Nationality American Books Death is Wrong Name Gennady II | Spouse(s) Wendy Stolyarov Notable work Death is Wrong | |
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Gennady stolyarov ii discusses artificial intelligence with ford fischer
Gennady Stolyarov II is an American libertarian and transhumanist writer known for his book Death is Wrong. Other works of his have been published by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Le Québécois Libre, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and his own magazine, The Rational Argumentator.
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Early life
Stolyarov lived in Minsk, Belarus, at a young age. After emigrating to the United States and becoming an American citizen, he attended Hillsdale College with a triple major in economics, German, and mathematics. One of his professors once wrote, "Gennady Stolyarov II was my best student at Hillsdale College".
Career
Stolyarov is an actuary as well as a writer. He has been highly influenced by the philosophy of Ayn Rand. His writings include science fiction, philosophical essays, poetry, and study guides. He has also published his own musical compositions and a series of podcasts called the G + W Audio Broadcasts with his wife, Wendy.
In February 2014, Stolyarov started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to give his children's book, Death is Wrong, to 1000 children. In the book, he argues that death is an enemy and encourages readers to help overcome it using technology. Joelle Renstrom, writing for Future Tense, criticized the book by calling it "creepy" and saying, "Kids could grow up not just afraid of death, but also afraid of failing to fix it." Meghan Neal of Motherboard also called the book "creepy" but noted, "Wacky as this still all sounds, he may have a point." B. J. Murphy of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies called Death is Wrong a "wonderful children's book" and wrote, "This is the book I wish I'd have read as a young child." Zoltan Istvan, in his transhumanist column for Psychology Today, agreed with Murphy, adding, "I thought the book was fun to read and important in what it tries to accomplish." According to the book campaign's Indiegogo page, the goal of $5000 was exceeded by late April 2014.
