", "The Reception section characterises critical posthumanist criticism without citing any of it."]

issues: ["Birth year and birth name in the infobox carry no source.", "The Reception section characterises critical posthumanist criticism without citing any of it."]

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**Natasha Vita-More** is an American designer, artist and theorist who has worked since the early

1980s on the aesthetics and embodiment of [[transhumanism]] — the question of what an enhanced human

1980s on the aesthetics and embodiment of [[transhumanism]]: what an enhanced human body would

body would actually look like and how a person would relate to it. She authored the Transhumanist

actually look like, and how a person would relate to it. She authored the Transhumanist Arts

Arts Statement, designed the speculative whole-body concept Primo Posthuman, and served as chair

Statement, designed the speculative whole-body concept Primo Posthuman, and served as chair and then

and then executive director of [[humanity-plus]]. She is one of the few figures in the movement to

executive director of [[humanity-plus]]. She is one of the few figures in the movement to approach

approach enhancement as a design problem rather than an engineering or philosophical one.

enhancement as a design problem rather than an engineering or philosophical one.

## Career

Vita-More entered futurism through art and media rather than science. In the early 1980s she

Vita-More came to futurism through art and media rather than science. In the early 1980s she

produced video work on life extension and hosted a cable television programme in Los Angeles

covering emerging technology, aging research and futurist thought, at a time when the topics had

covering emerging technology, aging research and futurist thought, at a time when these topics had

almost no mainstream outlet. She circulated the Transhumanist Arts Statement in 1982, which framed

almost no mainstream outlet. She circulated the Transhumanist Arts Statement in 1982. It framed

artistic practice as a means of imagining and prototyping future forms of embodiment rather than

artistic practice as a way of imagining and prototyping future forms of embodiment, rather than

representing existing ones.[^tas1982]

She took a doctorate at the University of Plymouth in 2012 through its planetary collegium

programme, and has taught at the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona. She co-edited

programme, and has taught at the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona. With [[max-more]],

*The Transhumanist Reader* (2013) with [[max-more]], to whom she is married; the volume remains the

to whom she is married, she co-edited *The Transhumanist Reader* (2013), which remains the standard

standard anthology of the movement's primary texts.[^reader2013]

anthology of the movement's primary texts.[^reader2013]

## Primo Posthuman

Primo Posthuman, first presented in 1997 and revised repeatedly since, is a conceptual design for a

future human body specified as a product might be: a labelled diagram with subsystems for

future human body specified the way a product might be: a labelled diagram with subsystems for

metabolism, sensory input, memory, error correction and replaceable components. It proposes

distributed data storage in place of a single vulnerable brain, sensory channels beyond the

biological range, skin capable of colour and texture change, and modular organs replaceable on

biological range, skin that can change colour and texture, and modular organs that can be replaced

failure.

when they fail.

Nothing in it is buildable, and the design does not claim otherwise. Its function is to make the

Nothing in it can be built, and the design does not claim otherwise. Its purpose is to make visible

implicit content of enhancement arguments visible. Philosophical discussions of

what enhancement arguments leave implicit. Philosophical discussions of [[posthuman|posthumanity]]

[[posthuman|posthumanity]] describe capacities — longer healthspan, greater cognitive range,

describe capacities such as longer healthspan, greater cognitive range and a broader emotional

broader emotional repertoire — without specifying any body that has them; Primo Posthuman asks what

repertoire without specifying any body that has them. Primo Posthuman asks what the specification

the specification looks like when someone tries to draw it. The resulting design surfaces the

looks like when someone tries to draw it. The resulting design brings up the questions the abstract

questions the abstract arguments defer: where memory lives if it is distributed, what

arguments put off: where memory lives if it is distributed, what

[[personal-identity-and-continuity|continuity of identity]] means across modular replacement, and

what a person would find beautiful about a body they had specified themselves. Related themes run

through [[morphological-freedom]] and [[sensory-augmentation]].

> [!note] Design fiction, not a prototype

> Primo Posthuman belongs to a tradition of speculative design in which the artifact is an argument.

> Treating it as an engineering proposal — as some coverage has — misreads both the object and the

> Treating it as an engineering proposal, as some coverage has, misreads both the object and the

> claim.

## The C. elegans memory experiment

Vita-More's one experimental contribution is a study, published with Daniel Barranco in 2015, asking

whether learned information survives vitrification in a nematode.[^vmb2015] The worms were trained

using a standard olfactory imprinting protocol, cryopreserved by vitrification, revived, and then

with a standard olfactory imprinting protocol, cryopreserved by vitrification, revived, and then

tested for retention of the imprint. The trained animals retained the association after revival.

The result is real and modest, and it is worth stating what it does and does not show. *Caenorhabditis

The result is real and modest, and its limits need stating. *Caenorhabditis elegans* has 302

elegans* has 302 neurons, is small enough for cryoprotectant to reach every cell, and is routinely

neurons, is small enough for cryoprotectant to reach every cell, and is routinely cryopreserved in

cryopreserved in laboratories; the learned behaviour is a simple chemosensory imprint, not an

laboratories; the learned behaviour is a simple chemosensory imprint, not an episodic memory. The

episodic memory. The experiment establishes that vitrification need not erase a stored association

experiment establishes that vitrification need not erase a stored association in a tiny nervous

in a tiny nervous system. It says nothing directly about whether a human brain's structural

system. It says nothing directly about whether a human brain's structural information survives the

information survives the far harsher process of whole-body [[cryonics]], where perfusion is uneven,

far harsher process of whole-body [[cryonics]], where perfusion is uneven, ischemic time is long and

ischemic time is long and cryoprotectant toxicity is the central unsolved problem. It is nonetheless

cryoprotectant toxicity is the central unsolved problem. Even so, it is one of the few pieces of

one of the few pieces of published experimental evidence anyone in the cryonics community has

published experimental evidence anyone in the cryonics community has produced, and it is cited in

produced, and it is cited in discussions of [[brain-preservation]] for that reason.

discussions of [[brain-preservation]] for that reason.

## Advocacy and organizational work

Vita-More chaired the board and later served as executive director of Humanity+, the successor to

the World Transhumanist Association founded by [[nick-bostrom]] and David Pearce, during the period

when the organization shifted from an activist body to a smaller publishing and conference

operation. Her positions within the movement have been consistently on the side of aesthetics,

operation. Within the movement she has consistently sided with aesthetics, access and diversity of

access and diversity of forms — arguing that enhancement described only as capability increase

forms. She has argued that describing enhancement only as an increase in capability misses the fact

misses that people will choose bodies for expressive reasons, and that a movement composed largely

that people will choose bodies for expressive reasons, and that a movement composed largely of men

of men arguing about compute has a narrow view of what people want from their bodies.

arguing about compute has a narrow view of what people want from their bodies.

## Reception and legacy

Academic engagement with her work comes mainly from design, art theory and media studies rather

Academic engagement with her work comes mainly from design, art theory and media studies; bioethics

than from bioethics or biology, which have largely ignored it. Critical posthumanist scholars,

and biology have largely ignored it. Critical posthumanist scholars, whose tradition is separate

whose tradition is separate from and often hostile to transhumanism, have criticized Primo Posthuman

from and often hostile to transhumanism, have criticized Primo Posthuman as consumerist, a body

as consumerist — a body reimagined as a serviceable product, with the market assumptions of its

reimagined as a serviceable product with the market assumptions of its period built in. Within the

period built in. Within the movement, her durable contribution is having insisted for four decades

movement, her durable contribution is four decades of insisting that enhancement is about

that enhancement is about embodiment, and that a philosophy of the future which cannot describe a

embodiment, and that a philosophy of the future which cannot describe a body is incomplete.

body is incomplete.

That insistence has become more relevant, not less, as actual devices arrive. Implants,

That insistence has become more relevant as actual devices arrive. Implants, [[neuroprosthetics]]

[[neuroprosthetics]] and [[exoskeleton|powered exoskeletons]] are now designed by engineering teams

and [[exoskeleton|powered exoskeletons]] are now designed by engineering teams with no framework for

with no framework for the questions she raised about how a modified body should feel to inhabit and

the questions she raised about how a modified body should feel to inhabit and to look at. Whether

to look at. Whether design practice can supply that framework before the devices standardize around

design practice can supply that framework before the devices standardize around clinical convention

clinical convention is unresolved.

is unresolved.

Her position also marks a real fault line inside the movement. Its dominant strand treats the body

as a temporary substrate to be escaped, with [[mind-uploading]] as the destination,

[[substrate-independence]] as the premise, and biology as an engineering problem to be routed

around. Vita-More's work assumes the opposite: that being embodied is not incidental to being a

person, and that a future worth wanting has to specify what the body is for rather than only what

person, and that a future worth wanting has to specify what the body is for, not only what replaces

replaces it. That disagreement is rarely

it. The disagreement is rarely argued explicitly, which is part of why it persists.

argued explicitly, which is part of why it persists.

The practical test is whether anyone builds to her specification. Primo Posthuman has never been

prototyped, and none of its components — the smart skin, the error-correcting organs, the

prototyped, and none of its components (the smart skin, the error-correcting organs, the distributed

distributed backup of memory — exists at a readiness level that would let a designer specify them.

backup of memory) exists at a readiness level that would let a designer specify them. It remains a

It remains a brief written for engineers who cannot yet accept it, which is either a failure of the

brief written for engineers who cannot yet take it on. That can be read as a failure of the brief or

brief or an argument for writing briefs early.

as an argument for writing briefs early.

## See also