Funding immortality: Making futures in the era of techno-philanthropy
Type de matériel :
75
This article explores how philanthropic foundations provide the techno-elite in the United States with an essential means of pursuing “symbolic immortality” (Lifton and Olson 1974). Lately, there has been considerable interest in the “immortality industry” and the way the technogensia are pursuing immortality through technologies such as radical pharmacology, mind cloning, and even cryogenics. To understand the way the twenty-first-century techno-elites are pursuing symbolic immortality, attention must be turned to philanthropy. One of the primary ways this powerful and privileged group seeks to ensure everlasting life is through the establishment of philanthropic foundations. As such, this essay explores how philanthropy (the love of humankind) and immortality (the desire to live for forever) are becoming ever more intertwined in the politics of life and death in twenty-first-century America.
Réseaux sociaux