Do you believe society is already doomed to it’s inevitable destruction within the next 30 years, through means such as unavoidable global warfare, civilization-destroying ecological disaster, 1984-like totalitarian cultural and technological stasis or the coming of the Rapture or such divine reckoning?

You don’t? But do you find it hard to think of a future that is not deeply infused with such elements? If so, you’re probably not alone. Dystopia in fiction is a cultural comfort-zone whereby we take things we’re familiar with such as people, civilisation as we know it and place them into a situation we can easily model such as a zombie apocalypse or a post world war 3 Australian outback. We can then explore the human condition and consume popcorn for a couple of hours.

Stand back, there are enough iPhone 17’s for everyone

So what does 2045 look like if not outlaws in questionable fetish-wear and hardened survivalists keeping tiny pockets of civilisation alive? It’s a transhumanist future and currently for the majority of people this is an idea far scarier than facing off a zombie hoard or entering the thunderdome.

What will society of the future feel like in an age of longevity treatments, neural implants, strong AIs and new heights of interconnectness between corporations, governments, society, technology and individuals? Personally, I think it will be fantastic. There are and will continue to be many challenges around the transformative power of technology in these relationships and as such why technology policy is one of the most important battlegrounds to create a future whereby the connected individual is empowered rather than enslaved through each connection they make.

With this in mind, I return to the politics of today. Contemporary politics often involves extrapolating the latest news story into a narrative that leads to a comfortably comprehensible dystopia filled with fear, anxiety and misconceptions that are seldom adequately debunked. Demographic based discussions are an especially common pitfall, be it we have ‘too many’ of X, ‘too few’ of Y and so ‘something must be done’.

Have you heard about the global population crisis we’re having? Many both educated and well off people in the western world think they’re doing the planet a favour by having fewer or no children because of this myth. Of course there are genuine issues at play from high costs of living, low wages in real terms, limited access to child care, but overpopulation is not one of them.

Even high-profile Transhumanist politician Zoltan Istvan has fallen into the trap of thinking global population is out of control and that “it’s time to consider restricting human breeding”, as have many fascist and illiberal regimes past and present.

No one explains population misconceptions better then global demographic trend expert Hans Rosling, who breaks down how global population will peak at 9 billion over the next 50 years before starting to decline. I highly recommend a watch.

Narratives around demographic projection have been used in outright hoaxes about red-head extinction, selective misinformation about Islam taking over the world and more recently about the Syrian refugee crisis occupying the headlines increasingly xenophobic contexts.

Even if we were courting a demographics crises — which we’re not — and that western civilization were genuinely threatened by issues such as immigration — which it isn’t — at this point in our civilization’s technological development we can’t possibly reap the rewards of trying to breed some super-educated master race in a cultural silo of western enlightenment. Dated notions such as nationhood and ethnicity are being entirely replaced by more fluid affiliations and connections that know no traditional geographic boundaries.

The coming years needs to see transhumanists and the wider public embrace and prepare for the impact of these new paradigms. An informed and non-fatalistic vision of the future must guide tolerance, empathy and patience in political discourse as we migrate to human and societal priorities 2.0.

It is the optimistic perspective which transhumanists must unashamedly evangelise that is the new power the movement possesses.