FM-2030

FM-2030
Born	Fereidoun M. Esfandiary (1930-10-15)October 15, 1930 Brussels, Belgium
Died	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, philosopher, teacher, consultant
Nationality	Iranian-American
Genre	Science fiction, futorology
Literary movement	Transhumanism
Notable works	Are You a Transhuman?

FM-2030 (October 15, 1930 – July 8, 2000) was an author, teacher, transhumanist philosopher, futurist, consultant and athlete. FM-2030 was born Fereidoun M. Esfandiary (Persian: فریدون اسفندیاری‎‎).

He became notable as a transhumanist with the book Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World, published in 1989. In addition, he wrote a number of works of fiction under his original name F.M. Esfandiary.

Early life and education

The son of an Iranian diplomat, he travelled widely as a child, living in 17 countries by age 11; then, as a young man, he represented Iran as a basketball player at the 1948 Olympic Games in London and served on the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine from 1952 to 1954.

Name change

In the mid-1970s F.M. Esfandiary legally changed his name to FM-2030 for two main reasons. Firstly, to reflect the hope and belief that he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday in 2030; secondly, and more importantly, to break free of the widespread practice of naming conventions that he saw as rooted in a collectivist mentality, and existing only as a relic of humankind's tribalistic past. He viewed traditional names as almost always stamping a label of collective identity—varying from gender to nationality—on the individual, thereby existing as prima facie elements of thought processes in the human cultural fabric, that tended to degenerate into stereotyping, factionalism, and discrimination. In his own words, "Conventional names define a person's past: ancestry, ethnicity, nationality, religion. I am not who I was ten years ago and certainly not who I will be in twenty years. [...] The name 2030 reflects my conviction that the years around 2030 will be a magical time. In 2030 we will be ageless and everyone will have an excellent chance to live forever. 2030 is a dream and a goal."

Personal life

He was a lifelong vegetarian and said he would not eat anything that had a mother. FM-2030 once said, "I am a 21st century person who was accidentally launched in the 20th. I have a deep nostalgia for the future." He taught at The New School, UCLA, and Florida International University. He worked as a corporate consultant for Lockheed and J.C. Penney.

Death

On July 8, 2000, FM-2030 died from pancreatic cancer and was placed in cryonic suspension at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, where his body remains today. He did not yet have remote standby arrangements, so no Alcor team member was present at his death, but FM-2030 was the first person to be vitrified, rather than simply frozen as previous cryonics patients had been. FM-2030 was survived by his four sisters and brother.

Published works

Fiction

• The Day of Sacrifice (1959) available as an eBook
• The Beggar (1965)
• Identity Card (1966) (ISBN 0-460-03843-5) available as an eBook

Non-fiction

• Optimism one; the emerging radicalism (1970) (ISBN 0-393-08611-9)
• UpWingers: A Futurist Manifesto (1973) (ISBN 0-381-98243-2) (pbk.) Available as an eBook ISBN FW00007527, Publisher: e-reads, Pub. Date: Jan 1973, File Size: 153K
• Telespheres (1977) (ISBN 0-445-04115-3)
• Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World (1989) (ISBN 0-446-38806-8).

External links

• Intimacy in a Fluid World, by F.M. Esfandiary
• NPR story about FM-2030
• Up-Wing Priorities (PDF), by F.M. Esfandiary
• Ilija Trojanow on F.M. Esfandiary: Searching for Identity in Iran's Labyrinthine Bureaucracy
• "Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World" (PDF)
• FM-2030 interview on CNN Larry King Live, in 1990
• FM-2030 Official web site