Transhumanism Flashcards
(42 cards)
Julian Huxley
‘The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself … We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.’
Ray Kurzweil
‘[We will] transcend these limitations of our biological bodies and brains. We will gain power over our fates. Our mortality will be in our own hands.’
Three components of transhumanism
Metaphysical - Human beings are living in a world run by evolutionary processes. These push life toward evermore complex structures, forms, and operations
Psychological - Human beings are imbued with some innate will to evolve. This is a particular drive to expand our abilities in pursuit of longer survival and greater well-being
Ethical - Encouraging followers to actively pursue the alleged betterment of the human species via transhumanist methods
Transhumanism tends to involve… (3)
Extending life potentially indefinitely
Enhancing current human bodies and minds
Enhancing future generations
Brian Johnson
Developed ‘Blueprint’, a rigid lifestyle plan that involves:
Strict diet
Strict sleep regimen
Strict exercise regimen
Monitoring the body extensively
Believes he is bringing about the most significant development in human evolution ever
Julian Savulescu
- ‘Some non-disease genes affect the likelihood of us leading the best life;
- We have a reason to use information which is available about such genes in our reproductive decision-making;
- Couples should select embryos or fetuses which are most likely to have the best life, based on available genetic information, including information about non-disease genes. I will also argue that we should allow selection for non-disease genes even if this maintains or increases social inequality.’
Cochlear Implants
Originally developed to assist those with hearing impairments
Exemplify the blurring of therapeutic and enhancement boundaries (should they be like glasses?)
While restoring lost function, they also raise questions about identity, access, and the redefinition of human ability
Their economic benefits include enabling fuller participation in education and employment
Many people refuse them for various reasons about cultural identity, ableism, and the perceived threat to Deaf culture
Braces
Example of health vs plastic surgery/enhancement
The distinction between treatment and enhancement - issues (3)
What is ‘normal’?
Who gets to decide the baseline?
Slippery slope: we usually start with treatment and then move on to enhancement
Descriptive questions
Do these treatments work?
Are they safe?
Evaluative questions
Should we be trying to augment human psychology and physiology?
Socioeconomics - In Favour
We already enhance ourselves all the time (coffee, medication, clothing), what is so different about transhumanism?
Enhancing human capacities through biomedical or technological means could increase subjective well-being and generate economic benefits by producing healthier, longer-living, and more productive citizens
Nick Bostrom
Argues that enhancement technologies have the potential to mitigate suffering and improve life satisfaction
Views transhumanism as a moral imperative under the principle of beneficence
Theology - In Favour
A way to overcome fallenness and achieve Edenic perfection
Transformation has always been part of the Christian story
Imago Dei – we, created in God’s image, strive toward divine likeness
Genesis 1:26-27
‘Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them’
1 Corinthians 15:51–52
‘Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet’
Jennifer Knosed (5)
Arguably, the Bible begins as a speciesist manifesto – only humanity is created in the image of the divine;
However, the Bible also contains multiple moments of disruption, boundary crossing, and category confusion;
Animals speak, God becomes man, spirits haunt the living, and monsters confound at the end;
All of these stories explore the boundaries of the human in ways that destabilise the very category of the human;
All of these stories engage thinking that broadly falls under the umbrella term posthumanism’
Eschatology
Christian eschatology envisions a future transformation of humanity, which some see as compatible with transhumanist aspirations toward bodily and cognitive enhancement
Transhumanist efforts to eliminate suffering, disease, and death echo eschatological hopes
Eschatology - examples
E.g. Cryonics or digital consciousness replication can be interpreted (symbolically) as secular analogues to resurrection hope in 1 Corinthians 15
E.g. Genetic editing used to eradicate hereditary diseases may echo Isaiah’s eschatological vision of a world free of suffering (Isaiah 11:6–9)
Isaiah 11:6–9
A picture of the utopian future brought by the Messiah
God’s role
Technological attempts to achieve paradise on earth risk supplanting God’s role in salvation
Idolatrous?
Romans 8:19-21
‘For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God… in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.’
Ted Peters
While eschatological transformation is God’s work, humans may be called to ethically participate in their own evolutionary and spiritual development, provided it remains rooted in humility and divine dependence
Socioeconomics - Against
Reinforce social divides
Worsen inequality between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’
Cosmetic Surgery is a good example of this already happening
Economic marginalisation of those who cannot afford or ethically oppose enhancement
