Four months after the formation of Transpolitica, it’s a good time to check what are the right priorities, to ensure we achieve the best impact.

Re-scoping Book 2

I’ve updated the description of the kind of material I’m looking to include in the second Transpolitica book. Here’s an excerpt from the project page:

The chapters in this book are expected to be relatively short (maximum 5,000 words, but could be as short as 1,000 words), clearly written, and engaging for the general public.

Preference will be given to chapters which will be perceived as newsworthy – they will be of real interest to journalists and bloggers, who will want to write about their content. These chapters should, therefore, be novel and provocative, without sacrificing rationality or objectivity…

Good topics for chapters are anything that addresses the list of “high priority” tasks from the Transpolitica Projects webpage.

This change in emphasis is intended to address one issue – the comparative lack of significant online discussion on any of the chapters from Book 1.

• Even though most of the chapters from Book 1 are now available online, in links from this page, there’s been little debate about their content. That’s despite the chapters having lots of interesting ideas in them.
• We could attempt to stir up more discussion by better marketing of the content – and that’s something we’ll attempt
• But we also have to recognise the limited attention span of most audience members. Unless we quickly catch the attention of readers, and stir them to a response, the moment of opportunity is lost.

Thanks to everyone who has already submitted abstracts for contents for Book 2. I’ve extended the period in which abstracts can be received, up until the 5th of May.

Note: At time of writing, seven of the ten chapters from Book 1 are available online. The other three will be released over the next few days – as soon as we can identify suitable graphic images that illustrate the chapters. (Any suggestions are welcome!)

Re-scoping the task list

As you can see, I’ve put more structure into the Transpolitica Projects page. It now states:

By preference, we encourage participation in the projects listed as “high priority”. Note: projects are placed in this category depending on:

• Feedback from the individual politicians that Transpolitica is seeking to support
• The views expressed by Transpolitica consultants and researchers

I’ll value comments on which tasks deserve to be listed as priorities. Here’s a copy of the current list:

• How should Transpolitica respond to the proposed agreement by scientists not to modify the DNA of human reproductive cells?
• Should Transpolitica have supported the Saatchi Bill for “Responsible Medical Innovation?” See here for a contrary viewpoint
• Formulate an answer the question “What does Transpolitica think about the Leveson review of the culture and ethics of the British media?”
• Clarify the ways in which online activism can have the biggest positive effect (rather than simply being so-called “slacktivism“)
• Provide more details of a roadmap towards implementation of Universal Basic Income (or similar social contract)
• Develop “sound bites” and memes that could become viral, supporting Transpolitica policies
• Create engaging videos about Transpolitica
• Support the creation and publication of a book provisionally entitled “Politics 2.0″ (more details)
• Build a curated resource library of material that supports Transpolitica policies (this might best be done as part of the “Transhumanism WikiProject” within Wikipedia)

Transpolitica YouTube channel

In case you haven’t seen it: Transpolitica now has a YouTube channel. Click here to visit it, where you’ll be able to subscribe to it.

(Hopefully the channel URL will soon have its own custom URL, instead of the lengthy string “UCQ2s-Bi_LaBhukUmD-D81Kw”)

There are only three videos on the channel at the moment, but expect many more over the months and years ahead.