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The Tranhumanist Cult Test
Transhumanism is put through the 8-point test to see if it is a cult
The authoritative test is “Lifton’s Eight Criteria ”, formulated by renowned psychiatrist, scholar and National Book Award winner Robert J.Lifton, author of “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism" and “Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism." The second is the question of control and secrecy, with cults having guarded language and rituals and a defensive and antagonistic relationship to the dominant culture, while religions work towards legitimation and integration within the larger society, very often compromising elements of their doctrine in the attempt to accommodate entrenched, localised and older beliefs. Unless you believe in the practicability of ending aging and death; colonising Mars, or in the merger of humans and machines through brain chips and nanobot technology then these hoped-for transcendent experiences on a mythical scale can be seen as manipulations intended to create awe and build devoted followings – a process with strong family resemblance to the prophecies of religious cult leaders.
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