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Some would say politics and technology make odd bedfellows. Some other stream of thought posits that if we don't find technological solutions to today's near pressing socioeconomic problems, at that place volition non be a political system to look forrad to in 20 years. Like its cousin religion, traditional politics has long had a reactionary mental attitude towards technology, responding to innovations rather than driving them. Simply as technology increasingly becomes the dominant force shaping human interactions, such atavistic mindsets no longer appear tenable. Enter Zoltan Istvan, the Transhumanist party and the rise of Republic ii.0.

Standing a muscular half-dozen'1″ tall with a shock of blond pilus and penetrating blueish eyes, Zoltan Istvan looks more than similar a country club's handsome tennis instructor than the leader of a geeky, science-based presidential campaign. I defenseless up with him in a parking lot exterior a hotel in Austin, Texas where he was marshaling his campaign for the long bulldoze across middle America. Much ink has been spilled virtually the so-called "Immortality Bus" he is driving across America to raise awareness well-nigh the Transhumanist party he represents, and it seemed an injustice to deprive the ExtremeTech readership of a glimpse inside the vehicle and the simply technology-based campaign on offer in the 2016 presidential race.

Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist presidential candidate.

Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist candidate.

Trundling along the bleak stretch of highway separating Austin from Waco Texas, Zoltan unfurled for me his vision for a new kind of political system, what I accept affectionately dubbed Republic 2.0. To anyone familiar with problems facing humanity at present – global warming, totalitarian dictatorships, graying population bases. and robots replacing human workers amidst others, information technology's clear yesterday'southward political instruments are woefully unequipped to deal with today'south socioeconomic challenges. With its reliance of jingoistic religious slogans and nonsensical electoral colleges, today's political machinery is and so backside the engineering curve that it's likely null short of consummate overhaul tin can salve it from irrelevancy.

It's exactly such an overhaul that Zoltan has in mind – a democracy in which government anticipates the problems of the futurity and creates scientific solutions to them, rather than waiting for things to achieve crisis proportions and and so patching together a solution that volition piece of work just long plenty to reach the next electoral cycle.

Take, for instance, the issue of climatic change, at its heart a scientific and technological problem. Sadly, this issued was turned into a political football game and ignored long past the time when uncomplicated innovations might take staved off a crisis. At present the stakes have become infinitely greater and the solutions being extolled by today'due south political institutions are embarrassingly inadequate. Asking poor families in India and China to prioritize the environment over owning their first car is like asking a starving person to forgo their showtime meal in months.

Restraint and moderation have never been humankind's strong suits. On the other hand we are an endlessly innovative species, which is why Zoltan is proposing scientific and technological solutions to climate alter which would not require humanity to curb its appetite for development. Some of the technological solutions to global warming he proposes include pumping aerosols into the stratosphere, essentially adding a layer of sunscreen to the planet, or genetically engineering science humans to withstand college levels of UV light. While these measures may sound strange and extreme, the problem itself has become extreme and requires far more than than the halfhearted attempts at curbing emissions most governments are proposing.

A British climate-cooling balloon experiment would have sprayed water into the atmosphere to test its effect on reflecting sunlight. Credit: Hugh Hunt, SPICE project

A British climate-cooling balloon experiment would have sprayed water into the temper to examination its effect on reflecting sunlight. Credit: Hugh Hunt, SPICE project

Returning to the 'Immortality Double-decker', midway through our drive to Waco, a Texas highway patrol vehicle fell in behind us, seemingly attracted by the strange, bury-shaped bus gamely maneuvering amongst the semis. After a few minutes of deliberation he flashed the states over to the side of road. The officer, a graying old stalwart of the criminal justice department slowly climbed aboard the double-decker, letting a suspicious heart fall upon the toy robot riding shotgun next to Zoltan and the obscure scientific diagrams pasted on the overhead baggage racks.

Afterward a few questions regarding the nature of our transit, a bewildered look seemed to settle over the officeholder'southward face, as if all this talk about robot workers and atmospheric sun screen was giving him a headache. With an amiable nod, he bade us adieu. Many voters volition be tempted to dismiss Zoltan and the Transhumanist party in a similar way, feeling that what he represents is only likewise strange for mass consumption. That would be a terrible mistake, for a technology based political movement  may but be our best chance at saving humanity from itself.

To learn more about Zoltan'south presidential campaign, visit http://www.zoltanistvan.com/