I was reading Dan Brown's new book Inferno when I came to a passage that talked about an Iranian guy named Fereidoun M. Esfandiary, who apparently was the founder of the modern version of the transhumanist ideology.  You can read more about transhumanism here.  I had heard about the movement, but never about Esfandiary, and I thought I should introduce him to ither Iranians, who like myself, did not know who he was.  

Esfnadiary later changed his name to FM-2030, partially because he wanted to live to be a 100--hence, 2030, the year on which he would have turned a 100.  Sadly, he died in the year 2000 of pancreatic cancer.  He was--among other things--a writer, a college professor, an Olympic basketball player (represeting Iran), and a Middle East peace negotiator (for the UN).  He was also vegetarian.  Cool guy!   

PS- Inferno is also a good book.  The whole book is essentially revolves around the actions of an extremist element of the transhumanist movement.