h+ is now defunct.

h+ began as a life extension and transhumanist club cofounded by Richard Leis at the University of Arizona. The branding with the lower case “h” indicated the members’ inclusive local grassroots effort within the larger global Transhumanist movement.

Richard designed, developed, and maintained the original h+ Tucson website as well as the expanded h+ website for multiple chapters and new transhumanist-related content, including a gallery of transhumanist art, links, and other resources.

Logo Evolution

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Website Screen Shots

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2008

History

h+ was founded by University of Arizona students, staff members, and Tucson residents in the summer of 2006 to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of innovative ideas about transhumanism and related topics such as radical life extension, Artificial General Intelligence, and the Technological Singularity. It quickly became an official University of Arizona-recognized club and was affiliated with the Transhumanist Student Network (TSN) and the World Transhumanist Association (WTA).

Richard and the other founding members organized and led meetings, invited guest speakers, and raised club funds. Member drives included creative flyers and posters that drew positive attention and new members to the club.

This attention and increasing interaction by h+ Tucson members with other transhumanist and emerging technology enthusiasts and organizations around the world led to expansion beyond the initial Tucson group. Richard launched an “h+ Chapters” initiative in 2007—”Local transhumanist clubs. Global participation.”—that led to the founding of the Life Extension Club in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona and Neosapiens in Visalia, California.

In 2008, h+ and the TSN proposed a merger “to create a single unified resource for local transhumanist and related clubs, their leaders, and their club members, with oversight by the WTA.” The new organization would be called h+. This evolved quickly into a larger and very successful fundraising and organizational effort that rebranded the World Transhumanist Association as Humanity+. Richard was elected as the Executive Director of the Humanity+ organization and held the position for a short time before resigning to continue his education.

As club members left Tucson to pursue their education and careers elsewhere, the original h+ Tucson club began to shrink. It continued fitfully throughout 2009 and 2010 before it finally closed, but its legacy lives on in the rebranded transhumanist movement that continues to this day as well as the ongoing efforts and technological inventions by many club members in emerging technology fields and the sciences.