THE AUSTRIAN ECONOMIST Friedrich Hayek wanted to denationalize money. David Chaum, an innovator in the field of cryptography and electronic cash, wanted to shield it from surveillance. Their goals were not the same, but they each inspired the same man.
Max O’Connor grew up in the British city of Bristol in the 1960s and ’70s. Telling his life story to Wired in 1994, he explained how he had always dreamed of a future where humanity expanded its potential in science-fictional ways, a world where people would possess X-ray vision, carry disintegrator guns, or walk straight through walls.
By his teenage years, O’Connor had acquired an interest in the occult. He thought the key to realizing superhuman potential could perhaps be found in the same domain as astral projection, dowsing rods, and reincarnation. But he began to realize there was no compelling evidence that any of these mystical practices actually worked. Human progress, he soon decided, was best served not by the supernatural but by science and logic.
He was a keen student, and especially interested in subjects concerning social organization. By age 23, he’d earned his degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from St. Anne’s College, Oxford.
The fresh Oxford graduate aspired to be a writer, but the old university town with its wet climate, dark winters, and traditional British values wasn’t providing the energy or inspiration he was looking for. It was time to go somewhere new—somewhere exciting. In 1987, he was awarded a fellowship to a Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Southern California (USC). He was moving to Los Angeles.
O’Connor immediately felt at home in the Golden State. The sunny L.A. weather was an obvious upgrade from gray Oxford. And in stark contrast to the conservative mindset prevalent in Great Britain, the cultural vibe on America’s West Coast encouraged ambition. Californians celebrated achievement, they respected risk taking, and they praised movers and shakers.
Here, O’Connor would start a new life as a new man. To commemorate the fresh start, he decided to change his name; from then on, Max O’Connor would be “Max More.”
“It seemed to really encapsulate the essence of what my goal is: always to improve, never to be static,” he explained. “I was going to get better at everything, become smarter, fitter, and healthier. It would be a constant reminder to keep moving forward.”
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IN CALIFORNIA, UNLIKE staid England, More found that he wasn’t alone in his interest in expanding human potential. One of More’s colleagues at USC, a
