Zoltan Istvan
American writer, futurist, philosopher and transhumanist
Zoltan Istvan Gyurko (born March 30, 1973) is an American transhumanist, former National Geographic journalist, and international speaker. Istvan is the author of The Transhumanist Wager, a philosophical science fiction novel.
Istvan ran for his Transhumanist Party in the 2016 United States presidential election to raise awareness for transhumanist politics issues but did not place his name on any state ballot. In 2017, Istvan ran for Governor of California in the 2018 election as a member of the Libertarian Party. In 2019, Istvan ran for the Republican Party's nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election against President Donald Trump. In April 2025, Istvan announced he was running for Governor of California as a Democrat in the 2026 state election.
Early life and education
Zoltan Istvan was born in Los Angeles in 1973 to his Hungarian immigrant parents Ilona and Steven (István) Gyurko. He was a swimmer and water polo player in his youth. Istvan graduated from Columbia University with a degree in philosophy and religion.
Istvan graduated with a master's degree in practical ethics from the University of Oxford.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Zoltan Istvan” is american writer, futurist, philosopher and transhumanist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zoltan, Istvan and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16214455. VIAF identifies the subject as 308181145. The Library of Congress control number is no2014031307. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zoltan Istvan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.