Transhumanism has recently grown from a smallish group of scientists, futurists, and technologists to an international movement of supporters that fields people from all different walks of life. Everyone from accountants to truck drivers to doctors to musicians are joining the movement. And they're coming from just about every country, ethnic group, religion, and political perspective. Each new supporter is excited to advocate for using science and technology to radically improve the human being and its experience.

It's great to see so much enthusiasm and energy. Now the important question is how best to get all of them to help the movement further. I receive a dozen emails a day asking: What can I do for transhumanism? The simple answer is: a lot. But like all burgeoning social actions, there is the challenge of what people can contribute that really makes a difference.

For starters, there are numerous nonprofit transhumanist organizations that can use volunteer help and supporter donations. The rise of politically-oriented Transhumanist Parties around the world is certainly the fastest growing aspect of transhumanism at the moment. In just the last eight weeks, the amount of national parties has grown to number almost twenty. Each of these political entities runs itself and is trying to find the best way to put science, medicine, and technology at the forefront of their country's politics. Recruiting volunteers and generating donor support for these nonprofit organizations is critical for their success.

One challenge of transhumanism is the reliance on Facebook and other social media that many people in the transhumanist community seem to have. There are nearly 100 Facebook groups that focus on the movement. This is good for a sense of community, but a lot less can be done on Facebook or social media for the movement itself than most people realize. I encourage those that join the endless Facebook discussions (and arguments) on transhumanism (and those who spread tech articles to the same hundred or thousand people everyday) to understand that such contribution is often not very valuable for furthering the movement. Currently, real progress in transhumanism takes place mostly outside of social media, and the best way to move the movement forward is to do something tangible for it in the real world.

One thing that spreads transhumanism incredibly efficiently is discussing it with people who don't know about it. While this is possible in social media, attention spans online often seem limited. It's far more needed and useful to do this in face-to-face environments. I did this recently in San Francisco and also at the Los Angeles International Airport wearing my Transhumanist Party T-shirt, and people were very interested in the subject. I'm quite certain many of them went home after our discussion and talked about it with friends and family members.

To broadly spread the important message of the coming transhumanist age--which is that science and technology can vastly improve lives and health, and therefore should be passionately supported--we are going to have to create more tangible, real world transhumanist experiences. To do this, we need to form more transhumanist societies and groups. We must have more futurist and transhumanist meetups in cities everywhere. Events and conferences centered on transhumanism need to be planned out and implemented. Book clubs focusing on transhumanist-themed novels and texts need to be formed. Contests rewarding transhumanist innovation need to be established. Art exhibits featuring transhumanist art should be arranged. All these actions don't have to be arranged by leaders of the movement, but by any individual who has the time and energy.

Also, transhumanists should aim to often combine their actions with other established social movements. Transhumanism has many allies. Many atheist, LGBT, anarchist, sports, technology, science, and political communities are interested in transhumanism and future technology. We should share events with them. Approach the leaders of these much larger movements and ask if they'd consider an event that features the transhumanist aspects of their communities. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

Perhaps most importantly to help transhumanism, I always encourage those who can change careers to do it. Change a career to one that is directly based in science or technology. I've said this many times before: The world can't have enough scientists. They are the most beautiful, interesting people on the planet.

While the movement has plenty of room for all types of professionals, it's really dependent at its core for people that make the technological and scientific innovation happen. They are on the hands-on people that are ushering in the transhumanist age.

The most wonderful thing about transhumanism is that whenever someone supports the movement and does something directly for it, they are also supporting their own health and longevity, and the health and longevity of their loved ones.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoltan-istvan/what-can-supporters-do-fo_b_6564536.html