- What is Transhumanism, And What Are its Goals?
The term 'Transhumanism was coined by biologist Julian Huxley in 1927, who defined it as "man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature." However, current definitions of transhumanism stretch the boundaries of Huxley’s definition. Here are a few:
Sebastian Anthony, on the website Extremetech, describes transhumanism this way:
“Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement that believes we can, and should, improve the human condition through the use of advanced technologies. One of the core concepts in transhumanist thinking is life extension: Through genetic engineering, nanotech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, eternal life may soon be possible. Likewise, transhumanists are interested in the ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of (thus the term transhuman).”
Max Moore offers his description of transhumanism by stating:
"Transhumanism is a loosely defined movement that has developed gradually over the past two decades. Transhumanism is a class of philosophies of life that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.” (1990)
h+ magazine quoting from wikipedia defines it this way:
". . . an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities".
Transhumanist Mark Pesce in his film Becoming Transhuman, states:
“Once the genome was transcribed, once we knew what had made us human, we had—in that moment—passed into the Transhuman. Knowing our codes, we can recreate them in our so-called synthetic rows of 1s and 0s. Artificial Life.
And now we have discovered the multiverse, where nothing is true and everything is permissible. And now we will reach into the improbable, re-sequence ourselves into a new Being, de-bugging the natural state, translating ourselves into supernatural, incorruptible, eternal.”
“…. we seek… a transcendence of transience, translation to incorruptible form. An escape if you will, a stop to the wheel. We seek, therefore, to bless ourselves with perfect knowledge and perfect will; to become as gods, take the universe in hand, and transform it in our image — for our own delight. As it is on Earth, so it shall be in the heavens. There is no God but Man.”
According to transhumanist thought, there are three central objectives, or goals, to Transhumanism; they are super longevity, super intelligence, and super well-being. These three goals are primary because of their perceived transformative potential for the human race. The following video will give you a nice overview of the goals and purpose of transhumanism from the transhumanist perspective.
A Brief History
While some trace the roots of transhumanism as far back as 4,000 BC and further, a more accurate assessment would find current transhumanist thought coming to light in 1923 by British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane. Haldane, in his essay Daedalus: Science and the Future, predicted that great benefits would come from applications of advanced sciences to human biology.
Generally speaking, biologist Julian Huxley is regarded as the founder of transhumanism, after he coined the term in Religion Without Revelation written in 1927. In 1965, the British mathematician Irving John Good discussed the possibility of machines that would one day surpass human intelligence. In 1982, science fiction writer Vernor Vinge first expressed the term “singularity” to describe Good’s idea of an “intelligence explosion.” Later in 1993, he popularized the idea in his essay, Technological Singularity, where he linked singularity to the impending emergence of artificial intelligence. The concepts of singularity were made main stream and discussed in detail by futurist Raymond Kurzweil in his books The Age of Spiritual Machines (2000) and The Singularity is Near (2006).
Generally speaking, biologist Julian Huxley is regarded as the founder of transhumanism, after he coined the term in Religion Without Revelation written in 1927. In 1965, the British mathematician Irving John Good discussed the possibility of machines that would one day surpass human intelligence. In 1982, science fiction writer Vernor Vinge first expressed the term “singularity” to describe Good’s idea of an “intelligence explosion.” Later in 1993, he popularized the idea in his essay, Technological Singularity, where he linked singularity to the impending emergence of artificial intelligence. The concepts of singularity were made main stream and discussed in detail by futurist Raymond Kurzweil in his books The Age of Spiritual Machines (2000) and The Singularity is Near (2006).
Past and Present Contributors To The Transhumanist Movement
Here are some additional videos that are
both informative and entertaining
both informative and entertaining
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Based on the information above, what’s not to like about transhumanism? How can we object to improving the human condition? What is wrong with attempting to improve on man’s physical, intellectual and psychological well-being? If, through technology, we can give sight to someone who was born blind or lost their sight, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Providing natural looking and functioning prosthetic arms or legs which provides the amputee the ability to function normally would be a miraculous thing. To be able to insert nanotechnologies into one’s brain who is suffering from a mental debilitating disease and bring clarity and mental wholeness, would relieve suffering for millions of people around the world. Would anyone object to living 25, 50 or perhaps 100 years longer than we do today? Would having the ability to employ certain biotech in order to upload information which would dramatically increase our intelligence and knowledge be such a moral or spiritual crime? So again I ask you, what’s not to like about transhumanism?
Transhumanism - Another Perspective
So what should the Christian think about all this? I mean the information provided is at times a bit creepy, but is it really a bad thing? Is it an evil movement that we should both shun and warn others about? After all, curing disease, extending life and increasing knowledge can't be bad; right? Transhumanism is the kind of topic that many Christians immediately toss into the "are you out of your mind", science fiction bin; not necessarily because it is untrue, but because it make us feel uneasy. We don't even want to think about the possibility of it being a reality, much less having to deal with it. Therefore Christians can either discard it as a fanciful dream of some wild eyed subculture, or consider, with serious elaboration, all the facts, eschatological and biblical aspects and ramifications of this real and progressing science and ideology.