Techno-progressivism

Stance

Techno-progressivism maintains that accounts of progress should focus on scientific and technical dimensions, as well as ethical and social ones. For most techno-progressive perspectives, then, the growth of scientific knowledge or the accumulation of technological powers will not represent the achievement of proper progress unless and until it is accompanied by a just distribution of the costs, risks, and benefits of these new knowledges and capacities. At the same time, for most techno-progressive critics and advocates, the achievement of better democracy, greater fairness, less violence, and a wider rights culture are all desirable, but inadequate in themselves to confront the quandaries of contemporary technological societies unless and until they are accompanied by progress in science and technology to support and implement these values.

Strong techno-progressive positions include support for the civil right of a person to either maintain or modify their own mind and body, on their own terms, through informed, consensual recourse to, or refusal of, available therapeutic or enabling biomedical technology.

During the November 2014 Transvision Conference, many of the leading transhumanist organizations signed the Technoprogressive Declaration, which stated the values of technoprogressivism.