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TRANSHUMANISM is the belief or theory that science and technology can facilitate the evolution of the human race beyond its current limitations into what some advocates describe as a “posthuman” species. Transhumanists advocate the use of science and technology to extend the human lifespan and enhance human cognition and bodily function. The term was first used by Aldous Huxley in an article published in 1957.
Scientific and technological fields of particular interest to transhumanists include:
GENETIC ENGINERING: especially the deletion or replacement of disease-causing genes or mutations
NANOTCHNOLOGY: the use of extremely small devices, machines, and robots to treat diseases and repair damaged cells, tissues, and organs
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: computer algorithms (“decision trees”) that emulate human intelligent thought, decision-making and consciousness.
BIONIC DEVICES: artificial prostheses that replace or enhance limb or organ function
Most transhumanists are also deeply interested in methods of extending the human lifespan, since without such technology they will not be able to personally experience the transhuman future. With the exception of biogerontology, the areas of research mentioned below are generally regarded as dubious or “fringe” by mainstream scientists:
BIOGERONTOLOGY: Biogerontology is the (legitimate/orthodox) study of the biological basis of ageing and age-related diseases. The goal is to develop and apply wholistic approaches to the complex trait of ageing for maintaining and/or improving health, generally focused on the triad of food, physical activity and mental engagement.
LIFE EXTENSION MOVEMENT: advocates of the anti-aging or life extension movement believe that scientific research intended to increase the human lifespan will allow humanity to attain what they term the “longevity escape velocity” (LEV), a point at which each year of research will increase human longevity by more than a year, offering effective immortality.
REJUVENATION: therapies intended to reverse aging and restore youth have been employed unsuccessfully for decades (e.g. superficial heterografts of simian testes in the 1920s-50s); and currently include the regular infusion of blood products from young persons. Supporters of “engineered negligible senescence” (SENS) advocate so-called regenerative therapies intended to remove, repair, replace, or render harmless the cellular and molecular damage associated with aging.
CRYONIC PRESERVATION: freezing whole human bodies or heads in the hope that future technology will be able to restore and rejuvenate the frozen.
Some of the most controversial proposals of transhumanists are based on the assumption that computers and human culture will at some point in the near future interact more intimately and even in some sense merge:
TECHNOLOGICAL SINGULARITY (“THE SINGULARITY”) a hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth [especially including artificial intelligence] becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unpredictable consequences for human civilization.
MIND UPLOADING (DIGITAL IMMORTALITY): storing or emulating the mind and personality of a human being in a digital storage medium or device or, such as a computer or robot.
QUANTUM ARCHEOLOGY : (a poorly-defined pseudoscience) based on the theory of the nonlinear nature of time and the quantum entanglement between an observer and the quantum system affected by the observation. Proponents believe it will someday be possible to effectively resurrect the dead by reconstructing the brain and body states of every person in history with high fidelity, using advances in physics and computer science.
Transhumanism is the position that human beings should be
Transhumanism is characterized by a set of core values emphasizing positive experience and recognizing the limitations of human cognition and embodiment in achieving maximally positive experience. A set of nonnecessary but common secondary values and positions associated with transhumanism include individualism, libertarianism, pragmatism, and physicalism. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, transhumanism has been criticized from a variety of perspectives, including those religious and secular and those socially conservative and socially liberal.
Adapted from The Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Second Edition) 2012, Pages 414-422
This Webpage was created for a workshop held at Saint Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, California in 2020“ .”
