Vladimir De Thézier

Vladimir De Thézier is a Québécois writer, blogger and activist.

Biography

Vladimir De Thézier was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of two Haitian immigrants.

Under his Haitian nickname "Justice", De Thézier was a transhumanist activist from 2004 to 2008,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] before turning into a progressive critic of transhumanism.[9][10] In 2002, De Thézier discovered transhumanism, an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of emerging technologies to enhance human mental and physical characteristics and capacities.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] A secular progressive, he embraced and began to promote a synthesis of social democracy and transhumanism known as "democratic transhumanism".[6] In 2003, De Thézier founded the Montreal Transhumanist Association (later renamed the Quebec Transhumanist Association), the first and only non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of transhumanism in Quebec,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as part of NEXUS, a network of local technoscience-focused progressive organizations he strived to build until January 2008.[8] In 2004, De Thézier coined and used the term "technoprogressive" as a baggage-free alternative to the term "democratic transhumanist".[11] From November 2005 to March 2007, De Thézier contributed to the Cyborg Democracy web portal and blog; and from January 2006 to January 2008, he served on the board of directors of the World Transhumanist Association,[8] and as special projects manager for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

On 1 January 2008, De Thézier publicly renounced his adherence to the transhumanist ideology and movement.[10][12] As his driving justification, he cited what he considers to be the three flaws of the transhumanist mindset, which he never embraced:

  1. An undercritical support for technology in general and fringe science in particular;
  2. A distortive "us vs. them" group mentality and identity; and
  3. A vulnerability to unrealistic utopian and dystopian "future hype".

In March 2010, inspired by critical political ecology, De Thézier began advocating for the idea of a convergence of the Quebec sovereignty movement with the environmental movement in Quebec into a "sovereign green movement" dedicated to the creation of a democratic republic and a green state in a sovereign Quebec independent of Canada.[9][13][14][15][16] In June 2010, De Thézier became a member of the board of administration of the Intellectuels pour la souveraineté (IPSO)[17] and, on 7 February 2011, organized and hosted an IPSO conference at the Université du Québec à Montréal exploring how new generations of young Quebecers view the idea of Quebec independence.[14][15][16][13][18]

De Thézier was a political blogger for Le Huffington Post Québec from February 2012 to May 2015.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gravenor, Kristian (1–7 July 2004). "Techno-Utopia: Cyborgs in the city". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  2. 1 2 3 Robitaille, Antoine (31 August 2004). "Un spectre hante notre siècle: le transhumanisme". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  3. 1 2 3 Proulx, Steve (9 September 2004). "Les transhumanistes et les néo-luddites: Guerre philosophale". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  4. 1 2 3 Beauchesne, Marie (October 2004). "L'Homme de Demain: La mouvance transhumaniste".
  5. 1 2 3 Synnett, Cindy (17 November 2004). "Des progrès technologiques: Comment améliorer la condition humaine". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Baquiast, Jean-Paul (28 June 2006). "Entretien avec un transhumaniste". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  7. 1 2 3 Robitaille, Antoine (23 October 2007). Le nouvel homme nouveau: Voyages dans les utopies de la posthumanité. Éditions Boréal. ISBN 2-7646-0538-2.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Tessier, Mario (Winter 2007). "Les transhumanistes québécois". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  9. 1 2 Proulx, Steve (3 March 2010). "La république verte". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  10. 1 2 Prémont, Charles (2 May 2008). "DOC.THEATRE prépare une pièce de théâtre sur le transhumanisme". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  11. ↑ "Going Old School: A Technoprogressive Re-Affirms Himself As A Progressive".
  12. ↑ De Thézier, Justice (2009). "MUTE: Why reimaginative democrats should ignore the siren songs of a posthuman future". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  13. 1 2 Ouhgo (8 February 2011). "Les jeunes Québécois et l'actualisation du projet de pays". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  14. 1 2 Ouhgo (12 February 2011). " Si le grain ne meurt… Ce qui ralliera tout le monde, c'est le vert". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  15. 1 2 Ouhgo (15 February 2011). "" Le Souverainiste Vert " Entrevue avec Vladimir De Thézier". Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  16. 1 2 Marineau, Henri (3 March 2011). "Le cheminement d'un baby-boomer vers le vert !". Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  17. ↑ Global Montreal (2 May 2011). "Montreal: Duceppe resigns as leader of Bloc Quebecois". Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  18. ↑ Michelot, Florent (8 February 2011). "Les jeunes souverainistes, majoritairement engagés dans l'avenir du Québec". Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  19. ↑ "Le Huffington Post Québec: Vladimir De Thézier".

Writings

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