In Memory of Mike Perry
Lincoln Cannon is an American philosopher and technologist who co-founded the Mormon Transhumanist Association in 2006, serving as its president from 2006 to 2016. He is a leading advocate of technological evolution and postsecular religion, combining software engineering expertise with degrees in philosophy and business. ¶ Cannon is also a founder and board member of the Christian Transhumanist Association. He formulated the New God Argument, a logical argument for faith in God that has become popular among religious transhumanists. His academic work includes “Mormonism Mandates Transhumanism” published in Religion and Human Enhancement: Death, Values, and Morality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and “Transfigurism: A Future of Religion as Exemplified by Religious Transhumanists” published in The Transhumanism Handbook (Springer Verlag, 2019). ¶ Mormon transhumanism, as articulated by Cannon, holds that humanity should learn how to be compassionate creators. This idea is central to the Mormon theological tradition, which provides a religious framework consistent with naturalism and supportive of human transformation. Cannon’s work bridges religious faith with scientific advancement, advocating for the ethical use of technology to extend human abilities in ways consistent with a religious worldview.
Dr. R. Michael (Mike) Perry was a gentle, principled, and thoughtful man who devoted decades of his life to Alcor and the cryonics movement. He also engaged broadly in the religious Transhumanist movement, including membership in the Christian Transhumanist Association, Terasem, Church of Perpetual Life, Society for Venturism, and Society for Universal Immortality. I first met him when he joined the Mormon Transhumanist Association, during in its early years. He went on to present at association conferences, serve as an advisor, and become a beloved friend.
R. Michael Perry
In conversation with me, Mike expressed inclinations toward naturalistic atheism. But he engaged Mormon thought with genuine curiosity and intellectual courage, even occasionally arguing that the hope of technological resurrection is not only compatible with religious intuition but even its fulfillment. At one association conference, he presented his theory of “parallel recreation,” reasoning from informational realism and multiverse frameworks toward universal immortalism. It was, as I recall, during that presentation that I first heard him refer to Jesus’ Biblical charge to “raise the dead” and claim that Christians “should take him more seriously.”
I had the privilege of spending time with Mike just last weekend at the 20th anniversary retreat of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. He shared one of his digital music compositions for the gathered attendees, who listened with nothing short of reverence and erupted in applause afterward. At another time, as he and I sat together and caught up on each other’s life, he spoke with enthusiasm about his plan to retire from paid work at Alcor and continue serving there for free. That detail says everything about who he was.
Mike is now an Alcor patient, cryopreserved and in the care of the community that he helped build. This is an ending – a big one. But for those of us who share his hope in universal resurrection, this isn’t the last ending in his story. With him, we trust that the story need never have a last ending.
Mike, I’m grateful for our time together, for your work and example, and for our friendship. See you in the resurrection.
Mike Perry Sharing Digital Music
Syndicated from Lincoln Cannon.