humility

Karl Raimund Popper (1902–1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher widely regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of science of the twentieth century. His work on the demarcation problem, epistemology, and the philosophy of the open society left a lasting mark on intellectual life across multiple disciplines. Popper is best known for his principle of falsifiability , which holds that for a theory to be genuinely scientific, it must be capable of being tested and potentially refuted. This criterion, articulated in his landmark work The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934), fundamentally reshaped the philosophy of science and challenged the prevailing inductivist tradition. He spent much of his academic career at the London School of Economics, where he served as professor of logic and scientific method. His political philosophy, most notably developed in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), offered a vigorous defense of liberal democracy and a critique of totalitarian ideologies rooted in historicism. Popper's epistemology carries deep resonance with transhumanist and theological themes. His vision of knowledge as an unending, self-correcting pursuit—forever open to revision and growth—aligns with the transhumanist commitment to ongoing human improvement. His concept of critical rationalism suggests that humanity progresses not by claiming certainty but by humbly identifying and correcting errors, a posture that echoes religious traditions emphasizing humility, faith in future understanding, and the aspiration toward greater light and knowledge. For the Mormon Transhumanist Association, Popper's insistence that an open society fosters human flourishing, and that our reach should always exceed our grasp, resonates with the vision of theosis—the idea that humanity is called to grow toward the divine through both reason and faith.

Lowell Tom Perry (5 August 1922 – 30 May 2015) was an American businessman and religious leader who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for over forty years. Born in Logan, Utah, to a father who served as bishop throughout Perry’s childhood, he developed an early grounding in Church service. From 1942 to 1944, Perry served a mission in the Northern States Mission headquartered in Chicago. After returning, he joined the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, landing on Saipan where he spent about a year and helped construct an LDS chapel on the island. He was among the American troops sent to occupy Japan after the war. Perry graduated from Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in finance, having served as president of the university’s Associated Students. His professional career was spent in retail, climbing the corporate ladder to become a top executive in department stores across Idaho, California, New York, and Massachusetts before entering full-time Church service. Called as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1972, Perry was sustained as an Apostle on April 6, 1974, and ordained five days later. He married Virginia C. Lee in 1947; she died of cancer in December 1974. He remarried Barbara Dayton in 1976. Known for his optimism and big smile, Perry served faithfully until his death from thyroid cancer in 2015. His decades of service exemplified the integration of professional excellence with lifelong religious commitment.