Natasha Vita-More
Natasha Vita-More PhD (born February 22, 1950) is an early transhumanist advocate and founder of the Center for Transhumanist Studies[1] and former Graduate Studies Department Chair and Professor of Innovation, Ethics and Communication at the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) during 2012-2020.
Natasha Vita-More made contributions to the early transhumanist movement and continues to speak and write about cultural, philosophical, and socio-political issues concerning what it means to be human, and the need for lifelong learning to better understand the current environment and our place in it and to develop trajectories for where we are headed in the near and distant future.
She is the author and co-editor of The Transhumanist Reader and designer of Primo Posthuman, a future human body prototype. Along with Daniel Barranco from the Department of Cryobiology of the Spanish University of Seville, she developed a scientific breakthrough on long-term memory and neuron preservation of C. elegans.[2] She is also an international speaker on human enhancement, longevity, and humanity's future. She formerly held the title of Executive Director of Humanity+ from February 2018 until August 2024[3] and was a former faculty member at the University of Advancing Technology. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (University of Plymouth, UK), Master of Philosophy (School of Engineering, Communication and Technology, University of Plymouth, UK), and a Master of Science in Future Studies (Social Science & Humanities Department, University of Houston, US).
Personal Life
Natasha Vita-More wrote the "Transhuman Statement" in 1983, which later became "The Transhumanist Manifesto" (1998, 2019), hosted and produced "TransCentury UPdate" cable TV show in 1986-1994, and developed the Transhumanist Arts & Culture World Center in 1992.[4] She has been an advocate of radical life extension for many years. Natasha was in a romatic and professional relationship between 1983 and 1991 with FM-2030. She was the point person for his cryonic suspension, which she fought for on his behalf, against odds due to the lack of understanding of cryonics by his caretakers at his death in 2000. Today she is married to Max More, the former CEO and President of Alcor.
History
In 1983, after authoring "The Transhumanist Manifesto", she developed events in the Los Angeles that focused on life extension. In 1986, she produced and was host of TransCentury UPdate, a cable TV show on the future. In 1992, she signed up for cryonics.
In 1992, Natasha (operating under her previous name, Nancie Clark) was elected to the County Council of the Green Party of Los Angeles County, representing the 28th State Senate district.[5] She resigned her seat in 1993.
In 1996, Vita-More innovated the concept of a whole body prosthesis. With a team of experts (Marvin Minsky (AI), Hans Moravec (robotics) and Ralph Merkle (nanotechnology), she designed the first future body design as a wearable system. This is known as Primo Posthuman, a vision for a highly modified transhuman body.[6]
In 2004 she briefly set up an early alliance of transhumanist organizations in the form of the Transhumanist Cooperative Colloquium.
In 2015, Natasha Vita-More, working with Daniel Barranco, demonstrated that long-term memory of the nematode worm C. elegans can be sustained after cryonic suspension and reviving.[7] The published paper and received more than 16,000 downloads the first month.
Notable Facts
- Natasha Vita-More was the Executive Director of Humanity+, Inc., a non-profit educational organization, from February 2018 until August 2024.
- Featured in the documentary Inhuman: The Next & Final Phase of Man is Here
- Co-author of the Transhumanist Declaration
- Speaker at Human by Design
External Links
- natasha.cc
Natasha Vita-More on Wikipedia- natashavitamore on Twitter
- Interview on Singularity 1 on 1
References
- ↑ Center for Transhumanist Studies. Available at https://transhumanist-studies.teachable.com/. Accessed May 29, 2025.
- ↑ Natasha Vita-More and Daniel Barranco. "Persistence of Long-Term Memory in Vitrified and Revived Caenorhabditis elegans." Rejuvenation Research. Volume 18, Number 5, 2015. doi: 10.1089/ rej.2014.1636. Available at https://www.cryonicsarchive.org/docs/persistence-of-long-term-memory-in-vitrified-and-revived-c-elegans.pdf. Accessed May 29, 2025.
- ↑ "Changes at Humanity+ - our Future Path". Humanity Plus. December 12, 2024. Available at https://www.humanityplus.org/news/changes-at-humanity-our-future-path. Accessed May 29, 2025.
- ↑ Transhumanist Arts & Culture World Center. transhumanist.biz. Archived from the original at http://web.archive.org/web/20031027033256/http://www.transhumanist.biz/tac.htm. Accessed May 29, 2025.
- ↑ "County Council, Green Party of Los Angeles County"
- ↑ "Ep. 32 - Designing the Future with Natasha Vita-More"
- ↑ "Persistence of Long-Term Memory in Vitrified and Revived Caenorhabditis elegans"