The Terasem Movement is a group of three organizations based in the United States. The name (Tera–Earth, Sem–Seed) was inspired by Earthseed, a fictional religion from the works of American science fiction author Octavia E. Butler. The movement was founded by Martine Rothblatt and is guided by principles called the "Truths of Terasem".
The purpose of the Terasem Movement Foundation, Inc. is to promote the use of nano and cybernetic technology for human life enhancement and extension. Which is a fancy way of saying that their mission is transhumanism. Transhumanism is a belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations by using science and technology. Rothblatt and his followers believe that biological evolution will eventually be overtaken by advances in genetic, wearable and implantable technologies that will artificially expedite the evolutionary process.
In other words, their main goal is to erase human biology altogether, replacing this with a “superior” mix of machines melded to men. This is eugenics wrapped in tinfoil and of course, no real women will be needed as reproduction will be moved out of the human domain altogether.
The Truths of Terasem are:
Life is purposeful
Death is optional
God is technological
Love is essential
Life is purposeful
With this very first concept, we are already in dangerous territory because Rothblatt’s very privileged Western origins are on full display. What is his definition of a purposeful life?
The purpose of life is to create diversity, unity and joyful immortality everywhere. Nature—the Multiverse—automatically selects for these attributes. Diversity, Unity & Joyful Immortality is the self-fulfilling prophecy of creation.
The Christian Bible has a lot to say about what constitutes a purposeful life; here is just one quote: “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Not anything here that prioritizes “diversity” or “immortality” or “joy”.
The Islamic view is that by knowing, loving, and serving Allah, and being happy with Him forever in the next life is purpose enough while living in our corporeal existence. This seems to say that “joyful immortality” is achievable, but only if you include the time after you die.
The purpose of Jewish life is to embody Torah, which is considered to be the living word of the living God and is addressed to all creation through the life and experience of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people. The Torah lays out 613 laws for Jews to live by, including the Ten Commandments.
The purpose of human life in Buddhism, is to seek enlightenment. Life's purpose is to cultivate a deeper understanding of the nature of existence or as the Buddha put it, to see reality as it is. So, I’m guessing that men appropriating lives as women would not fly very far in this particular faith.
Hinduism rests on four concepts which are: to act virtuously and righteously to repay the debt to the Gods that was acquired by being born, to pursue wealth and prosperity in one’s life, while staying within the bounds of living virtuously, to obtain enjoyment from life, and to seek enlightenment, which can follow from unity with God.
Purpose flows out of values. Rothblatt’s values are based on what he can get for himself; he is the very embodiment of the axiom “every man for himself”.
Death is optional
Nobody dies so long as enough information about them is preserved. They are simply in a state of ‘cybernetic biostasis.’ Future mindware technology will enable them to be revived, if desired, to healthy and independent living.
This belief is not worth the time to argue against as it is clearly unobtainable now and for the foreseeable future. Even with all his money, someday his male skeleton will tell the truth about Rothblatt’s life in a more honest way than he is now.
This is a man who has created a robot version of his wife, so I’m guessing that if his real wife does die, he will have her replacement up and running.
God is technological
We are making God as we are implementing technology that is ever more all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful and beneficent. Geoethical nanotechnology will ultimately connect all consciousness and control the cosmos.
Did I forget to mention that Rothblatt besides being the biological father of three human beings is also the father and patriarch of the transhumanist movement?
Artificial intelligence (AI), robots, androids, replicants and the entire genre of science fiction has been devoted to outlining the possibilities for how we humans will eventually live our lives, even past the point of our physiological constraints.
The earliest known written story about people traveling to the Moon was by Lucian of Samosata, a Syrian-Greek writer born around 125 AD. The early 1960 made for TV cartoon series “The Jetsons” featured a character called Rosie who was their household robot maid. (Flying cars and individual jetpack flyers were also promised as imminent additions to the average household.)
Love is essential
Love means that the happiness of others is essential to your own happiness. Love must connect everyone to achieve life’s purpose and to make God complete.
Finally, something we can all agree on!
I suspect that Rothblatt’s definition of love and mine don’t match. I have always appreciated this Bible verse, which does not require a belief in Christianity to appreciate:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a (ESV)
If love = truth, then the entire edifice of “gender affirming care” is a lie.
Transhumanism is NOT a doctrine of love
Transhumanism is a movement designed around celebrating the sexual fetishes of men, largely by removing women from reproduction.
Ectogenesis, which is gestation outside of a body in an artificial environment has led to speculation around the creation of “pod babies”, which after the creation of embryos in a lab could be used to avoid pregnancy in the future. Hashem Al-Ghaili is a Yemeni born molecular biologist who posted his plans for this here, calling his enterprise “Ectolife: the world’s first artificial womb facility.”
No more messing around with real women as surrogates; just sign a contract with a corporation, pick out your genetically contrived embryo and you’re good to go. You can link your phone to your fetus with an app, but if you are too busy at work to check in, hey no problem. That’s what the technicians are paid to do.
If you want to do the best for your baby (and which parents don’t want to?), then you will feed them not with the modified milk of another species, but with “breast milk” that was made in a lab. Only the very wealthiest will be able to afford to buy the real deal of some actual woman’s expressed milk.
This also cuts out the need to recognize another person’s sex, attractiveness or even their humanity because you won’t need them for “creating a family” as those rainbow folx say.
Commodifying bodies is just Step One
Today, we already have quite bit of body selling going on, that is the entire purpose of prostitution after all. Selling your plasma, sperm or in some places even your hair is commonplace. Surrogacy itself is more renting than selling, but it’s the same concept. Transhumanism at its heart believes that the natural body is not nearly as important as the supporting technology.
Indoctrinating children via the school system is a necessary start to the general propaganda package that Rothblatt and his fellow travelers will need to bring their master plan to fruition. Gender ideology is all about pretending that we can mix and match bits at will, that families can be created in many ways (some of which involve methods of temporary use and disposal of other humans), that sex has nothing to do with love, intimacy or reproduction and that a feeling of body dissociation is normal.
So called “trans children” do not have a medical problem, but a psychological problem caused by adults around them who cannot deliver on their promises that encouraged them to believe they can choose which sex (if any) they want to be.
Women are being erased both in law and language, not because of a need to be “inclusive”, but to generate obscene levels of profits for corporations owned and run by Rothblatt and his contemporaries. They are already making literally billions, but there is no end point for them.
Deconstructing reproductive sex by sterilizing children just increases the profits for not only will these future adults need medical attention for their entire lives, but they will also need advanced reproductive technologies if they want to have their own children.
Rothblatt is a cult leader, not a god
Rothblatt is clearly an intelligent and talented man, with many worthwhile accomplishments to his credit. Believing that he can create a new species of humans, without the involvement of women is his most dangerous idea and calls into question the very definition of what “humans” are.
Part of his technique is to deliberately set up a conflict between the ever-expanding acronym of 2SLGBTQIAIS+ and the sex binary that has been derogatorily reclassified as “cis”. This is altering our cultural narrative and not in a direction that benefits his victims. Issues around public restrooms and sports are examples of the unisex world that the transhumanists are aiming for.
Forcing compelled speech and folding this into false concepts has been an easy way for this cult to permeate every aspect of our societies, without any real protest from John and Jane Public. “Be kind” is causing great harms. A common reaction that I have had from others is that I am exaggerating or “oh, it’s just a phase”. That’s the same dismissal that many German Jews thought when warnings about Hitler surfaced in the 1930s.
Cutting off the breasts of girls and young women and the penises off boys is not progressive unless you believe in this insanity. This is being promoted by those who are making profits that are measured in billions of dollars.
It is not bigoted to oppose this movement, it is self-preservation and a demonstration of real caring for others. Made up words and conditions are inserted to push an agenda that is eugenicist in its very foundations and only serves those individuals and corporations who have their focus on maximizing their stash of gold. I’m not sure that Rothblatt knows that real gold has to be discovered, not artificially created.
“Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver and gold” – Bob Marley
In one word: entropy.
You can’t roll back time (sorry Cher) on a body, remove scars and knowledge, there is no possibility of brain in a box - Plato’s Cave is rubbish. There used to be speculation we could grow gills and let men swim or grow muscles better than we have - 50 years ago. Still not even close, and due to simple entropy we will all die even if we can extend our body another 50 years. It still falls apart faster than it regenerates
Lucy, I appreciate the research work that feeds your articles, and you offer your readers. I have lately been reading one of Hinduism sacred books -a story originated 10,000 years ago- and I am stunned by the parallels. The rich and complex Hindu mythology predicts the end of civilization when a group of 100 men that were gestated and born outside of a mother's womb start a war that seeks to uphold greed, unfair accumulation of power, humiliation of women, and an illusion that men are invincible.