Transhumanism

For the critique of humanism and related term, see Posthumanism.

Not to be confused with Transhumance or Transgender.

Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cognition, and well-being.<ref name="Mercer">Mercer, Calvin; Throten, Tracy J., eds. (2015). Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Praeger. ISBN 978-1-4408-3325-0.</ref><ref name="Bostrom 2005">Bostrom, Nick (2005). "A history of transhumanist thought" (PDF). Journal of Evolution and Technology. 14 (1): 1–25. Retrieved February 21, 2006.</ref><ref>Hopkins, P. D. (2012). "Transhumanism". Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Second Edition): 414–422. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-373932-2.00243-X.</ref>

Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as the ethics<ref>"We May Look Crazy to Them, But They Look Like Zombies to Us: Transhumanism as a Political Challenge". Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.</ref> of using such technologies. Some transhumanists believe that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the current condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings.<ref name="Bostrom 2005"/>

Another topic of transhumanist research is how to protect humanity against existential risks, such as nuclear war or asteroid collision.<ref name="wsj.com">Kirsch, Adam (June 20, 2020). "Looking Forward to the End of Humanity". The Wall Street Journal.</ref>

Julian Huxley was a biologist who popularised the term transhumanism in an influential 1957 essay.<ref name="Huxley 1957"/> The contemporary meaning of the term "transhumanism" was foreshadowed by one of the first professors of futurology, a man who changed his name to FM-2030. In the 1960s, he taught "new concepts of the human" at The New School when he began to identify people who adopt technologies, lifestyles, and worldviews "transitional" to posthumanity as "transhuman".<ref name="Hughes 2004"/> The assertion would lay the intellectual groundwork for the British philosopher Max More to begin articulating the principles of transhumanism as a futurist philosophy in 1990, and organizing in California a school of thought that has since grown into the worldwide transhumanist movement.<ref name="Hughes 2004"/><ref name="Gelles 2009"/><ref>Google Ngram Viewer. Retrieved April 25, 2013.</ref>

Influenced by seminal works of science fiction, the transhumanist vision of a transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters and detractors from a wide range of perspectives, including philosophy and religion.<ref name="Hughes 2004"/>

In 2017, Penn State University Press, in cooperation with philosopher Stefan Lorenz Sorgner and sociologist James Hughes, established the Journal of Posthuman Studies<ref>"Journal of Posthuman Studies: Philosophy, Technology, Media".</ref> as the first academic journal explicitly dedicated to the posthuman, with the goal of clarifying the notions of posthumanism and transhumanism, as well as comparing and contrasting both.

Transhumanism is often compared, especially in the media, to the Nazi project to improve the race in a eugenic sense. This is resolutely denied by one of the most active supporters of transhumanism, the aforementioned Sorgner: "It is also false to identify transhumanists with Nazi ideology, as Habermas does, because Nazis are in favor of a totalitarian political organization, whereas transhumanists uphold the value of liberal democracies."<ref>Sorgner, Stefan Lorenz (2010). "Beyond Humanism: Reflections on Trans- and Posthumanism". Journal of Evolution and Technology. Retrieved May 24, 2023. Section 9.</ref>

History

Precursors of transhumanism

According to Nick Bostrom, transcendentalist impulses have been expressed at least as far back as the quest for immortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as in historical quests for the Fountain of Youth, the Elixir of Life, and other efforts to stave off aging and death.<ref name="Bostrom 2005"/>

Transhumanists draw upon and claim continuity from intellectual and cultural traditions such as the ancient philosophy of Aristotle or the scientific tradition of Roger Bacon.<ref>Porter, Allen (June 1, 2017). "Bioethics and Transhumanism". The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine. 42 (3): 237–260. doi:10.1093/jmp/jhx001. PMID 28499043. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2023.</ref> In his Divine Comedy, Dante coined the word trasumanar meaning "to transcend human nature, to pass beyond human nature" in the first canto of Paradiso.<ref>Vita-More, Natasha (2012). Life Expansion. University of Plymouth. pp. 74–75. See also Harrison, Peter; Wolyniak, Joseph (2015). "The History of 'Transhumanism'". Notes and Queries. 62 (3): 465–467. doi:10.1093/notesj/gjv080. ISSN 0029-3970.</ref><ref>"Trasumanar (neologism)". danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu. Retrieved August 24, 2021.</ref><ref>"Paradiso 1 – Digital Dante". digitaldante.columbia.edu. Retrieved August 24, 2021.</ref><ref>"BioEdge: Was Dante a transhumanist?". BioEdge. Archived from the original on August 24, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2021.</ref>

The interweaving of transhumanist aspirations with the scientific imagination can be seen in the works of some precursors of Enlightenment such as Francis Bacon.<ref name="Bainbridge 2011 p. 582">Bainbridge, W.S. (2011). Leadership in Science and Technology: A Reference Handbook. SAGE Publications. p. 582. ISBN 978-1-4522-6652-7. Retrieved May 3, 2023.</ref><ref name="Manzocco 2019 p. 2">Manzocco, R. (2019). Transhumanism - Engineering the Human Condition: History, Philosophy and Current Status. Springer Praxis Books. Springer International Publishing. p. 2. ISBN 978-3-030-04958-4. Retrieved May 3, 2023.</ref> One of the early precursors to transhumanist ideas is Discourse on Method (1637) by René Descartes. In the Discourse, Descartes envisioned a new kind of medicine that could grant both physical immortality and stronger minds.<ref>Renée Mirkes. Transhumanist Medicine: Can We Direct Its Power to the Service of Human Dignity? The Linacre Quarterly, March 29, 2019</ref>

In his first edition of Political Justice (1793), William Godwin included arguments favoring the possibility of "earthly immortality" (what would now be called physical immortality). Godwin explored the themes of life extension and immortality in his gothic novel St. Leon, which became popular (and notorious) at the time of its publication in 1799, but is now mostly forgotten. St. Leon may have provided inspiration for his daughter Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.<ref>"Godwin, William (1756–1836) – Introduction". Gothic Literature. enotes.com. 2008. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2008.</ref>

Ether Day, marking a significant milestone in human history, celebrated its 175th anniversary on October 16, 2021. It was on this day that dentist William T. G. Morton achieved a groundbreaking feat by administering the first public ether anesthesia in Boston. This breakthrough not only allowed for the alleviation of pain with a reasonable level of risk but also helped safeguard individuals from psychological trauma by inducing unconsciousness.<ref>Lewandowski, K.; Kretschmer, B.; Schmidt, K. W. (2021). "175 Jahre Anästhesie und Narkose – Auf dem Weg zu einem "Menschenrecht auf Ohnmacht"". Der Anaesthesist. 70 (10): 811–831. doi:10.1007/s00101-021-01043-1. ISSN 0003-2417. PMC 8444521. PMID 34529093.</ref>

There is debate about whether the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche can be considered an influence on transhumanism, despite its exaltation of the Übermensch (overhuman), due to its emphasis on self-actualization rather than technological transformation.<ref name="Bostrom 2005"/><ref name="Sorgner 2009"/><ref name="Blackford 2010"/><ref name="Sorgner 2012"/> The transhumanist philosophies of Max More and Stefan Lorenz Sorgner have been influenced strongly by Nietzschean thinking.<ref name="Sorgner 2009"/> By way of contrast, The Transhumanist Declaration "...advocates the well-being of all sentience (whether in artificial intellects, humans, posthumans, or non-human animals)".<ref name="Declaration">"The Transhumanist Declaration" (PDF). Retrieved May 24, 2023.</ref>

The late 19th to early 20th century movement known as Russian cosmism, by Russian philosopher N. F. Fyodorov, is noted for anticipating transhumanist ideas.<ref>"Art works by Russian cosmism painter XX – XXI ct. Catalogue of exhibition 2013 | Soviet Era Museum". sovieteramuseum.com. Retrieved June 24, 2018.</ref> In 1966, FM-2030 (formerly F. M. Esfandiary), a futurist who taught "new concepts of the human" at The New School, in New York City, began to identify people who adopt technologies, lifestyles and worldviews transitional to posthumanity as "transhuman".<ref name="FM-2030 1989"/>

Early transhumanist thinking

Julian Huxley, the biologist who popularised the term transhumanism in an influential 1957 essay<ref name="Huxley 1957"/>

Fundamental ideas of transhumanism were first advanced in 1923 by the British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane in his essay Daedalus: Science and the Future, which predicted that great benefits would come from the application of advanced sciences to human biology—and that every such advance would first appear to someone as blasphemy or perversion, "indecent and unnatural".<ref name="Haldane 1923" /> In particular, he was interested in the development of the science of eugenics, ectogenesis (creating and sustaining life in an artificial environment), and the application of genetics to improve human characteristics, such as health and intelligence.

His article inspired academic and popular interest. J. D. Bernal, a crystallographer at Cambridge, wrote The World, the Flesh and the Devil in 1929, in which he speculated on the prospects of space colonization and radical changes to human bodies and intelligence through bionic implants and cognitive enhancement.<ref>Clarke, Arthur C. (2000). Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds. St Martin's Griffin, New York.</ref> These ideas have been common transhumanist themes ever since.<ref name="Bostrom 2005" />

The biologist Julian Huxley is generally regarded as the founder of transhumanism after using the term for the title of an influential 1957 article.<ref name="Huxley 1957"/> The term itself, however, derives from an earlier 1940 paper by the Canadian philosopher W. D. Lighthall.<ref name="Harrison and Wolyniak 2015"/> Huxley describes transhumanism in these terms:

Huxley's definition differs, albeit not substantially, from the one commonly in use since the 1980s. The ideas raised by these thinkers were explored in the science fiction of the 1960s, notably in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which an alien artifact grants transcendent power to its wielder.<ref>Hutton, Christopher. "Google's Glass Castle: The Rise and Fear of a Transhuman Future". PopMatters.</ref>

Japanese Metabolist architects produced a manifesto in 1960 which outlined goals to "encourage active metabolic development of our society"<ref>Lin (2010), p. 24</ref> through design and technology. In the Material and Man section of the manifesto, Noboru Kawazoe suggests that:

After several decades, with the rapid progress of communication technology, every one will have a "brain wave receiver" in his ear, which conveys directly and exactly what other people think about him and vice versa. What I think will be known by all the people. There is no more individual consciousness, only the will of mankind as a whole.<ref>Lin, Zhongjie (2010). Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan. Routledge. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-1-135-28198-4.</ref>

Artificial intelligence and the technological singularity

The concept of the technological singularity, or the ultra-rapid advent of superhuman intelligence, was first proposed by the British cryptologist I. J. Good in 1965:

Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an "intelligence explosion," and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.<ref>I.J. Good, "Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine" (HTML Archived November 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine), Advances in Computers, vol. 6, 1965.</ref>

Computer scientist Marvin Minsky wrote on relationships between human and artificial intelligence beginning in the 1960s.<ref name="Minsky 1960"/> Over the succeeding decades, this field continued to generate influential thinkers such as Hans Moravec and Raymond Kurzweil, who oscillated between the technical arena and futuristic speculations in the transhumanist vein.<ref name="Moravec 1998"/><ref name="Kurzweil 1999"/> The coalescence of an identifiable transhumanist movement began in the last decades of the 20th century. In 1972, Robert Ettinger, whose 1964 Prospect of Immortality founded the cryonics movement,<ref name=dilemma>Devlin, Hannah (November 18, 2016). "The cryonics dilemma: will deep-frozen bodies be fit for new life?". The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018.</ref> contributed to the conceptualization of "transhumanity" with his 1972 Man into Superman.<ref name="Ettinger 1972" /> FM-2030 published the Upwingers Manifesto in 1973.<ref name="FM-2030 1973" />

Growth of transhumanism

The first self-described transhumanists met formally in the early 1980s at the University of California, Los Angeles, which became the main center of transhumanist thought. Here, FM-2030 lectured on his "Third Way" futurist ideology.<ref name="FM-2030: Are You Transhuman" /> At the EZTV Media venue, frequented by transhumanists and other futurists, Natasha Vita-More presented Breaking Away, her 1980 experimental film with the theme of humans breaking away from their biological limitations and the Earth's gravity as they head into space.<ref name="EZTV Media"/><ref name="Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over the Edge"/> FM-2030 and Vita-More soon began holding gatherings for transhumanists in Los Angeles, which included students from FM-2030's courses and audiences from Vita-More's artistic productions. In 1982, Vita-More authored the Transhumanist Arts Statement<ref name="Vita-More 1982"/> and, six years later, produced the cable TV show TransCentury Update on transhumanity, a program which reached over 100,000 viewers.

In 1986, Eric Drexler published Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology,<ref name="Drexler 1986"/> which discussed the prospects for nanotechnology and molecular assemblers, and founded the Foresight Institute. As the first non-profit organization to research, advocate for, and perform cryonics, the Southern California offices of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation became a center for futurists. In 1988, the first issue of Extropy Magazine was published by Max More and Tom Morrow. In 1990, More, a strategic philosopher, created his own particular transhumanist doctrine, which took the form of the Principles of Extropy, and laid the foundation of modern transhumanism by giving it a new definition:<ref name="More 1990"/>

Transhumanism is a class of philosophies that seek to guide us towards a posthuman condition. Transhumanism shares many elements of humanism, including a respect for reason and science, a commitment to progress, and a valuing of human (or transhuman) existence in this life. [...] Transhumanism differs from humanism in recognizing and anticipating the radical alterations in the nature and possibilities of our lives resulting from various sciences and technologies [...].

In 1992, More and Morrow founded the Extropy Institute, a catalyst for networking futurists and brainstorming new memeplexes by organizing a series of conferences and, more importantly, providing a mailing list, which exposed many to transhumanist views for the first time during the rise of cyberculture and the cyberdelic counterculture. In 1998, philosophers Nick Bostrom and David Pearce founded the World Transhumanist Association (WTA), an international non-governmental organization working toward the recognition of transhumanism as a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry and public policy.<ref name="Hughes 2005"/> In 2002, the WTA modified and adopted The Transhumanist Declaration.<ref name="Declaration" /><ref name="World Transhumanist Association 2002"/><ref name="wsj.com"/> The Transhumanist FAQ, prepared by the WTA (later Humanity+), gave two formal definitions for transhumanism:<ref name="What is Transhumanism"/>

1. The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.
2. The study of the ramifications, promises, and potential dangers of technologies that will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations, and the related study of the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies.

In possible contrast with other transhumanist organizations, WTA officials considered that social forces could undermine their futurist visions and needed to be addressed.<ref name = "Hughes 2004"/> A particular concern is the equal access to human enhancement technologies across classes and borders.<ref name="Utne"/> In 2006, a political struggle within the transhumanist movement between the libertarian right and the liberal left resulted in a more centre-leftward positioning of the WTA under its former executive director James Hughes.<ref name="Utne" /><ref name="Among the Transhumanists" /> In 2006, the board of directors of the Extropy Institute ceased operations of the organization, stating that its mission was "essentially completed".<ref name="Extropy Institute 2006" /> This left the World Transhumanist Association as the leading international transhumanist organization. In 2008, as part of a rebranding effort, the WTA changed its name to "Humanity+".<ref name="Newitz 2008" /> In 2012, the transhumanist Longevity Party had been initiated as an international union of people who promote the development of scientific and technological means to significant life extension, that for now has more than 30 national organisations throughout the world.<ref>Stambler, Ilia. "The Longevity Party – Who Needs it? Who Wants it?". IEET. Retrieved August 23, 2012.</ref><ref>"A Single-Issue Political Party for Longevity Science". Fight Aging!. July 27, 2012.</ref>

The Mormon Transhumanist Association was founded in 2006.<ref>"About". Mormon Transhumanist Association. Archived from the original on January 11, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2016.</ref> By 2012, it consisted of hundreds of members.<ref>"Member Survey Results". Mormon Transhumanist Association. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2016.</ref>

The first transhumanist elected member of a parliament has been Giuseppe Vatinno, in Italy.<ref>"Italy elects first transhumanist MP". Kurzweilai.net. Retrieved April 25, 2013.</ref>

Theory

It is a matter of debate whether transhumanism is a branch of posthumanism and how this philosophical movement should be conceptualised with regard to transhumanism.<ref>Umbrello, Steven; Lombard, Jessica (December 14, 2018). "Silence of the Idols: Appropriating the Myth of Sisyphus for Posthumanist Discourses". Postmodern Openings. 9 (4): 98–121. doi:10.18662/po/47. hdl:2318/1686606. ISSN 2069-9387.</ref><ref>Evans, W. (June 2022). "Review of On Transhumanism". Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation. 38 (2): 271–74. doi:10.13169/prometheus.38.2.0271. S2CID 252023683.</ref> The latter is often referred to as a variant or activist form of posthumanism by its conservative,<ref name="Fukuyama 2004"/> Christian<ref name="Hook 2004"/> and progressive<ref name="The Hedgehog Review 2002"/><ref name="Coenen 2007"/> critics.<ref>MacFarlane, James Michael (2020), "The Techno-Centred Imagination", Transhumanism as a New Social Movement, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 205–233, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-40090-3_8, ISBN 978-3-030-40089-7, S2CID 219495940</ref>

A common feature of transhumanism and philosophical posthumanism is the future vision of a new intelligent species, into which humanity will evolve and eventually will supplement or supersede it. Transhumanism stresses the evolutionary perspective, including sometimes the creation of a highly intelligent animal species by way of cognitive enhancement (i.e. biological uplift),<ref name="Hughes 2004" /> but clings to a "posthuman future" as the final goal of participant evolution.<ref name="Bostrom 2006">Bostrom, Nick. "Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (PDF). Retrieved December 10, 2007.</ref><ref>Umbrello, Steven (October 17, 2018). "Posthumanism". Con Texte. 2 (1): 28–32. doi:10.28984/ct.v2i1.279. ISSN 2561-4770.</ref>

Nevertheless, the idea of creating intelligent artificial beings (proposed, for example, by roboticist Hans Moravec) has influenced transhumanism.<ref name="Moravec 1998" /> Moravec's ideas and transhumanism have also been characterised as a "complacent" or "apocalyptic" variant of posthumanism and contrasted with "cultural posthumanism" in humanities and the arts.<ref name="Cultural Critique 2003" /> While such a "cultural posthumanism" would offer resources for rethinking the relationships between humans and increasingly sophisticated machines, transhumanism and similar posthumanisms are, in this view, not abandoning obsolete concepts of the "autonomous liberal subject", but are expanding its "prerogatives" into the realm of the posthuman.<ref name="Hayles 1999" /> Transhumanist self-characterisations as a continuation of humanism and Enlightenment thinking correspond with this view.

Some secular humanists conceive transhumanism as an offspring of the humanist freethought movement and argue that transhumanists differ from the humanist mainstream by having a specific focus on technological approaches to resolving human concerns (i.e. technocentrism) and on the issue of mortality.<ref name="Inniss 1998" /> However, other progressives have argued that posthumanism, whether it be its philosophical or activist forms, amounts to a shift away from concerns about social justice, from the reform of human institutions and from other Enlightenment preoccupations, toward narcissistic longings for a transcendence of the human body in quest of more exquisite ways of being.<ref name="Winner 2005" />

As an alternative, humanist philosopher Dwight Gilbert Jones has proposed a renewed Renaissance humanism through DNA and genome repositories, with each individual genotype (DNA) being instantiated as successive phenotypes (bodies or lives via cloning, Church of Man, 1978). In his view, native molecular DNA "continuity" is required for retaining the "self" and no amount of computing power or memory aggregation can replace the essential "stink" of our true genetic identity, which he terms "genity". Instead, DNA/genome stewardship by an institution analogous to the Jesuits' 400 year vigil is a suggested model for enabling humanism to become our species' common credo, a project he proposed in his speculative novel The Humanist – 1000 Summers (2011), wherein humanity dedicates these coming centuries to harmonizing our planet and peoples.

The philosophy of transhumanism is closely related to technoself studies, an interdisciplinary domain of scholarly research dealing with all aspects of human identity in a technological society and focusing on the changing nature of relationships between humans and technology.<ref>Management Association, Information Resources (2015). Public Affairs and Administration: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications. IGI Global. p. 2192. ISBN 978-1-4666-8359-4.</ref>

Aims

You awake one morning to find your brain has another lobe functioning. Invisible, this auxiliary lobe answers your questions with information beyond the realm of your own memory, suggests plausible courses of action, and asks questions that help bring out relevant facts. You quickly come to rely on the new lobe so much that you stop wondering how it works. You just use it. This is the dream of artificial intelligence.

Ray Kurzweil believes that a countdown to when "human life will be irreversibly transformed" can be made through plotting major world events on a graph.

While many transhumanist theorists and advocates seek to apply reason, science and technology for the purposes of reducing poverty, disease, disability and malnutrition around the globe,<ref name="What is Transhumanism" /> transhumanism is distinctive in its particular focus on the applications of technologies to the improvement of human bodies at the individual level. Many transhumanists actively assess the potential for future technologies and innovative social systems to improve the quality of all life, while seeking to make the material reality of the human condition fulfill the promise of legal and political equality by eliminating congenital mental and physical barriers.

Transhumanist philosophers argue that there not only exists a perfectionist ethical imperative for humans to strive for progress and improvement of the human condition, but that it is possible and desirable for humanity to enter a transhuman phase of existence in which humans enhance themselves beyond what is naturally human. In such a phase, natural evolution would be replaced with deliberate participatory or directed evolution.

Some theorists such as Ray Kurzweil think that the pace of technological innovation is accelerating and that the next 50 years may yield not only radical technological advances, but possibly a technological singularity, which may fundamentally change the nature of human beings.<ref name="Kurzweil 2005"/> Transhumanists who foresee this massive technological change generally maintain that it is desirable. However, some are also concerned with the possible dangers of extremely rapid technological change and propose options for ensuring that advanced technology is used responsibly. For example, Bostrom has written extensively on existential risks to humanity's future welfare, including ones that could be created by emerging technologies.<ref name="Bostrom 2002"/> In contrast, some proponents of transhumanism view it as essential to humanity's survival. For instance, Stephen Hawking points out that the "external transmission" phase of human evolution, where knowledge production and knowledge management is more important than transmission of information via evolution, may be the point at which human civilization becomes unstable and self-destructs, one of Hawking's explanations for the Fermi paradox. To counter this, Hawking emphasizes either self-design of the human genome or mechanical enhancement (e.g., brain-computer interface) to enhance human intelligence and reduce aggression, without which he implies human civilization may be too stupid collectively to survive an increasingly unstable system, resulting in societal collapse.<ref>Hawking, Stephen. "Life in the Universe". Public Lectures. University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on April 21, 2006. Retrieved May 11, 2006.</ref>

While many people believe that all transhumanists are striving for immortality, it is not necessarily true. Hank Pellissier, managing director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (2011–2012), surveyed transhumanists. He found that, of the 818 respondents, 23.8% did not want immortality.<ref name="Pellissier, Hank 2012">Pellissier, Hank. "Do all Transhumanists Want Immortality? No? Why Not?" Futurist 46.6 (2012): 65-. Web.</ref> Some of the reasons argued were boredom, Earth's overpopulation and the desire "to go to an afterlife".<ref name="Pellissier, Hank 2012"/>

Empathic fallibility and conversational consent

See also: Uplift (science fiction)

Certain transhumanist philosophers hold that since all assumptions about what others experience are fallible, and that therefore all attempts to help or protect beings that are not capable of correcting what others assume about them no matter how well-intentioned are in danger of actually hurting them, all sentient beings deserve to be sapient. These thinkers argue that the ability to discuss in a falsification-based way constitutes a threshold that is not arbitrary at which it becomes possible for an individual to speak for themselves in a way that is not dependent on exterior assumptions. They also argue that all beings capable of experiencing something deserve to be elevated to this threshold if they are not at it, typically stating that the underlying change that leads to the threshold is an increase in the preciseness of the brain's ability to discriminate. This includes increasing the neuron count and connectivity in animals as well as accelerating the development of connectivity to shorten or ideally skip non-sapient childhood incapable of independently deciding for oneself. Transhumanists of this description stress that the genetic engineering that they advocate is general insertion into both the somatic cells of living beings and in germ cells, and not purging of individuals without the modifications, deeming the latter not only unethical but also unnecessary due to the possibilities of efficient genetic engineering.<ref>Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision of Our Future Evolution, Ted Chu 2014</ref><ref>The thinker's guide to ethical reasoning, Linda Elder and Richard Paul 2013</ref><ref>How to Think about Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age Theodore Schick</ref><ref>Ten Billion Tomorrows: How Science Fiction Technology Became Reality and Shapes the Future, Brian Clegg 2015</ref>

Ethics

Template:Humanism Transhumanists engage in interdisciplinary approaches to understand and evaluate possibilities for overcoming biological limitations by drawing on futurology and various fields of ethics. Unlike many philosophers, social critics and activists who place a moral value on preservation of natural systems, transhumanists see the very concept of the specifically natural as problematically nebulous at best and an obstacle to progress at worst.<ref name="Bostrom, Sandberg 2002">Bostrom, Nick; Sandberg, Anders (2007). "The Wisdom of Nature: An Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement" (PDF). Nick Bostrom. Retrieved September 18, 2007.</ref> In keeping with this, many prominent transhumanist advocates, such as Dan Agin, refer to transhumanism's critics, on the political right and left jointly, as "bioconservatives" or "bioluddites", the latter term alluding to the 19th century anti-industrialisation social movement that opposed the replacement of human manual labourers by machines.<ref name="Hughes 2002"/>

A belief of counter-transhumanism is that transhumanism can cause unfair human enhancement in many areas of life, but specifically on the social plane. This can be compared to steroid use, where athletes who use steroids in sports have an advantage over those who do not. The same scenario happens when people have certain neural implants that give them an advantage in the work place and in educational aspects.<ref name="Tennison 2012"/> Additionally, there are many, according to M.J. McNamee and S.D. Edwards, who fear that the improvements afforded by a specific, privileged section of society will lead to a division of the human species into two different and distinct species.<ref name=":0">McNamee, M. J.; Edwards, S. D. (2006). "Transhumanism, medical technology and slippery slopes". Journal of Medical Ethics. 32 (9): 513–518. doi:10.1136/jme.2005.013789. JSTOR 27719694. PMC 2563415. PMID 16943331.</ref> The idea of two human species, one being at a great physical and economic advantage in comparison with the other, is a troublesome one at best. One may be incapable of breeding with the other, and may by consequence of lower physical health and ability, be considered of a lower moral standing than the other.<ref name=":0" />

Nick Bostrom stated that transhumanism advocates for the wellbeing of all sentient beings, whether in non-human animals, extra-terrestrials or artificial forms of life.<ref>"Transhumanist Values". nickbostrom.com. Retrieved December 21, 2022.</ref> This view is reiterated by David Pearce, who advocates for the use of biotechnology to eradicate suffering in all sentient beings.<ref name="The Hedonistic Imperative">"The Hedonistic Imperative". www.hedweb.com. Retrieved December 21, 2022.</ref>

Currents

There is a variety of opinions within transhumanist thought. Many of the leading transhumanist thinkers hold views that are under constant revision and development.<ref name="WTA FAQ 5.2"/> Some distinctive currents of transhumanism are identified and listed here in alphabetical order:

• Abolitionism, the concept of using biotechnology to eradicate suffering in all sentient beings.<ref name="The Hedonistic Imperative"/>
• Democratic transhumanism, a political ideology synthesizing liberal democracy, social democracy, radical democracy and transhumanism.<ref name="Hughes A2002" />
• Equalism, a socioeconomic theory based upon the idea that emerging technologies will put an end to social stratification through even distribution of resources in the technological singularity era.<ref>Lee, Newton (2019). The Transhumanism Handbook. Springer Nature.</ref>
• Extropianism, an early school of transhumanist thought characterized by a set of principles advocating a proactive approach to human evolution.<ref name="More 1990"/>
• Immortalism, a moral ideology based upon the belief that radical life extension and technological immortality is possible and desirable, and advocating research and development to ensure its realization.<ref name="imminst"/>
• Libertarian transhumanism, a political ideology synthesizing libertarianism and transhumanism.<ref name="Hughes 2002"/>
• Postgenderism, a social philosophy which seeks the voluntary elimination of gender in the human species through the application of advanced biotechnology and assisted reproductive technologies.<ref name="Dvorsky 2008" />
• Postpoliticism, a transhumanist political proposal that aims to create a "postdemocratic state" based on reason and free access of enhancement technologies to people.<ref>Gayozzo, Piero (September 20, 2018). Extrapolitical Theory and Postpoliticism - A Transhumanist Political Theory.</ref>
• Singularitarianism, a moral ideology based upon the belief that a technological singularity is possible, and advocating deliberate action to effect it and ensure its safety.<ref name="Kurzweil 2005" />
• Technogaianism, an ecological ideology based upon the belief that emerging technologies can help restore Earth's environment and that developing safe, clean, alternative technology should therefore be an important goal of environmentalists.<ref name="Hughes A2002" />

Spirituality

Although many transhumanists are atheists, agnostics, and/or secular humanists, some have religious or spiritual views.<ref name="Hughes 2005"/> Despite the prevailing secular attitude, some transhumanists pursue hopes traditionally espoused by religions, such as immortality,<ref name =imminst/> while several controversial new religious movements from the late 20th century have explicitly embraced transhumanist goals of transforming the human condition by applying technology to the alteration of the mind and body, such as Raëlism.<ref name="Rael 2002"/> However, most thinkers associated with the transhumanist movement focus on the practical goals of using technology to help achieve longer and healthier lives, while speculating that future understanding of neurotheology and the application of neurotechnology will enable humans to gain greater control of altered states of consciousness, which were commonly interpreted as spiritual experiences, and thus achieve more profound self-knowledge.<ref name="Hughes BH 2004"/> Transhumanist Buddhists have sought to explore areas of agreement between various types of Buddhism and Buddhist-derived meditation and mind-expanding neurotechnologies.<ref>"IEET Cyborg Buddha Project". ieet.org. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.</ref> However, they have been criticised for appropriating mindfulness as a tool for transcending humanness.<ref name="Evans 2014"/>

Some transhumanists believe in the compatibility between the human mind and computer hardware, with the theoretical implication that human consciousness may someday be transferred to alternative media (a speculative technique commonly known as mind uploading).<ref name="Sandberg 2000"/> One extreme formulation of this idea, which some transhumanists are interested in, is the proposal of the Omega Point by Christian cosmologist Frank Tipler. Drawing upon ideas in digitalism, Tipler has advanced the notion that the collapse of the Universe billions of years hence could create the conditions for the perpetuation of humanity in a simulated reality within a megacomputer and thus achieve a form of "posthuman godhood". Before Tipler, the term Omega Point was used by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a paleontologist and Jesuit theologian who saw an evolutionary telos in the development of an encompassing noosphere, a global consciousness.<ref name="tipler1994"/><ref>Steinhart, Eric (December 2008). "Teilhard de Chardin and Transhumanism". Journal of Evolution and Technology. 20 (1): 1–22.</ref><ref>Burdett, Michael S. (2011). Transhumanism and Transcendence. Georgetown University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-58901-780-1. ...others have made important contributions as well. For example, Freeman Dyson and Frank Tipler in the twentieth century...</ref>

Viewed from the perspective of some Christian thinkers, the idea of mind uploading is asserted to represent a denigration of the human body, characteristic of gnostic manichaean belief.<ref name="Pauls 2005"/> Transhumanism and its presumed intellectual progenitors have also been described as neo-gnostic by non-Christian and secular commentators.<ref name="Giesen 2004"/><ref name="Davis 1999"/>

The first dialogue between transhumanism and faith was a one-day conference held at the University of Toronto in 2004.<ref name="Campbell & Walker 2005"/> Religious critics alone faulted the philosophy of transhumanism as offering no eternal truths nor a relationship with the divine. They commented that a philosophy bereft of these beliefs leaves humanity adrift in a foggy sea of postmodern cynicism and anomie. Transhumanists responded that such criticisms reflect a failure to look at the actual content of the transhumanist philosophy, which, far from being cynical, is rooted in optimistic, idealistic attitudes that trace back to the Enlightenment.<ref name="TransVision 2004: Faith, Transhumanism and Hope Symposium"/> Following this dialogue, William Sims Bainbridge, a sociologist of religion, conducted a pilot study, published in the Journal of Evolution and Technology, suggesting that religious attitudes were negatively correlated with acceptance of transhumanist ideas and indicating that individuals with highly religious worldviews tended to perceive transhumanism as being a direct, competitive (though ultimately futile) affront to their spiritual beliefs.<ref name="Bainbridge"/>

Since 2006, the Mormon Transhumanist Association sponsors conferences and lectures on the intersection of technology and religion.<ref>"Mormon Transhumanist Association". YouTube.</ref> The Christian Transhumanist Association<ref>"CTA Website". Christian Transhumanist Association.</ref> was established in 2014.

Since 2009, the American Academy of Religion holds a "Transhumanism and Religion" consultation during its annual meeting, where scholars in the field of religious studies seek to identify and critically evaluate any implicit religious beliefs that might underlie key transhumanist claims and assumptions; consider how transhumanism challenges religious traditions to develop their own ideas of the human future, in particular the prospect of human transformation, whether by technological or other means; and provide critical and constructive assessments of an envisioned future that place greater confidence in nanotechnology, robotics and information technology to achieve virtual immortality and create a superior posthuman species.<ref name="AAR: Transhumanism and Religion Consultations"/>

The physicist and transhumanist thinker Giulio Prisco states that "cosmist religions based on science, might be our best protection from reckless pursuit of superintelligence and other risky technologies."<ref>Prisco, Giulio (September 9, 2014). "Religion as Protection From Reckless Pursuit of Superintelligence and Other Risky Technologies". Turing Church. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2016.</ref> Prisco also recognizes the importance of spiritual ideas, such as the ones of Russian Orthodox philosopher Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov, to the origins of the transhumanism movement.

Practice

While some transhumanists take an abstract and theoretical approach to the perceived benefits of emerging technologies, others have offered specific proposals for modifications to the human body, including heritable ones. Transhumanists are often concerned with methods of enhancing the human nervous system. Though some, such as Kevin Warwick, propose modification of the peripheral nervous system, the brain is considered the common denominator of personhood and is thus a primary focus of transhumanist ambitions.<ref name="Walker 2002"/>

In fact, Warwick has gone a lot further than merely making a proposal. In 2002 he had a 100 electrode array surgically implanted into the median nerves of his left arm to link his nervous system directly with a computer and thus to also connect with the internet. As a consequence, he carried out a series of experiments. He was able to directly control a robot hand using his neural signals and to feel the force applied by the hand through feedback from the fingertips. He also experienced a form of ultrasonic sensory input and conducted the first purely electronic communication between his own nervous system and that of his wife who also had electrodes implanted.<ref name="doi10.1001/archneur.60.10.1369|noedit">Warwick, K.; Gasson, M.; Hutt, B.; Goodhew, I.; Kyberd, P.; Andrews, B.; Teddy, P.; Shad, A. (2003). "The Application of Implant Technology for Cybernetic Systems". Archives of Neurology. 60 (10): 1369–73. doi:10.1001/archneur.60.10.1369. PMID 14568806.</ref>

File:Biohacker Neil Harbisson.jpg

Neil Harbisson's antenna implant allows him to extend his senses beyond human perception.

As proponents of self-improvement and body modification, transhumanists tend to use existing technologies and techniques that supposedly improve cognitive and physical performance, while engaging in routines and lifestyles designed to improve health and longevity.<ref name="Kurzweil 1993"/> Depending on their age, some transhumanists express concern that they will not live to reap the benefits of future technologies. However, many have a great interest in life extension strategies and in funding research in cryonics to make the latter a viable option of last resort, rather than remaining an unproven method.<ref name="Kurzweil 2004"/> Regional and global transhumanist networks and communities with a range of objectives exist to provide support and forums for discussion and collaborative projects.

While most transhumanist theory focuses on future technologies and the changes they may bring, many today are already involved in the practice on a very basic level. It is not uncommon for many to receive cosmetic changes to their physical form via cosmetic surgery, even if it is not required for health reasons. Human growth hormones attempt to alter the natural development of shorter children or those who have been born with a physical deficiency. Doctors prescribe medicines such as Ritalin and Adderall to improve cognitive focus, and many people take "lifestyle" drugs such as Viagra, Propecia, and Botox to restore aspects of youthfulness that have been lost in maturity.<ref>Elliott, Carl (2003). "Humanity 2.0". The Wilson Quarterly. 27 (4): 13–20. JSTOR 40260800.</ref>

Other transhumanists, such as cyborg artist Neil Harbisson, use technologies and techniques to improve their senses and perception of reality. Harbisson's antenna, which is permanently implanted in his skull, allows him to sense colours beyond human perception such as infrareds and ultraviolets.<ref>Adams, Tim "When man meets metal: rise of the transhumans", The Guardian, 29 October 2017</ref>

Technologies of interest

Main article: Human enhancement technologies

Transhumanists support the emergence and convergence of technologies including nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC), as well as hypothetical future technologies like simulated reality, artificial intelligence, superintelligence, 3D bioprinting, mind uploading, chemical brain preservation and cryonics. They believe that humans can and should use these technologies to become more than human.<ref name="Naam 2005"/> Therefore, they support the recognition and/or protection of cognitive liberty, morphological freedom and procreative liberty as civil liberties, so as to guarantee individuals the choice of using human enhancement technologies on themselves and their children.<ref name="Sandberg 2001"/> Some speculate that human enhancement techniques and other emerging technologies may facilitate more radical human enhancement no later than at the midpoint of the 21st century. Kurzweil's book The Singularity is Near and Michio Kaku's book Physics of the Future outline various human enhancement technologies and give insight on how these technologies may impact the human race.<ref name="Kurzweil 2005"/><ref>Kaku, Michio (2011). Physics of the Future. United States: Doubleday. p. 389.</ref>

Some reports on the converging technologies and NBIC concepts have criticised their transhumanist orientation and alleged science fictional character.<ref name="The Royal Society & The Royal Academy of Engineering 2004"/> At the same time, research on brain and body alteration technologies has been accelerated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Defense, which is interested in the battlefield advantages they would provide to the supersoldiers of the United States and its allies.<ref name="Moreno 2006"/> There has already been a brain research program to "extend the ability to manage information", while military scientists are now looking at stretching the human capacity for combat to a maximum 168 hours without sleep.<ref name="Managing Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno Innovations: Converging Technologies in Society"/>

Neuroscientist Anders Sandberg has been practicing on the method of scanning ultra-thin sections of the brain. This method is being used to help better understand the architecture of the brain. As of now, this method is currently being used on mice. This is the first step towards hypothetically uploading contents of the human brain, including memories and emotions, onto a computer.<ref name="Sandberg 2009"/><ref>Fan, Xue; Markram, Henry (May 7, 2019). "A Brief History of Simulation Neuroscience". Frontiers in Neuroinformatics. 13: 32. doi:10.3389/fninf.2019.00032. ISSN 1662-5196. PMC 6513977. PMID 31133838.</ref>

Debate

The very notion and prospect of human enhancement and related issues arouse public controversy.<ref name="Garreau 2006"/> Criticisms of transhumanism and its proposals take two main forms: those objecting to the likelihood of transhumanist goals being achieved (practical criticisms) and those objecting to the moral principles or worldview sustaining transhumanist proposals or underlying transhumanism itself (ethical criticisms). Critics and opponents often see transhumanists' goals as posing threats to human values.

The human enhancement debate is, for some, framed by the opposition between strong bioconservatism and transhumanism. The former opposes any form of human enhancement, whereas the latter advocates for all possible human enhancements <ref>"Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls". The New Atlantis. Retrieved October 25, 2023.</ref> However, many philosophers engaged in the continuing debate hold a more nuanced view in favour of some enhancements while rejecting the transhumanist carte blanche approach.<ref>Brennan, Cian (June 1, 2023). "Weak transhumanism: moderate enhancement as a non-radical path to radical enhancement". Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 44 (3): 229–248. doi:10.1007/s11017-023-09606-6. ISSN 1573-1200. PMC 10172256. PMID 36780070.</ref>

Some of the most widely known critiques of the transhumanist program are novels and fictional films. These works of art, despite presenting imagined worlds rather than philosophical analyses, are used as touchstones for some of the more formal arguments.<ref name="Hughes 2004"/> Various arguments have been made to the effect that a society that adopts human enhancement technologies may come to resemble the dystopia depicted in the 1932 novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.<ref>Fukuyama, Francis (May 1, 2003). Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-374-70618-0.</ref>

On another front, some authors consider that humanity is already transhuman, because medical advances in recent centuries have significantly altered our species. However, it is not in a conscious and therefore transhumanistic way.<ref>Casas, Miquel (2017). El fin del Homo sapiens: La naturaleza y el transhumanismo. Madrid: 2017. p. 112. ISBN 978-84-16996-35-3.</ref> From such perspective, transhumanism is perpetually aspirational: as new technologies become mainstream, the adoption of new yet-unadopted technologies becomes a new shifting goal.

Feasibility

In a 1992 book, sociologist Max Dublin pointed to many past failed predictions of technological progress and argued that modern futurist predictions would prove similarly inaccurate. He also objected to what he saw as scientism, fanaticism and nihilism by a few in advancing transhumanist causes. Dublin also said that historical parallels existed between Millenarian religions and Communist doctrines.<ref name="Dublin 1992"/>

Although generally sympathetic to transhumanism, public health professor Gregory Stock is skeptical of the technical feasibility and mass appeal of the cyborgization of humanity predicted by Raymond Kurzweil, Hans Moravec and Kevin Warwick. He said that, throughout the 21st century, many humans would find themselves deeply integrated into systems of machines, but would remain biological. Primary changes to their own form and character would arise not from cyberware, but from the direct manipulation of their genetics, metabolism and biochemistry.<ref name="Stock 2002"/>

In her 1992 book Science as Salvation, philosopher Mary Midgley traces the notion of achieving immortality by transcendence of the material human body (echoed in the transhumanist tenet of mind uploading) to a group of male scientific thinkers of the early 20th century, including J. B. S. Haldane and members of his circle. She characterizes these ideas as "quasi-scientific dreams and prophesies" involving visions of escape from the body coupled with "self-indulgent, uncontrolled power-fantasies". Her argument focuses on what she perceives as the pseudoscientific speculations and irrational, fear-of-death-driven fantasies of these thinkers, their disregard for laymen and the remoteness of their eschatological visions.<ref name="Midgley 1992"/>

Another critique is aimed mainly at "algeny" (a portmanteau of alchemy and genetics), which Jeremy Rifkin defined as "the upgrading of existing organisms and the design of wholly new ones with the intent of 'perfecting' their performance".<ref name="Rifkin 1983"/> It emphasizes the issue of biocomplexity and the unpredictability of attempts to guide the development of products of biological evolution. This argument, elaborated in particular by the biologist Stuart Newman, is based on the recognition that cloning and germline genetic engineering of animals are error-prone and inherently disruptive of embryonic development. Accordingly, so it is argued, it would create unacceptable risks to use such methods on human embryos. Performing experiments, particularly ones with permanent biological consequences, on developing humans would thus be in violation of accepted principles governing research on human subjects (see the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki). Moreover, because improvements in experimental outcomes in one species are not automatically transferable to a new species without further experimentation, it is claimed that there is no ethical route to genetic manipulation of humans at early developmental stages.<ref name="Newman 2003"/>

As a practical matter, however, international protocols on human subject research may not present a legal obstacle to attempts by transhumanists and others to improve their offspring by germinal choice technology. According to legal scholar Kirsten Rabe Smolensky, existing laws would protect parents who choose to enhance their child's genome from future liability arising from adverse outcomes of the procedure.<ref name="Smolensky 2006"/>

Transhumanists and other supporters of human genetic engineering do not dismiss practical concerns out of hand, insofar as there is a high degree of uncertainty about the timelines and likely outcomes of genetic modification experiments in humans. However, bioethicist James Hughes suggests that one possible ethical route to the genetic manipulation of humans at early developmental stages is the building of computer models of the human genome, the proteins it specifies and the tissue engineering he argues that it also codes for. With the exponential progress in bioinformatics, Hughes believes that a virtual model of genetic expression in the human body will not be far behind and that it will soon be possible to accelerate approval of genetic modifications by simulating their effects on virtual humans.<ref name="Hughes 2004"/> Public health professor Gregory Stock points to artificial chromosomes as an alleged safer alternative to existing genetic engineering techniques.<ref name = "Stock 2002"/>

Thinkers who defend the likelihood of accelerating change point to a past pattern of exponential increases in humanity's technological capacities. Kurzweil developed this position in his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near.

Intrinsic immorality

It has been argued that, in transhumanist thought, humans attempt to substitute themselves for God. The 2002 Vatican statement Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God,<ref name="International Theological Commission 2002"/> stated that "changing the genetic identity of man as a human person through the production of an infrahuman being is radically immoral", implying, that "man has full right of disposal over his own biological nature". The statement also argues that creation of a superhuman or spiritually superior being is "unthinkable", since true improvement can come only through religious experience and "realizing more fully the image of God". Christian theologians and lay activists of several churches and denominations have expressed similar objections to transhumanism and claimed that Christians attain in the afterlife what radical transhumanism promises, such as indefinite life extension or the abolition of suffering. In this view, transhumanism is just another representative of the long line of utopian movements which seek to create "heaven on earth".<ref name="Mitchell & Kilner 2002"/><ref name="Barratt 2006"/> On the other hand, religious thinkers allied with transhumanist goals such as the theologians Ronald Cole-Turner and Ted Peters hold that the doctrine of "co-creation" provides an obligation to use genetic engineering to improve human biology.<ref name="Cole-Turner 1993"/><ref name="Peters 1997"/>

Other critics target what they claim to be an instrumental conception of the human body in the writings of Marvin Minsky, Hans Moravec and some other transhumanists.<ref name="Hayles 1999"/> Reflecting a strain of feminist criticism of the transhumanist program, philosopher Susan Bordo points to "contemporary obsessions with slenderness, youth and physical perfection", which she sees as affecting both men and women, but in distinct ways, as "the logical (if extreme) manifestations of anxieties and fantasies fostered by our culture."<ref name="Bordo 1993"/> Some critics question other social implications of the movement's focus on body modification. Political scientist Klaus-Gerd Giesen, in particular, has asserted that transhumanism's concentration on altering the human body represents the logical yet tragic consequence of atomized individualism and body commodification within a consumer culture.<ref name="Giesen 2004"/>

Nick Bostrom responds that the desire to regain youth, specifically, and transcend the natural limitations of the human body, in general, is pan-cultural and pan-historical, and is therefore not uniquely tied to the culture of the 20th century. He argues that the transhumanist program is an attempt to channel that desire into a scientific project on par with the Human Genome Project and achieve humanity's oldest hope, rather than a puerile fantasy or social trend.<ref name="Bostrom 2005"/>

Loss of human identity

In the U.S., the Amish are a religious group most known for their avoidance of certain modern technologies. Transhumanists draw a parallel by arguing that in the near-future there will probably be "humanish", people who choose to "stay human" by not adopting human enhancement technologies. They believe their choice must be respected and protected.<ref name="Alexander 2000"/>

In his 2003 book Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age, environmental ethicist Bill McKibben argued at length against many of the technologies that are postulated or supported by transhumanists, including germinal choice technology, nanomedicine and life extension strategies. He claims that it would be morally wrong for humans to tamper with fundamental aspects of themselves (or their children) in an attempt to overcome universal human limitations, such as vulnerability to aging, maximum life span and biological constraints on physical and cognitive ability. Attempts to "improve" themselves through such manipulation would remove limitations that provide a necessary context for the experience of meaningful human choice. He claims that human lives would no longer seem meaningful in a world where such limitations could be overcome technologically. Even the goal of using germinal choice technology for clearly therapeutic purposes should be relinquished, since it would inevitably produce temptations to tamper with such things as cognitive capacities. He argues that it is possible for societies to benefit from renouncing particular technologies, using as examples Ming China, Tokugawa Japan and the contemporary Amish.<ref name="McKibben 2003"/>

Biopolitical activist Jeremy Rifkin and biologist Stuart Newman accept that biotechnology has the power to make profound changes in organismal identity. They argue against the genetic engineering of human beings because they fear the blurring of the boundary between human and artifact.<ref name="Newman 2003"/><ref name="Otchet 1998"/> Philosopher Keekok Lee sees such developments as part of an accelerating trend in modernization in which technology has been used to transform the "natural" into the "artefactual".<ref name="Lee 1999"/> In the extreme, this could lead to the manufacturing and enslavement of "monsters" such as human clones, human-animal chimeras, or bioroids, but even lesser dislocations of humans and non-humans from social and ecological systems are seen as problematic. The film Blade Runner (1982) and the novels The Boys From Brazil (1976) and The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) depict elements of such scenarios, but Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is most often alluded to by critics who suggest that biotechnologies could create objectified and socially unmoored people as well as subhumans. Such critics propose that strict measures be implemented to prevent what they portray as dehumanizing possibilities from ever happening, usually in the form of an international ban on human genetic engineering.<ref name="Darnovsky Crossroads"/>

Science journalist Ronald Bailey claims that McKibben's historical examples are flawed and support different conclusions when studied more closely.<ref name="Bailey 2003"/> For example, few groups are more cautious than the Amish about embracing new technologies, but, though they shun television and use horses and buggies, some are welcoming the possibilities of gene therapy since inbreeding has afflicted them with a number of rare genetic diseases.<ref name="Stock 2002"/> Bailey and other supporters of technological alteration of human biology also reject the claim that life would be experienced as meaningless if some human limitations are overcome with enhancement technologies as extremely subjective.

Writing in Reason magazine, Bailey has accused opponents of research involving the modification of animals as indulging in alarmism when they speculate about the creation of subhuman creatures with human-like intelligence and brains resembling those of Homo sapiens. Bailey insists that the aim of conducting research on animals is simply to produce human health care benefits.<ref name="Bailey 2001"/>

A different response comes from transhumanist personhood theorists who object to what they characterize as the anthropomorphobia fueling some criticisms of this research, which science fiction writer Isaac Asimov termed the "Frankenstein complex". For example, Woody Evans argues that, provided they are self-aware, human clones, human-animal chimeras and uplifted animals would all be unique persons deserving of respect, dignity, rights, responsibilities, and citizenship.<ref Name="Evans 2015"/> They conclude that the coming ethical issue is not the creation of so-called monsters, but what they characterize as the "yuck factor" and "human-racism", that would judge and treat these creations as monstrous.<ref name="Hughes 2005"/><ref name="Glenn 2003"/> In book 3 of his Corrupting the Image series, Dr. Douglas Hamp goes so far as to suggest that the Beast of John's Apocalypse is himself a hybrid who will induce humanity to take "the mark of the Beast," in the hopes of obtaining perfection and immortality.<ref>Hamp, Douglas (2022). Corrupting the Image 3: Singularity, Superhumans, and the Second Coming of Jesus. USA: Eskaton Media Group. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-1-63821-417-5.</ref>

At least one public interest organization, the U.S.-based Center for Genetics and Society, was formed, in 2001, with the specific goal of opposing transhumanist agendas that involve transgenerational modification of human biology, such as full-term human cloning and germinal choice technology. The Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future of the Chicago-Kent College of Law critically scrutinizes proposed applications of genetic and nanotechnologies to human biology in an academic setting.

Socioeconomic effects

Some critics of libertarian transhumanism have focused on the likely socioeconomic consequences in societies in which divisions between rich and poor are on the rise. Bill McKibben, for example, suggests that emerging human enhancement technologies would be disproportionately available to those with greater financial resources, thereby exacerbating the gap between rich and poor and creating a "genetic divide".<ref name="McKibben 2003"/> Even Lee M. Silver, the biologist and science writer who coined the term "reprogenetics" and supports its applications, has expressed concern that these methods could create a two-tiered society of genetically engineered "haves" and "have nots" if social democratic reforms lag behind implementation of enhancement technologies.<ref name="Silver 1998"/> The 1997 film Gattaca depicts a dystopian society in which one's social class depends entirely on genetic potential and is often cited by critics in support of these views.<ref name="Hughes 2004"/>

These criticisms are also voiced by non-libertarian transhumanist advocates, especially self-described democratic transhumanists, who believe that the majority of current or future social and environmental issues (such as unemployment and resource depletion) need to be addressed by a combination of political and technological solutions (like a guaranteed minimum income and alternative technology). Therefore, on the specific issue of an emerging genetic divide due to unequal access to human enhancement technologies, bioethicist James Hughes, in his 2004 book Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future, argues that progressives or, more precisely, techno-progressives must articulate and implement public policies (i.e., a universal health care voucher system that covers human enhancement technologies) to attenuate this problem as much as possible, rather than trying to ban human enhancement technologies. The latter, he argues, might actually worsen the problem by making these technologies unsafe or available only to the wealthy on the local black market or in countries where such a ban is not enforced.<ref name="Hughes 2004"/>

Sometimes, as in the writings of Leon Kass, the fear is that various institutions and practices judged as fundamental to civilized society would be damaged or destroyed.<ref name="Kass 2001"/> In his 2002 book Our Posthuman Future and in a 2004 Foreign Policy magazine article, political economist and philosopher Francis Fukuyama designates transhumanism as the world's most dangerous idea because he believes that it may undermine the egalitarian ideals of democracy (in general) and liberal democracy (in particular) through a fundamental alteration of "human nature".<ref name="Fukuyama 2004"/> Social philosopher Jürgen Habermas makes a similar argument in his 2003 book The Future of Human Nature, in which he asserts that moral autonomy depends on not being subject to another's unilaterally imposed specifications. Habermas thus suggests that the human "species ethic" would be undermined by embryo-stage genetic alteration.<ref name="Habermas 2004"/> Critics such as Kass, Fukuyama and a variety of authors hold that attempts to significantly alter human biology are not only inherently immoral, but also threaten the social order. Alternatively, they argue that implementation of such technologies would likely lead to the "naturalizing" of social hierarchies or place new means of control in the hands of totalitarian regimes. AI pioneer Joseph Weizenbaum criticizes what he sees as misanthropic tendencies in the language and ideas of some of his colleagues, in particular Marvin Minsky and Hans Moravec, which, by devaluing the human organism per se, promotes a discourse that enables divisive and undemocratic social policies.<ref name="Platt 1995"/>

In a 2004 article in the libertarian monthly Reason, science journalist Ronald Bailey contested the assertions of Fukuyama by arguing that political equality has never rested on the facts of human biology. He asserts that liberalism was founded not on the proposition of effective equality of human beings, or de facto equality, but on the assertion of an equality in political rights and before the law, or de jure equality. Bailey asserts that the products of genetic engineering may well ameliorate rather than exacerbate human inequality, giving to the many what were once the privileges of the few. Moreover, he argues, "the crowning achievement of the Enlightenment is the principle of tolerance". In fact, he says, political liberalism is already the solution to the issue of human and posthuman rights since in liberal societies the law is meant to apply equally to all, no matter how rich or poor, powerful or powerless, educated or ignorant, enhanced or unenhanced.<ref name="Bailey 2004"/> Other thinkers who are sympathetic to transhumanist ideas, such as philosopher Russell Blackford, have also objected to the appeal to tradition and what they see as alarmism involved in Brave New World-type arguments.<ref name="Blackford 2003"/>

Cultural aesthetics

In addition to the socio-economic risks and implications of transhumanism, there are indeed implications and possible consequences in regard to cultural aesthetics. Currently, there are a number of ways in which people choose to represent themselves in society. The way in which a person dresses, hair styles, and body alteration all serve to identify the way a person presents themselves and is perceived by society. According to Foucault,<ref name=":1">Abrams, Jerold J. (2004). "Pragmatism, Artificial Intelligence, and Posthuman Bioethics: Shusterman, Rorty, Foucault". Human Studies. 27 (3): 241–258. doi:10.1023/B:HUMA.0000042130.79208.c6. JSTOR 20010374. S2CID 144876752.</ref> society already governs and controls bodies by making them feel watched. This "surveillance" of society dictates how the majority of individuals choose to express themselves aesthetically.

One of the risks outlined in a 2004 article by Jerold Abrams is the elimination of differences in favor of universality. This, he argues, will eliminate the ability of individuals to subvert the possibly oppressive, dominant structure of society by way of uniquely expressing themselves externally. Such control over a population would have dangerous implications of tyranny. Yet another consequence of enhancing the human form not only cognitively, but physically, will be the reinforcement of "desirable" traits which are perpetuated by the dominant social structure.<ref name=":1" />

Specter of coercive eugenicism

Some critics of transhumanism see the old eugenics, social Darwinist, and master race ideologies and programs of the past as warnings of what the promotion of eugenic enhancement technologies might unintentionally encourage. Some fear future "eugenics wars" as the worst-case scenario: the return of coercive state-sponsored genetic discrimination and human rights violations such as compulsory sterilization of persons with genetic defects, the killing of the institutionalized and, specifically, segregation and genocide of races perceived as inferior.<ref name="Black 2003"/> Health law professor George Annas and technology law professor Lori Andrews are prominent advocates of the position that the use of these technologies could lead to such human-posthuman caste warfare.<ref name="Darnovsky Crossroads"/><ref name="Annas 2002"/>

The major transhumanist organizations strongly condemn the coercion involved in such policies and reject the racist and classist assumptions on which they were based, along with the pseudoscientific notions that eugenic improvements could be accomplished in a practically meaningful time frame through selective human breeding.<ref name="Bashford545">Bashford, A.; Levine, P. (2010). The Oxford Handbook of The History of Eugenics. Oxford University Press. p. 545. ISBN 978-0-19-537314-1.</ref> Instead, most transhumanist thinkers advocate a "new eugenics", a form of egalitarian liberal eugenics.<ref name="WTA FAQ 3.2"/> In their 2000 book From Chance to Choice: Genetics and Justice, non-transhumanist bioethicists Allen Buchanan, Dan Brock, Norman Daniels and Daniel Wikler have argued that liberal societies have an obligation to encourage as wide an adoption of eugenic enhancement technologies as possible (so long as such policies do not infringe on individuals' reproductive rights or exert undue pressures on prospective parents to use these technologies) to maximize public health and minimize the inequalities that may result from both natural genetic endowments and unequal access to genetic enhancements.<ref name="Buchanan 2000"/> Most transhumanists holding similar views nonetheless distance themselves from the term "eugenics" (preferring "germinal choice" or "reprogenetics")<ref name="Silver 1998"/> to avoid having their position confused with the discredited theories and practices of early-20th-century eugenic movements.

Existential risks

See also: Existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence

In his 2003 book Our Final Hour, British Astronomer Royal Martin Rees argues that advanced science and technology bring as much risk of disaster as opportunity for progress. However, Rees does not advocate a halt to scientific activity. Instead, he calls for tighter security and perhaps an end to traditional scientific openness.<ref name="Rees 2003"/> Advocates of the precautionary principle, such as many in the environmental movement, also favor slow, careful progress or a halt in potentially dangerous areas. Some precautionists believe that artificial intelligence and robotics present possibilities of alternative forms of cognition that may threaten human life.<ref name="Arnall 2003"/>

Transhumanists do not necessarily rule out specific restrictions on emerging technologies so as to lessen the prospect of existential risk. Generally, however, they counter that proposals based on the precautionary principle are often unrealistic and sometimes even counter-productive as opposed to the technogaian current of transhumanism, which they claim is both realistic and productive. In his television series Connections, science historian James Burke dissects several views on technological change, including precautionism and the restriction of open inquiry. Burke questions the practicality of some of these views, but concludes that maintaining the status quo of inquiry and development poses hazards of its own, such as a disorienting rate of change and the depletion of our planet's resources. The common transhumanist position is a pragmatic one where society takes deliberate action to ensure the early arrival of the benefits of safe, clean, alternative technology, rather than fostering what it considers to be anti-scientific views and technophobia.

Nick Bostrom argues that even barring the occurrence of a singular global catastrophic event, basic Malthusian and evolutionary forces facilitated by technological progress threaten to eliminate the positive aspects of human society.<ref name="bostrom-evolution">Bostrom, Nick (2009). "The Future of Human Evolution". Bedeutung. 284 (3): 8. Bibcode:2001SciAm.284c...8R. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0301-8.</ref>

One transhumanist solution proposed by Bostrom to counter existential risks is control of differential technological development, a series of attempts to influence the sequence in which technologies are developed. In this approach, planners would strive to retard the development of possibly harmful technologies and their applications, while accelerating the development of likely beneficial technologies, especially those that offer protection against the harmful effects of others.<ref name="Bostrom 2002"/>

Antinatalism

Although most people zoom in on the technological and scientific barriers on the road to transhumanist enhancement, Robbert Zandbergen argues that contemporary transhumanists' failure to critically engage the movement of antinatalism is a far larger obstacle to a better future. Antinatalism is the movement to restrict or terminate human reproduction as the final means to solve our existential problems. If transhumanists fail to take this threat to human perseverance seriously, they run the risk of collapsing the entire edifice of radical enhancement.<ref>Zandbergen, Robbert (December 9, 2021). "Morality's Collapse: Antinatalism, Transhumanism and the Future of Humankind". Journal of Ethics and Emerging Technologies. 31 (1): 1–16. doi:10.55613/jeet.v31i1.76. S2CID 248689623. Retrieved April 5, 2023.</ref>

See also

• Android
• Assisted reproductive technology
• The Beginning of Infinity
• Body hacking
• Christian perfection, position in Christianity whose opponents claim entails humans losing their original sin
• Cyberware
• Cyborg
• Digital immortality
• Do-it-yourself biology
• Eclipse Phase
• Egotheism
• Fringe science
• Future of Humanity Institute
• Hard science fiction
• Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future
• Kardashev scale
• Meliorism
• Metabolic supermice
• Orion's Arm
• Participant evolution
• Posthumanization
• Particulates
• Pollution
• Quantified self
• Respirocyte
• TechnoCalyps
• Technological dystopia
• Technological utopia
• Transhumanism in fiction
• Transhuman Space
• Life Extension
• Neuralink

Further reading

• Adorno, F. P. (2021). The Transhumanist Movement. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-3-030-82423-5.
• Cole-Turner, Ronald, ed. (2011). Transhumanism and transcendence: Christian hope in an age of technological enhancement. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1-58901-780-1.
• Frodeman, R. (2019). Transhumanism, Nature, and the Ends of Science. United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-18939-6.
• Hansell, Gregory R; Grassie, William, eds. (2011). H+/-: Transhumanism and Its Critics. Philadelphia: Metanexus Institute. ISBN 978-1-45681-567-7.
• Oliver Krüger: Virtual Immortality: God, Evolution, and the Singularity in Post- and Transhumanism. Bielefeld: transcript 2021. ISBN 978-3-8376-5059-4.
• Maher, Derek F.; Mercer, Calvin, eds. (2009). Religion and the implications of radical life extension (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-10072-5.
• Mercer, Calvin; Trothen, Tracy, eds. (2014). Religion and transhumanism: the unknown future of human enhancement. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-1-4408-3325-0.
• Mercer, Calvin; Maher, Derek, eds. (2014). Transhumanism and the Body: The World Religions Speak. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-36583-5.
• More, Max; Vita-More, Natasha, eds. (2013). The transhumanist reader: classical and contemporary essays on the science, technology, and philosophy of the human future (1.publ. ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-33429-4.
• Pilsch, A. (2017). Transhumanism: Evolutionary Futurism and the Human Technologies of Utopia. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-1-4529-5488-2.
• Ranisch, Robert; Sorgner, Stefan Lorenz, eds. (2014). Post- and Transhumanism. Bruxelles: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-60662-9.

External links

• H+Pedia Transhumanist Wiki
• What is Transhumanism?