The book explicitly mentions Russian Cosmism, although in reference to contemporary Cosmism. Do encyclopedias usually tell you how to do practical things? That sounds more like an instruction manual than an encyclopedia. I think the book is a good introduction to the existence of the ideas and how they relate, and to Transhumanism as a *culture*.

And also at odds with reality. rms certainly says you can charge for software...

I installed it last night. Good: fast and looks great. Bad: Ignores my wireless dongle. Pidgin, Gwibber and Tor broken. Not being able to see much of the internet may be an effect or a cause of this but the timing is suspicious.

Their description of the effects of TC is accurate. You are trying to hide the woods with the trees. "What they said is not what Trusted Computing does. It does not enforce policy on your machine." It doesn't enforce policy, it makes policy enforcable. Guns don't kill people, Chuck Norris kills people. "The whole point of Trusted Computing is to keep things completely voluntary." Nobody forces you to drink the hemlock. "Honest people have nothing to fear from Trusted Computing." Honest individuals have nothing to fear from the public understanding how coercive and restrictive TC is. TC adds to consumer choice like indentured servitude adds to the range of employment possibilities.