Philosophies & Movements
Cosmism
A family of philosophies that treats humanity and technology as part of a much larger cosmic project. In current AI and transhumanist writing, it usually means pursuing intelligence, radical life extension, posthuman change and expansion beyond Earth while keeping beliefs open to revision. That modern version should not be confused with a single settled program: Russian Cosmism included religious resurrection and mastery of nature, while today's AI-flavored Cosmism is a later reinterpretation. Critics question who gets to choose the future being built and whether cosmic promises hide present costs and unequal access.
Origin · no single documented coiner
The name has two lineages. Russian Cosmism grew from the nineteenth-century work of Nikolai Fyodorov and later thinkers including Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; Fyodorov did not use today's movement label for himself. AI researcher Ben Goertzel set out his own modern posthuman version in "A Cosmist Manifesto" (2010), defining it as a practical philosophy of exploring, understanding and enjoying the cosmos while pursuing joy, growth and freedom for all beings. Goertzel explicitly says the word was already in use, so he originated this formulation, not Cosmism itself.