In this episode, I talk with James Steinhoff, a lecturer at University College Dublin, about the overlooked connection between Marxism and transhumanism. We trace left transhumanism back to early 20th-century socialists like Alexander Bogdanov, JBS Haldane. We confront transhumanism's association with eugenics and figures like Peter Thiel. We discuss China's more pragmatic, sector-specific approach to AI versus Silicon Valley's pursuit of “godbuilding.” We ask whether industrialization (and capitalism) were necessary steps toward a post-scarcity society and explore the criticisms of degrowth. We also dig into what counts as "natural" suffering versus social suffering, using examples like insulin, antibiotics, and appendicitis treatment to argue that rejecting medical and technological intervention is also a political choice. The episode closes on why left accelerationism fizzled out and what a renewed, class-conscious case for technological progress on the left might look like.
Check out James on his faculty page here
Check out James JEET Paper “Marxism and Transhumanism” here
Also check out “The Oppression of Nature and the Latent Transhumanism of Maxism” here
