The Quest for Immortality

In this episode of The Small Print, Bronwyn speaks to the transhumanist Zoltan Istvan. They talk about his goal of ending ageing, and ultimately death; his 2016 presidential campaign and what it was like to advocate for transhumanism in the bible belt; the tension between individual and collective interests in the transhumanist movement; and why religion poses a major obstacle on the quest to cheat death.

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Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bronwynwilliams

Flux Trends: https://www.fluxtrends.com/future-flux/futurist-in-residence/

Website: https://whatthefuturenow.com/

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Zoltan Istvan is an American transhumanist, journalist, entrepreneur, and political candidate. Formerly a reporter for the National Geographic Channel, Istvan now writes futurist, transhumanist, secular and political-themed articles for major media, including The New York Times, Vice's Motherboard, Wired, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Newsweek. He is widely perceived as one of the world's most influential transhumanists and believes transhumanism will grow into a mainstream social movement in the next decade. In late 2014, Istvan announced he was running for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He ran for his own Transhumanist Party to raise awareness for transhumanist politics issues.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoltan_istvan

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