Who is responsible for this website?
 

 

My name is Russell Rukin and I'm an artist and illustrator from the UK. I put together this site with the help and advice of H+ writer Patricia (PJ) Manney and input & crucial proofing from Sky Marsen, Jan Allen and UKTA's Ben Zaiboc. I'm no wordsmith so I applauded them for the wonders they have achieved with such average material.
 

 

This website is in response to the huge need for input from a wide range of creative disciplines to aid the movement. I tried to tackle it head on myself, but soon realised that I needed, and the movement itself required, fresh media/net savvy creatives. Thus this website was born. I intend to keep it open for all those who could aid the push of H+ ideas whilst at the same time not aligning it with any particular organisation. I think its sensible to keep it independent and allow the creatives listed here to choose who they would like to lend skills to, whilst being part of a group that could undertake its own projects if energy is present.
 

 

 

My motivation for becoming a Hpluser is, I imagine, as complex and broad as the others who see this as a crucial endeavour. I'm of that generation generally characterised as politically un-engaged. Modern politics are designed specifically to disengage you. Is your vote wasted on a local representative who will tow the party line on any issue for fear of loosing their job? If I went up to my local MP and asked, “What are you doing for some of the big global questions we face in the 21st century?” would I get a few vague party lines and spin, or would they actually come clean and say they really don't have any input into such far-reaching policy decisions?

 

The truth is I actually feel sorry for politicians. It must be frustrating to be so impotent. I hope to see the popularisation of H+ ideas bring pressure to bear on governments to make the right choices for its population. I'd like public debate more widely available. If the public embrace and fund H+ organisations, a range of beneficial technologies can be brought forward in a safely guided manner. I suppose talking about solving global hunger, repairing our ecology and dealing with suffering sounds in today's world like naive philanthropic rambling, but to me our current political solutions are naive and H+ addresses the paths to practical solutions.

 

It’s not all altruism though. I'd like to live an extended life span. I've packed in quite a bit into my life so far, but I would like to read all the classics, watch all the great films, travel to every country on earth, not just for a few weeks, but long enough to understand the culture, see the art and learn the language, expand my art practice into time consuming areas that interest me, go back to university and study history, and who knows, maybe even start a family…? Some people are lucky to be born with enough money to ignore daily practical realities, so maybe they can do all that. The rest of us however, require a longer healthy life span to approach this level .

 

 

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