Review: New book highlights Mill Valley resident’s ‘hunt for immortality’

Mill Valley resident Zoltan Istvan is the subject of Ben Murnane's "Transhuman Citizen."

There’s been a lot of philosophical inquiry in the world recently because of the advances of AI. In a matter of years, the allure and dangers of transhumanism — a social movement aiming to use technology to radically transform and evolve the human being and planet — have been made far more real. Is it possible humans could be usurped by their own creations — or even by newly evolved cyborg people using AI?

Oxford transhumanist scholar Elise Bohan thinks that progression is inevitable: “Your 185-millionth great grandparents were fish. Your descendants will not be human forever.”

Incidentally, it’s a fine time to have new literature on extreme life extension arriving to readers: Ben Murnane’s “Transhuman Citizen: Zoltan Istvan’s Hunt for Immortality” (Changemakers Books) came out this week. A semi-political biography, it chronicles how transhumanism became an activist movement based on Mill Valley resident Zoltan Istvan’s popular U.S. presidential and California gubernatorial runs from 2014 to 2020. Istvan started the Transhumanist Party and wrote the Transhumanist Bill of Rights, entities which have gone on to get worldwide attention by media, governments and various institutions like the World Bank, World Economic Forum and the UK Parliament.

I’m in a unique position to review Murnane’s book, as in 2021 I published “At Any Cost: A Guide to The Transhumanist Wager and the Ideas of Zoltan Istvan” — a book I spent six years writing on Istvan’s cultish novel “The Transhumanist Wager.” My guidebook critically analyzed all aspects of
the book’s plot, characters, themes and controversies, including the anti-hero Jethro Knights, who launches a world war to achieve immortality via science. However, my book had little information about Istvan and his life, which was not directly related to his novel.

With Murnane’s “Transhuman Citizen,” much more has been added to the skeletal information about Istvan my book provides. Murnane — who has a PhD in literature from Ireland’s oldest University, Trinity College Dublin — takes us through Istvan’s formative years as the son of Hungarian immigrants; his rebellious youth, and run-ins with the law; adventures in Costa Rica; character-building sailing trips; studies at Columbia and Oxford; and his time as a National Geographic journalist working in conflict zones.

It also goes into his family life, his personal health issues that provide perspective on the American health care system, his political runs and a cross-country campaign trip in a coffin-shaped bus that was highlighted in the award-winning documentary “Immortality or Bust,” which was picked up by Amazon Prime. The bus was built in Istvan’s front yard in Mill Valley.

Murnane documents much of the political drama — keeping me eagerly turning pages — related to Istvan’s No. 1 priority: advocating for greater resource allocation toward life-extension research, leading to the ultimate goal of indefinite lifespans for all. The book cleverly details the tensions this puts on Istvan’s pragmatic “functionalist” philosophy. How much does one compromise fundamental principles to achieve a non-negotiable goal? As Istvan ages, he is becoming stricter with the use of his time. Anything that takes him away from promoting transhumanism and longevity research is subject to cancellation. Even socializing with family and friends and his beloved surfing are seen increasingly as distractions he can ill afford if he is to reach his goal.

It’s satisfying to see Murnane doesn’t hold back on criticism when he finds it warranted. This is no fan-based book. There is balance. Criticism is usually followed by Istvan’s point of view for counterpoint. There is an overarching tough-but-fair approach throughout, which is to be expected of any author of integrity, and Murnane is certainly one. His research and endless hours of interviews with Istvan and his family and colleagues are impressive. Although Murnane doesn’t call himself a transhumanist, he does have deep sympathies with its life extension. Murnane has a genetic condition called Fanconi anemia, which is a life-limiting disease.

“I feel very grateful Ben is still alive to see his book be launched,” Istvan wrote via email. “During our three years of interviews, I was always worried Ben would die. During COVID, he got sick, and we discussed what would happen to the book and interviews if he didn’t make it. It was all very heavy, and it’s exactly the reason I take life extension so seriously.”

But the undeniable fact is, despite many wishing otherwise, we are all dying, moment by moment. The only mystery is when death will make its grim visitation — when expected, or by surprise? Violently or peacefully? As the age-old mantra goes: Death is the great equalizer from which none can escape.

But what if there were another option? What if we had some say in how long we live? Not living long and infirm, but rather, given a chance to enjoy an indefinite lifespan and an ongoing health span. Would you make that choice? Would you take that chance? This is the transhumanist wager Istvan challenges us all to make. But to make it, we’ll need scientific research and technological advancement. As Murnane points out, in the last few years, billions of dollars — from the likes of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and other tech titans — are starting to flow into transhumanism and its life-extension startups. There is hope.

It is estimated that 150,000 people die each day from age-related causes. What drives Istvan is the mindset of a soldier, but his war is against death itself.

“It’s really a tragedy when you don’t take it as a day-to-day war that has already begun a long time ago. Every single day that we don’t do the most we can, people die,” he says.

In the book, Murnane concludes: “That’s the way he looks at it. He just needs enough time to save everyone.”

Chris T. Armstrong, a former software engineer, now writes about transhumanism and related topics. “Even God Herself” is his first novel. His nonfiction work includes “At Any Cost: A Guide to The Transhumanist Wager and the Ideas of Zoltan Istvan” and a chapter in the Transhumanism Handbook.