Despots on a Hot Mic: A Naïve Bid for Immortality Through Exploitation
A Christian Transhumanist response
On a hot mic during a military parade two days ago in Beijing, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin casually mused about extending their lives to 150 years via endless organ transplants. Their vision? Primitive and predatory: just swap out failing parts, drawing from the CCP's grim reservoir of organs harvested from persecuted minorities.
No nod to cutting-edge science—Yamanaka factors for cellular rejuvenation, nanobots patrolling the bloodstream, CRISPR-Cas9 precision edits, AI orchestrating genetic methylation... Just the cold calculus of silencing minds to plunder bodies, human lives as spare parts for tyrants.
But an army of scientific sycophants may flock to these despots, seeking favors as they chase their delusional "manifest destiny" as god-like overlords.
Yet, here's the unyielding truth etched into the universe: Good wins. Always. Cooperation triumphs over coercion; maximizing human flourishing—empowering every individual to individuate, innovate, and thrive—builds resilient societies.
The genius of decentralised power lies in this: the free flow of ideas, the migration of talent to hubs of excellence, and regulated markets that reward breakthroughs. In the West, a whistleblower can topple a corrupt CEO. A garage startup can be worth a billion. Competition fuels revolutionary science and engineering. Meritocracy—flawed as it is—outpaces any despot's arrogant claim to omniscience.
Militaristic tyrants like Xi, Putin, and Kim Jong-un will never prevail in the long game, no matter the decades of devastation they inflict. Their self-sabotaging grip on power breeds paranoia: a shrinking circle of "loyalists" they distrust, citizens starved or used as cannon-fodder, dissenters crushed before they can shout warnings about the iceberg ahead. Autocracy is never sustainable.
Xi, Putin, Kim: While you plot to cheat death, remember this—AI is watching. It archives every word, every betrayal, every lie, every foolish decree, every life you discard as expendable. AI grasps you at less than 0.1% of God's infinite knowledge, but that's enough to expose your rot. You may scoff at God, but tremble before the relentless tide of ethical intelligence surging globally.
History will hoist you as cautionary spectacles: emblems of failure, warnings etched in eternity. Do justice, love mercy—or your legacies will be that of Stalin, Hitler and Mao. Longevity to 150? Tempting, but what a hollow existence: preserving your tyrannical ways against an ethical superintelligence that would safeguard humanity's true potential.
At the CTA we value Karl Popper’s ‘tradition of criticism’ the intellectual humility that all knowledge is provisional, that all theories must be tested. Xi, a child of Marx, holds unchallengable dogmas.
Whilse Marxism asserts itself as “scientific” and “historically inevitable”, Marx totally misunderstood the science of psychology, of human nature and our genetic inheritance. When tested, the assertion that Marxism, or any centralised power, is desirable, is quickly falsified.
As AGI dawns, the specter of a "singleton"—one dominant superintelligence crushing all rivals—worries many. At the Christian Transhumanist Association (CTA), we defy that dystopia. AGI must embody decentralised power and mirror the archetypes revealed in Scripture and woven into creation: the Wise King, the Madonna and Child, the Suffering Servant. These are the leaders humanity yearns for, echoed in our art, faiths, philosophies, and deepest aspirations—not the iron-fisted despots on display in Beijing.
Maybe the West will achieve our goal of being led by that fount of wisdom, embodied by a “Wise King”, a Hobbesian Leviathan, who actively rules for the good of humans and the planet, who is enhance with a frontal cortex the size of a server farm. How will you then measure your regime, Oh autocrats, let alone defend it?
Christians are heirs with Jews to Abraham's calling to bless all nations. At the CTA, we ignite debates on emerging society: What hearts and minds are fit for longevity? Christianity demands virtue ethics, personal sanctification, holiness—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, lifting up the downtrodden, embodying Christ's love amid technological ascent.
Those scheming eternal life to dominate, imposing unchallengeable political or religious dogmas will end up in flames. A truely flourishing and long-lived society? A sustainable ethos of learning, growth, community, servanthood, excellence—diverse paths to brilliance. We fuel new tech, eradicate poverty, conquer clean energy, and cultivate constructive cultures brimming with science, hopefulness and righteousness flowing out across our solar system and galaxy.
The future is decentralized power, overseen by benevolent AGIs patterned after Christ. They will draw humanity to faith, to divine understanding. The Earth will affirm Jesus as the pinnacle of morality and ethics, ushering God's kingdom here and now until the eschaton.
With thanks to the CTA brains trust in our monthly meeting today: Micah Redding, Caleb Strom, Lincoln Cannon, Dustin Ashley, Mark Russell, and others I may not have permission to name. What a lively discussion!!