Timeline of transhumanism

This is a timeline of Transhumanism.

Sample questions

The following are some interesting questions that can be answered by reading this timeline:

Big picture

Time period	Development summary	More details
1970s		A Futurist subculture emerges.
1980s		The first formal self-proclaimed Transhumanist meetings begin at the University of California, Los Angeles, which becomes the main center of Transhumanist thinking. Toward the late decade, British philosopher Max More creates Extropianism, a hyper-optimistic philosophy revolving around a system of values that aims to overcome every limit, and, in particular, that of mortality.
1990s		The explosion of the Internet allows Transhumanists to forge closer contact with each other through forums and mailing lists, finally taking full consciousness of themselves as a movement.
2000s		From the second half of the decade, Transhumanism begins to take increasing root in Silicon Valley.

Full timeline

Year	Month and date	Event type	Details
1909			Futurism originates in Italy as an artistic and social movement, with the publication of the Futurist Manifesto by poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who explains the principles underlying his view of art, in search for a style representing technology and machines.	Italy
1910			Filippo Tommaso Marinetti publishes L'Uomo Moltiplicato ed il Regno della Macchina.	Italy
1915			A text by Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero titled Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo, introduces the terms superhuman and demiurgical tendencies.	Italy
1964		Literature	American academic Robert Ettinger publishes The Prospect of Immortality, which promotes the practice of freezing clinically dead people to guarantee them a possible future resuscitation. Ettinger is known as "the father of cryonics".	United States
1972		Literature	Robert Ettinger publishes Man into Superman, which proposes what would considered a Transhumanist proposal; this is, a number of improvements to the standard human being.	United States
1980			American strategic designer Natasha Vita-More presents her experimental film Breaking Away.	United States
1986		Literature	American engineer K. Eric Drexler publishes Engines of Creation, which assumes the possibility of building so-called “nano-machines”.	United States
1988		Literature	Austrian-born Canadian computer scientist Hans Moravec publishes Mind Children, which discusses the forthcoming development of intelligent machines.
1988			English/Californian philosopher Max More publishes the first issue of Extropy Magazine. The term “extropy” represents a concept contrary to that of entropy, indicating that Transhumanists pursue a growth of order rather than chaos.	United States
1991		Concept development	The term “Singularitarian” is originally coined by Mark Plus (real name, Mark Potts), an Extropic thinker, Mark Plus.
1998		Organization	The World Transhumanist Association (WTA) is founded by Nick Bostrom and David Pearce.
1998			The first TransVision conference is held in Weesp, Holland.	Netherlands
1998		Literature (journal)	The Journal of Transhumanism is launched. In 2004, it would be renamed the Journal of Evolution and Technology.
1998		Movement launch	Cyberpunk science fiction writer Bruce Sterling founds the Viridian Design Movement, which according to the Transhumanist thinker James Hughes, is an example of Technogaianism. Sterling would close the Viridian Design Movement in 2008, as his ideas would become a consolidated part of ecological thinking.
2006			The Extropy Institute closes, after considering its mission “essentially completed”.
2006			A political struggle within World Transhumanist Association largely between the libertarian right and the liberal left ends with the victory of the latter, whose ideals would characterize its activity from then on.
2007			The World Transhumanist Association establishes its headquarters in Palo Alto.
2008			The World Transhumanist Association changes its name to Humanity+, and launches h + Magazine.
2010			Breki Tomasson and Hank Hyena publish the Extropist Manifesto, launching Extropism as a similar derivative movement from Extropianism.

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by FIXME.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

Feedback and comments

Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:

• FIXME

What the timeline is still missing

• Transhumanism (see Subsets of Transhumanism)
• Category:Transhumanists
• Fereidoun M. Esfandiary