Robert Stark and co-host Rabbit talk to Zoltan Istvan. Zoltan is a trans-humanist and futurist writer, philosopher, and journalist. He has written for Vice, Newsweek the Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and was a reporter for the National Geographic Channel, and is the author of The Transhumanist Wager.
Visit his official campaign site Zoltan Istvan for US President 2016
Topics include:
Why Zoltan is running primarily to raise awareness about Trans-humanism
The importance of investing in science and technology
Addressing the ethical reservations about Trans-humanism and whether it could lead to dangerous outcomes
The Trans-humanist goal of life extension
The Trans-humanist goal to eliminate human flaws and whether that could lead to a boring existence
Trans-humanist breackthroughs in healthcare
How to make Trans-humanism affordable and accessible to the public
Psychologist Timothy Leary as a precursor to Trans-humanism and his work to expand human consciousness
Zoltan’s support for a basic income, how it will become necessary due to automation, and how to implement it
The ideological divides within the Trans-humanist movement and how Zoltan considers himself fairly Centrist
The Transhumanist Bill of Rights
WELD: As to the military, the baseline position of the Libertarian Party is an invincible defense. An invincible defense includes projection of military supremacy both air and naval around the world, because people around the world really do pay attention. It does not encompass interventionism, boots on the ground, American blood on foreign soil.
And I was a little surprised this week to see 51 State Department diplomats say we want to bomb to force regime change in Syria. You know, regime change. I say to myself, that sounds familiar. It takes a lot of boots on the ground to effectuate regime change, if you want to make sure it sticks.
So, you know, what you would have is a pair of skeptics when people come and say we should intervene here on the ground because these people are being mean to each other and we can’t stand that. That’s not going to sell as a matter of first impressions.
T Rex,
This is what Johnson said about the IRS.
CUOMO: Everybody is saying jobs, jobs, jobs in the election right now. Nobody is saying how, how, how. When you say that — because, look, trade goes away as an issue of a problem if you’re generating good jobs at home. You just said that. How do you generate good jobs in the United States?
JOHNSON: Well, as president of the United States, looking to get elected president of the United States, count on me to sign on tax policy that would reduce or simplify taxes in this country. But if I could wave a magic wand, I would eliminate income tax, I would eliminate corporate tax, I would abolish the IRS, and I would replace it all with one federal consumption tax.
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1606/22/se.01.html
Thomas, I believe the qualifying date has passed for Florida. At this point I would deem my run as symbolic. Too many people were nit picky on my issues. They like this one, but they don’t like that one. Behavior like that has turned it into a bothersome affair.
I had only two people from Florida contact me earlier in the year about electors. After the first contact, one just disappeared. Their facebook page was empty. The second wanted me to change a few things on my issues. I informed her what you see is what you get. I don’t compromise.
As for the VP, my requirements appear to be a turn off as well as the mode (write in) of candidacy.
I can contact the Florida SOS and find out about the dates, although I believe they have passed. If you have someone in mind for the VP feel free to send them along.
Please remember, I won’t compromise. Have them read through the web pages on their own first.
Peace in 2016
Steven,
I think it may be too late now to be a Florida write-in, but if not and if it helps I would be glad to be an elector and might be able to find some others. Might be able to help you find a veep too.
1. You are the first to have a problem with the form on the site. I get daily updates when they are completed and sent.
2. The answer is no. Florida response to getting electors for my campaign has been weak. I still have no viable VP either.
3. I separate candidates and their party (if there is one), and my opinion based on the fact that Zoltan seems to be alone in doing the heavy lifting. Marketing for a party takes a team. A website is just one tool.
I apologize for the lack of a response. I will send a note to the Help Desk at Weebly.
“I think Zoltan is an interesting candidate, but their marketing skills are horrible.”
Well, when I went to register at the Transhumanist Party web site, the form worked.
When I used your site’s contact form to ask if you would be a write-in option in Florida, on the other hand, nothing happened in the three weeks or so between then and now.
Just sayin’ …
I think Zoltan is an interesting candidate, but their marketing skills are horrible. The name of the party and its platform are too L Ron Hubbard meets Heinlein. I appreciate his fight for technology and science, but there is too much “satire” implied in his message. They are global due to the message of technology and the future.
Its like he is Han Solo running for Senate after Chewie got a reprimand from the trade federation over an unpaid refueling stop.
They need a new marketing strategy, period.
*harpie, not Sharpie 😉
Let’s not forget that in the CNN Town Hall, Johnson/Weld:
1) Endorsed the existence of the IRS
2) Endorsed taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, to suck up to liberals, even though it is not a libertarian position
3) Said Obama and Hillary are just great
4) Endorsed the War on Drugs and claimed heroin should be illegal because some shrill sharpie in the audience was yelping about it (can you IMAGINE Darryl Perry or any other LP candidate caving like that?!?)
5) Endorsed an interventionist foreign policy and US troops remaining in a bajillion countries (otherwise they will “get nuclear weapons”)
6) Demanded a government social safety net (granted, it will be necessary until we abolish the Fed, which Johnson/Weld are not on board with)
7) Said they will not attack their opponents, which is utterly moronic, cowardly, weak, and politically stupid
8) The list goes on and on, ad nauseam
Anyone who thinks this stuff is more libertarian than Darrell Castle has no conception of what “libertarian” means.
Andy,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Castle is definitely the most libertarian candidate in the race and he will get this Millennial’s vote in November. 😀 I recently watched an interview where he was asked about gay marriage and responded “the govt should simply get out of marriage entirely.” For anyone griping about the CP’s social conservatism, let’s be clear: that IS the libertarian position! Moreso than what Johnson is espousing.
Plus Castle has made abolishing the Fed (and attacking fractional reserve banking) the central plank of his platform. Johnson just supports the same old rancid corporatist capitalism.
If a social conservative like Castle can get this s**t right and the LP can’t, then what does that say about the LP? I cannot find a single issue where Castle’s deviations from libertarianism are as bad as Johnson’s. I really can’t.
I haven’t really looked into Castle, since I would douse myself in gasoline and light a match before I’d vote Constitution Party. But that’s just me.
Should read, “if you vote for him or not…”
Should read, “if he also thought that….”
Tom, have you looked at Darrell Castle, the Constitution Party’s candidate for President. I met him in Tennessee back when he was Chuck Baldwin’s VP running mate. I had watched him participate in a debate earlier that evening where he said that the federal government should call off the War on Drugs. I asked him if he also that that state and local governments should call off the War on Drugs. He said yes. He said that he opposed the War on Drugs at all levels of government. I told him that I am a member of the Libertarian Party. He said that he basically considered himself to be a libertarian, and that if the Constitution Party was not around he’d probably be in the Libertarian Party. His main sticking point with the Libertarian Party is that the party refuses to take a strong stance against abortion, as he is very pro-life.
I am sure that Darrell Castle will not be your ideal candidate, and i do not really care if you vote for him not. I am just pointing out that he may be the most libertarian candidate on the Florida ballot. I do not know what other candidates will appear on the Florida ballot at this time, but out of the ones I know of who I know of who are likely to be on your ballot, he is probably the most libertarian.
Darrell Castle is not likely to be on the ballot in the state where I am likely to vote, so he is not likely to be an option for me. I will probably end up writing in None Of The Above for President (unless a good write in option emerges). I do intend to cast votes for the rest of the Libertarian Party candidates who appear on my ballot though.
Andy,
Some of them ARE pretty far from my views. Some of them aren’t. But there aren’t any libertarians on the ballot that I know of, so if I want to vote for president I just have to choose the candidate who comes closest. The only candidates I expect to be libertarians are the ones who claim to be. This year, that expectation turned out to be in vain.
Tom, from what I have heard about Istvan’s views, they are probably pretty far from your views.
I find Istvan interesting. But it doesn’t look like he’ll be on the ballot in Florida, so I’m still looking for a candidate to support.
I’m sorry, I posted that comment on the wrong post! Please ignore it.
So from what I can tell, unless the Constitution Party comes out and declares their opposition to Brexit (unlikely, as their platform regarding Europe is to basically “mind your own business and we’ll mind our own business”), at this point the Democratic Party is the only notable US party to be against Brexit. Jill Stein was fine for it (she criticized that some of it was motivated by anti-immigration but was still in support on the whole), Donald Trump and the Republicans were fine with it, and now Gary Johnson seems fine with it.