Cosmism: The 19th-century movement to reach space and immortality

"In the 2009 documentary Transcendent Man, the American inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil shares his thoughts on death. Although many philosophers and theologians accept mortality as an inevitable and indeed defining feature of human existence, Kurzweil refuses to accept this line of thinking. "Death is a great tragedy, a profound loss," he declares in the film, haunted by the memory of losing his father at age 22. "I don't accept it.""

"Kurzweil would have found an ally in the little-known 19th-century Russian philosopher Nikolai Fedorov, whose posthumously published text Philosophy of the Common Task made the at-the-time daring argument that death was little more than a design flaw - one which advancements in science and technology could help to rectify. Fedorov also believed that this goal of rectification - of achieving immortality - would unite social groups whose mutual fear of death had historically pitted them in opposition to each other."

"Fedorov's writing never turned mainstream, but it did spawn a short-lived, visionary philosophical movement known as Cosmism. Materialized during the Industrial Revolution - a time of unprecedented societal change - the movement generally sought to redefine mankind's relationship with technology and progress, with the ultimate goal of regulating the forces of nature so that humanity could achieve unity and immortality. The movement offered a more spiritual alternative to both futurism and communism."

Ray Kurzweil refuses to accept death, describing it as a profound loss and citing personal trauma after losing his father at age 22. Nikolai Fedorov argued that death is a design flaw that scientific and technological advancement can rectify, proposing universal resuscitation and a union of immortal beings. Cosmism emerged during the Industrial Revolution to redefine humanity's relationship with technology and to regulate nature toward unity and immortality, offering a spiritual alternative to futurism and communism. Although communism curtailed Cosmism's development, its principles have regained relevancy in the age of Big Tech.

Read at Big Think