This is my translation of the programme of the Transhuman Party Germany. It may be unpolished and may contain some minor mistakes. I’m releasing it here, because it should be of public interest for the international transhumanist community. My personal notes are added [in brackets]. If some passages sound weird, the most likely reason for that is that the original German passages sound weird. In the original version the bullet points are actually pluses (“+”)!
Party- and Work-Programme of the Transhuman Party Germany
- Unconditional Basic Income and Tax System
- Education
- Democracy and Society
- Technology and Progress
- Health
- Security
- Universal Rights
- Environment and Energy
- Economy
- Science
[In the German version these categories appear in alphabetical order]
We want to lead the dialogue about the current challenges, which are generated by technology. Rationally, transparently, and guided by our basic values. Guided by many modern humanist ideals (such as rational reasoning or comprehensive education), as well as the acceptance and respectful appreciation of all life – be it human or non-human – transhumanism regards scientific, technological, but also social progress, as well as a happy, self-determined, and fulfilled life in health, prosperity and freedom, furthermore in harmony with nature, as desirable without any special exceptions or restrictions, and without arbitrarily drawn boundaries or ideological constraints. As technoprogressive party the engagement with future developments, especially when their consequences start becoming visible, is one of the cornerstones of our political work. Innovation and progress entail far-reaching changes within ever decreasing frames of time. Therefore, we assess the alignment and necessity of political decisions though a future based analysis directed backwards in time: What do you need to do today in order to be prepared for tomorrow?
In order to enable such an approach in the first place, overcoming boundaries within our thinking is of elementary importance. In addition to the global society of tomorrow living with less and less boundaries, this process requires surpassing still present limitations in science, technology, economy, social issues, education, and democratic participation in a modern society.
Finally, at the end of all these processes, will also stand a human who will have developed beyond the present self inside and outside, mentally and physically, biologically and technologically.
Our political approach is scientific, open to all results, undogmatic, and transparent. Neither do we know the answers to all questions, nor do we claim to have optimal approaches for solutions – in contrast to other political factions.
Our aspiration is to develop solution concepts for current and future problems, to make use of chances, and to improve the lives of everyone from the perspective of each individual by using the principle of open, respectively public, science, and by working together with experts, while also identifying ourselves with a democratic society at large.
Unconditional Basic Income and Tax System
Since the invention of the first tools, humanity has strived to simplify, accelerate, or even automate hard, difficult, or seemingly impossible work though the application of technological devices. This development has not ceased, but has accelerated massively with the spread of digital technologies. In increasingly many areas networked automation will take over work from humans. Therefore, humans will have to work less and less in the future. It is of utmost importance for us as society to prepare for this development, and to provide provisions for preserving social justice and participation. At the same time, we also require supporting and balancing mechanisms for a functional scientific, economic, and societal development. In practice we demand:- Introduction of an unconditional basic income and the successive replacement of Hartz IV [a German reform of the unemployment benefit
system towards a workfare model] and other social services. - Exploring concepts for financing a global unconditional basic income
- Liberalisation of the currency market and support of social alternative currencies, for example cryptocurrencies with reputation incomes and integrated unconditional basic incomes [I’ve actually devised a concept for such a currency: Quantified Prestige • Radivis.com Radivis.com]
- Creation of a simplified, transparent, just and forward-looking tax system, as well as development of concepts for a land value tax
- Consistent taxation of all incomes and profits by expaning tax collection, as well as simplification and automation of the tax administration
- Progressive taxation of individual incomes and company profits, including those of international corporations
- Preventing cold progression though tax reforms
Education
The basis of a modern, just, and sustainable society is an educational system that has the ideal support and empowerment of each citizen as goal, and which creates opportunities to explore and develop individual interests. Considering the dynamic environment and technological change within the working world, we work on guidelines and a meaningful liberalisation of the education sector towards individual liberty, digitalization, and modernization of educational jobs. In this regard, we want to position education and development as hallmarks of a mature society. That's why we advocate in particular:- Employing education for individual political and rational decision-making and not exclusively for the interests of the economy
- Support of autonomous, rational, scientific, and personal growth oriented thinking, for example through new school subjects or adjusted curricula
- Creation of a comprehensive educational system based on scientific standards, and quality management in educational institutions through a nationwide unified and comparable assessment of the success of learning
- Support of cooperative, individual, and autonomous learning
- Improvement of the training and work environment of educational workers
- Supporting empirical testing of new education and schooling concepts, for example less ex-cathedra teaching and more co-creation with pupils
- Digitalisation of classes and educational materials
- Support of free and publicly available educational materials, as well as comprehensive reduction of discrimination in education
- Designing education-friendly copyright laws
- Support of an appropriate use of new technologies in education, for example virtual reality and gamification
- Introduction of a later start of lessons, in accordance with medical and psychological research, and additionally establishing more flexible teaching periods
- Devising alternatives to compulsory schooling and exploration of alternative evaluation concepts that complement classical marks
- Support of life-long education
- Introduction of ethics as compulsory subject, independent of religion as a subject, which should become a compulsory optional subject.
- Expansion and redesign of the spectrum of compulsory optional subjects within schools.
Democracy and Society
The real and digital interconnectedness of working worlds, societies, and histories creates new chances and challenges for political long-term planning. Especially the dynamic and border-crossing ramifications of decisions increase the role of social responsibility for democratic and ethical values. By expanding the cooperation with organisations and institutions within Germany and other countries, we want to consider present and expected future developments, as well as the long-term consequences of political decisions, for planning the future, in order to be able to make socially responsible decisions. That's why we demand:- Strengthening of the interactive integration of the populace into political decision-making by using the internet and introducing feedback-mechanisms for political decisions (cyber-democracy)
- Increasing the political participation on the communal level though citizens’ decisions
- Support for projects against any kind of discrimination
- Anchoring basic ethical values for domestic and foreign policy decisions, especially for questions regarding armament and defence
- Reducing federalism in order to design a more efficient administration
- Expansion of a sustainable international development cooperation that is based on education
- Support of a faster and sustainable integration of migrants
- Expansion of progressive and fair gender politics in business and society
- Enabling a gender-anonymous life by disposing the requirement to state one’s gender
Progress and Technology
The world has changed ever since. Change is a basic component of our lives; the question is simply: How can we use it to our advantage? We can expect that the future will bring many possibilities, but also great challenges. The human environment is also changing increasingly faster and in more profound ways. Present and expected future technological progress as well as its long-term effects therefore should be researched systematically. We, as humanity, can be confident that we will be able to solve the great problems of the 21st century mainly with the help of new technologies – millions of researchers and inventors are working on that already. We, as Transhuman Party, want to support them in that endeavour and encourage forward-looking innovations. In the sense of a "commitment to progress" we furthermore advocate stretching the boundaries of human possibilities through the use of innovative technological approaches and new scientific insights, while giving possible risks and ethical concerns due respect. In the future, this is supposed to enable every human to increase his quality of life individually, if desired, and to determine his physical and mental capabilities on his own, and to surpass contemporary fundamental human constraints. Considering this goal, we deem scientific, technological, as well as societal progress as both necessary and desirable. In practice, we advocate:- Providing education in order to reduce rejection of technology, and supporting openness to new technologies, for example in the areas of genetic engineering or robotics
- Establishing simple and practical legal frameworks for communication, online commerce, and the Internet of Things
- Expansion of faster internet connections for businesses and private users, as well as introduction of open and free Wi-Fi networks
- Reforming copyright, in order to accelerate the support of culture and progress
- Loosening patent rights to accelerate the implementation and advancement of innovations
- Supporting research on artificial intelligence that is bound to official guidelines
- Supporting development and testing of bleeding-edge computer systems, for example optical computers or quantum computers
- Expansion of the research on brain-computer-interfaces and human-machine-interaction
- Supporting the advancement of multiple 3D-printing
- Subsidising the research on progressive nanotechnology
- Supporting sustainable technologies and creation of legal frameworks that are in favour of progress
- Developing guidelines for responsible use of biotechnology and genetic engineering
Health
Human life expectancy has risen and is expected to rise further; but we also have an increasing number of health improving and life prolonging factors at our disposal. In particular, prevention is one of those factors, which should play an increasing role in our healthcare system in the future. This will then help to reduce the costs of healthcare drastically, while it will grant everyone a greatly longer life and a higher quality of life. Where biology can't keep the body healthy on its own, technology can facilitate the sustainment of life and vitality. Furthermore, we see the personal freedom to choose, in particular about one's own death, as a basic right, and it requires a transparent and comprehensible legal basis. For the future we demand:- Using health research not only for treating diseases, but also for the optimization of health and the support of a healthy lifestyle
- Support for faster and more reasonable approval procedures for drugs and biotechnological therapies
- Establishing orthomolecular, individual, and holistic medicine as general principle of an ideal healthcare and of the training of health professionals, as well as the recognition of respective treatments by statutory health insurances
- Active subsidising of the research on longevity enhancing measures
- Facilitating legal access to cryostasis, as well as support of the intensive research of cryotherapies in support of medical treatments for traumatizing and life threatening injuries
- Establishing reasonable legal regulation for legalizing active medically assisted suicide and support of terminal care
- Strengthening of morphological freedom, that is the freedom to do with your own body whatever you want to do, respectively adapting your body to your own personal image.
- Successive legalization of certain recreational drugs, starting with less harmful drugs such as cannabis and LSD, in order to curb drug-related crimes, and, as parallel measure, classification of drug addiction as disease that should be treated
Security
Personal and societal security is threatened whenever insufficient transparency and opaque actions of organizations – or individuals – create spaces for abuse, violence, or terror. The measures then taken too late aren't addressing the initial situation appropriately, and quite often cause permanent damage and difficult to estimate counter-reactions. On the other hand, fear from repression and the pressure to conform limit humans and society in their free and autonomous development. Therefore we engage for:- Minimization of finance and tax crime through oversight of financial markets and institutions, as well of all relevant private business transactions
- Making powerful people more transparent, for example by making incomes, lobbying, and participation structures open for all to see
- No inappropriate restriction of freedom for the sake of security
- Successive transformation of secret services into information services through transparency, control, and access to information
- Research, development, and implementation of IT security standards
- Furthering privacy by introducing and connecting data transparency and -sovereignty for end users, for example when collecting medical or personal information
- Creation of emergency plans for very devastating natural disasters like asteroid impacts, solar flares that devastate our infrastructure, or eruptions of supervolcanos
- Subsidising research on less lethal weapons, respectively appropriate defence methods with the least short-term and long-term consequences
- Reduction of classical defence spending and expansion of international cooperation for peacekeeping
Universal Rights
The individual that is mentally and physically free is the basis of democracy and prosperity. This guarantee of freedom is the crucial creator of the space for the self, for happiness and well-being, as well as societal and individual health. This freedom may only end where the freedom and self-determination of other life is restricted substantially. The pre-existing basic rights not only must be maintained and reliably put into practice, but they also have to be repeatedly evaluated and expanded according to the development of new technologies and our progressing insights and knowledge. In the same manner, laws that restrict certain freedoms and basic rights, must be re-evaluated regularly and adjusted where necessary. For this purpose, we deem the following to be of particular importance:- Implementation of completely unrestricted free speech
- Introduction of equal rights and laws for all humans, especially legalization of same-sex marriage
- Examining antiquated laws according to whether they impose outmoded restrictions to individual freedoms, and a subsequent repeal of those restrictions and limitations, for example liberalisation of adoption law
- Creation of legal regulations for outlawing factory farming and unnecessary animal experiments
- Successive replacement of animal experiments with experiments on lab-grown human tissues
- Successive expansion of the basic rights to life, freedom, and physical integrity to certain kinds of non-human life, for example animals and artificial intelligences
- Development of non-bureaucratic and quick procedures for granting the right of asylum
- Enactment of a clear immigration law with a point system
- Abolishing the requirement to hand over deceased bodies to graveyards, and establishing modern regulations for letting individuals determine on their own what happens with their bodies after they die
Environment and Energy
We support a long-term energy and environmental policy that is based on rational considerations. Important changes of the infrastructure, like the energy revolution, must be well-thought-out and coordinated internationally, while at the same time remaining comprehensible for all participants. Apart from a discussion of short-term measures, it is indispensable for a peaceful and vital world community to push for the research and preparation of ecologically friendly and regenerative technologies with the highest priority. We demand in detail:- Use of new technologies for solving energy- and environmental problems
- Subsidising research on replacements for animal products, for example artificial meat or synthetic milk, in order to save nature and the environment
- Informing the public about negative ecological consequences of all excessive consumption, especially excessive consumption of meat
- Research and advancement of new flexible solutions for an environmentally friendly, decentralized and self-sufficient lifestyle
- Supporting research and building of vertical farms and hydro farms
- Explicit legalization of strictly controlled nanotechnological and genetic interventions into the environment for improvement of habitats and yields of land
- Extensive support for research of future technologies for energy generation and storage
- Supporting the transmutation of nuclear waste
Economy
The economy is foundational basis for our wealth, but also a force that exerts a systematic influence on humans and organisations. Digitalisation, automation, and innovation increase the efficiency of the economy; but that by itself isn't sufficient for letting everyone benefit from this increased wealth. In conjunction with our other political demands, a more progressive economy will become a force that liberates humans from undesired work, creates new possibilities, and increases our quality of life noticeably. We strive for a more humane economy that allows everyone to develop their full potential as far as possible. We want to dismantle restrictive structures which limit personal freedom in inappropriate and unnecessary ways as far as possible. In detail, we want to achieve the following:- Support of innovative economic concepts, business concepts, and start-ups
- Strategical governmental support for products and future technologies with social utility that aren’t necessarily (immediately) financially profitable, for example pharmaceuticals
- Support of automation for increasing efficiency
- Use of virtual reality and telepresence for reducing costs and saving the environment
- Support of flexible work hours and implementation of a shortened work week towards 30 hours per week
- Drastic strengthening of oversight and regulation of financial markets
- Infrastructure should be under public respectively governmental control
- Support of self-driving cars and autonomous drones
- Creation of legal regulations and facilitation of asteroid mining, so
that profits are partially paid out as dividends to all humans
Science
Without science, research, and development there wouldn't be any modern technology and innovation. As basis and engine of technological and societal progress, science plays an elementary role for the future of our civilisation. The scientific method is perhaps the most seminal development of the last millennium. It allows us to gain new insights in a most reliable and objective way. We stand for the systematic use of the scientific methods in as many different areas as possible. The purpose lies not only in optimising science in itself, but also to use it as far as possible and consistently to the advantage humans and other entities. By solving problems rationally and with the intelligent use of knowledge and technology, such a "more scientific science" can enable humans to become even more human. For this purpose we strive for:- Advocacy for a more independent and more scientific science
- Introduction of science ethics based on rationality
- Furthering the collaboration between different disciplines
- Intensification of the cooperative collaboration between scientific and public institutions, as well as obligatory transparency of publicly supported projects and comprehensive open access
- Securing specific research projects and increasing governmental spending on research
- Support of open-source genetic engineering and do-it-yourself biology, in addition to a more open access to genetic data and shortening of patent protection of genes
- Establishment of comprehensive scientific databases, as well as support for citizen science, in particular open and free access to scientific publications
Last changed on the 28th September 2015 – agreed on at the foundational meeting of the party on the 27th September 2015
Current version: http://transhumane-partei.de/programm/