Book Review Symposium: Steve Fuller and Veronika Lipinska, The Proactionary Imperative: A Foundation for Transhumanism

Abstract

Fuller and Lipinska claim human potential is shackled by precautionary concerns to avoid harm, placing protection against negative potentials above benefits that might arise from admittedly risky experimentation. ‘The proactionary imperative’ rebalances opportunity over protection. With technological and scientific advancement central to human evolution, citizens have a ‘right’ to liberate science. Risk adverse science policy is supposedly detrimental to a population denied unknown opportunities. EU funding agencies believe removing barriers to innovation through challenge-led, interdisciplinary research undermines assertions that public funding policy is hampering scientific ambition. For Fuller and Lipinska, however, the research agenda should be open for everyone to steer through investment of economic and biological capital; regardless of the disparity in the information the population has to enable informed decisions about science. Public policy makers assert the importance of strategic approaches to harmonise current and future interests. At the European level, research funders seek to balance conflicting strategic priorities, national programmes and increasingly private sources with leverage potential. For the proactionary, big government’s claim to ‘know best’ when ‘protecting’ citizens from themselves jars with faith in knowing, risk taking entrepreneurs. However, this faith does not disprove the value of non-market expertise. Allegedly, up/down replaces left/right. Scientific ‘transfiguration’ (genetic or digital) …