The Principles of Extropy were originally defined by Tom Bell (aka TO Morrow) and Max More, co-founders of the Extropy Institute in.. to define what their philosophy was about, and was largely influenced by libertarianism as a means of implementing a libertarian future through technologies that expand upon and empower the freedom and capacity of the individual sapient person.
The Principles are most easily remembered by the mnemonic BEST DO IT SO, which stands for the five principles (as defined here ):
- Boundless Expansion: Seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and effectiveness, an unlimited lifespan, and the removal of political, cultural, biological, and psychological limits to self-actualization and self-realization. Perpetually overcoming constraints on our progress and possibilities. Expanding into the universe and advancing without end.
- Self Transformation: Affirming continual moral, intellectual, and physical self-improvement, through reason and critical thinking, personal responsibility, and experimentation. Seeking biological and neurological augmentation.
- Dynamic Optimism: Fueling dynamic action with positive expectations. Adopting a rational, action-based optimism, shunning both blind faith and stagnant pessimism.
- Intelligent Technology: Applying science and technology creatively to transcend "natural" limits imposed by our biological heritage, culture, and environment.
- Spontaneous Order: Supporting decentralized, voluntaristic social coordination processes. Fostering tolerance, diversity, long-term thinking, personal responsibility, and individual liberty.
Boundless expansion obviously militates against any sort of regulatory restrictions upon human growth, development, and expansion into the universe and noosphere.
Self Transformation mandates that individual sapients be self owning beings in order to have the power to self-transform, without the oversight, control, restriction, regulation, licensing, or other permission or approval of any sort of central or collective agency.
Dynamic Optimism trusts in individuals to act to maximize the benefit to all through voluntary free market social interactions.
Intelligent Technology has historically only advanced in an atmosphere where individuals are free to research, to explore, advance and invent new technologies.
Spontaneous Order is the very essence of the free market, how sapient and non-sapient natural forces inherently seek to create order out of chaos in voluntary participation of all players in consensual interactive phenomena, and opposes in every way the concept of centralized control or planning over individuals social or economic activities.
Thus, the Principles of Extropy are inherently libertarian in word and deed, and as the original form of modern transhumanism, Extropianism is Technolibertarianism.