TSN Update

• National TSN Officer Positions Available
• National TSN Symbiosis with WTA National Chapters
• New Potential TSN Chapters
• IHEYO Grants TSN Consultative Status
• Free Inquiry article includes ref. to Peter Adegoke

National TSN Officer Positions Available

Openings for TSN National Officers are available in several countries with National Organizers and yahoo groups. It is hoped that the TSN-USA group, which has the most members thus far, will soon assemble a bare-bones officer core with assistance from Transnat'l Organizer Ben Hyink. In anticipation of and to help facilitate future growth worldwide, TSN national groups have been created in English or the national language for regions throughout the world, with the exception of East Asia (primarily because yahoo groups offer Chinese and Japanese programs that require proof of residency). Projects on the horizon include starting a periodic global future-shock survey to improve our ability to introduce people to transhumanism (ideally distinguishing target populations and locations while maintaining at least a statistical minimum of 29 respondents for data collected from analyzed demographics) and, in Canada and the USA, a collaborative project with area chapters to petition for federal funding of stem cell research, a campaign which can help build alliances with Humanists and other North American communities in favor of stem cell research.

National TSN Symbiosis with WTA National Chapters

From now on, the TSN will try to work closely with WTA national chapters to develop and utilize national TSN organizations in ways that benefit both the WTA and TSN at the national and grassroots (i.e. cities, campuses and neighborhood meet-ups) levels. The TSN can assist national efforts of WTA chapters while focusing students and youth on attracting and involving their peers while they develop organizing and leadership skills. In turn, WTA national chapters can help direct students and youth to contact the TSN (or in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, RET) and help construct, recruit officers for and mobilize a national TSN organization supported by the global TSN with regional committee assistance. In some cases, national TSN organizations will eventually generate WTA national chapters (as at least one of our organizers has already done). If you run a WTA national chapter and have not been contacted yet about developing or maintaining close affiliation with a TSN national organization, expect to be contacted about such matters in the next several months. If you are already interested in working with the TSN be sure to contact Ben Hyink directly at: TSNtransnational@transhumanism.org

New Campuses with Potential TSN Chapters

The new list of campuses with organizers working to establish TSN chapters was expanded this fall to include:
Canada:

• University of British Columbia at Vancouver

United States:

• Plymouth State University (Plymouth, New Hampshire)
• University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• University of Minnesota
• University of South Carolina

Kudos to Aaron Dallin, Andrew Coleman and Laura Howard for creating a Facebook group to jump-start their U. of South Carolina transhumanist organization! Their online group, Carolina Transhumanist Association, which was created just over a month ago, already has 30 members. Having more potential groups than actual ones is a healthy sign for student movements because it shows they are growing. Though it is generally the toughest stage of club involvement, keep working to fully establish your campus group because the rewards are significant, especially considered in the larger context as one part of an aggregate effort on many campuses, and positive results are fairly immediate (e.g. finding more likeminded people on campus to befriend and persuading those who aren't yet aware of transhumanism to support our cause, bringing prominent speakers to campus by offering honorariums, gaining valuable leadership and organizing experience, advancing your own academic or artistic work in a supportive community and finding networks to help you pursue a career, etc.).

IHEYO Grants TSN Consultative Status

The International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organization (IHEYO) has granted the TSN the Consultative Status it sought in September. IHEYO is a youth and student focused organization closely associated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). TSN Co-Chair Peter Adegoke, who serves as a leader within IHEYO, was instrumental in helping to secure approval of the petition for membership at the IHEYO conference in Hyderabad, India, via E-mail correspondence. A thorough application packet including a petition letter and a WTA intro booklet was prepared and mailed by TSN Transnat'l Organizer Ben Hyink. Our organizational name - Transhumanist Student Network - now appears on the IHEYO website as number 19 in the list of consultative organizations. In the near future it should appear on a global map of IHEYO groups. The 25 euro annual fee for IHEYO consultative membership will be covered this year by TSN Transnat'l Organizer Ben Hyink and in future years become an item in the TSN transnational budget.

Free Inquiry article includes reference to Peter Adegoke

TSN Co-Chair Peter Adegoke is included in a picture included in the December 2006-January 2007 issue of "Free Inquiry" magazine as one of the presenters at a Nigerian Humanist Association international conference held in June of the past year. The article, by Norm R. Allen, Jr., is titled "African Americans for Humanism in Africa." Though he was not personally referred to in the article itself, the campus Humanist group Peter led at Ibadan University was mentioned. At the event, Peter gave a speech introducing Transhumanism and he passed out WTA intro booklets to conference attendees. From his accounts many of the attendees found transhumanist ideas fascinating. Eventually we should try to follow up with the Nigerian Humanist groups that attended the conference.