The use of technology to create stronger, faster, more athletic, and smarter people
Transhumanism Is In Your Future — How It Benefits You
Are you up to the challenge of overcoming fundamental human limitations?
Objections to transhumanism are unfounded
Much of the debate about transhumanism has focused on safety issues and immoral consequences such as increasing social inequality and the availability of biomedical technologies. But such objections are limited in scope because if unsafe and unfair conclusions could be addressed through ongoing research, regulation, and subsidies, then moral objections to transhumanism could be met.
Some secular humanists regard transhumanism as a descendant of the humanist free thought movement and argue that transhumanists differ from mainstream humanists in their emphasis on technological approaches to solving human problems. i.e., E. [Sources: 3, 11]
The essence of transhumanism
At the other end of transhumanism is a much less radical project, which is simply a project of using technology to improve human characteristics such as beauty, longevity, and disease resistance. The essence of transhumanism is to encourage the use of biotransformation technologies1 to improve the human body, with the ultimate goal of changing the human body in such a radical way as to overcome fundamental human limitations (Transhumanist FAQ, 2016),
The objectives of transhumanism
Transhumanism is promoted by the World Association for Transhumanism as a philosophy that advocates the use of technology to overcome our biological limitations and change human conditions. Transhumanists strive not only to improve health, eliminate disabilities, or cure diseases, but also to use technology to create stronger, faster, more athletic, and smarter people. [Sources: 1, 5, 13]
The role of technology
Transhumanists view technological progress as a collaborative human effort to create new tools that we can use to change human conditions and overcome our biological limitations, making it possible for those who wish to become “posthuman.” Likewise, transhumanists are interested in an ever-growing number of technologies that can increase our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of (hence the term trans-human).
Trans-human technology research at DARPA
Some examples of DARPA’s trans-human technology research include the ability of humans to convert plant matter into glucose, optical threat detection, and even the way humans cling to the surface of a flat wall like lizards do. As discussed above, it is possible that the technology that enables transhumanism could be used for the benefit of people, for example, to increase immunity to disease or to improve the quality of life. [Sources: 2, 4, 7, 13]
In other words, not only do we have good reasons to refrain from assuming an identity between current human values and future posthuman values (or between the criteria used to define those values) — simply because of the apparent lack of consensus historically and present — but we must be doubly careful in this regard, given that the most “enhancing” technologies recommended by transhumanism will inevitably govern the very notion of “enhancing” during their use.
Transhumanism is both a cultural and intellectual movement
Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement that believes that we can and should improve the human condition through advanced technology. Transhumanism is a philosophical movement whose advocates advocate and predict the improvement of human conditions by developing and providing widely available cutting-edge technologies that can significantly improve lifespan, emotions, and cognitive abilities.
Transhumanism aims to overcome basic human limitations
Trans-human thinkers are exploring the potential benefits and dangers of new technologies that can overcome basic human limitations, as well as the ethical limitations of using these technologies. Transhumanist philosophers believe that for people, not only are there ethical requirements for perfectionism in efforts to develop and improve people’s living conditions, but it is also possible and desirable for humans to enter the stage of superhuman existence. [Sources: 2, 3, 8]
The role of technological implants and DNA injections
Transhumanists argue that adding technological implants and injecting DNA into people will improve their condition; man will leave biological evolution and begin a technology-based evolution, posthuman species will be born. The essence of transhumanism is the application of the so-called four new technologies, which include:
* nanotechnology,
* biotechnology,
* information technology and
* the science of human cognition (NBIC).
Nick Bolstrom, President of the World Association for Transhumanism, has stated that according to transhumanists, the end of human evolution is a cyborg. [Source: 1]
The application of technology to improve human health
While many theorists and proponents of transhumanism seek to apply reason, science, and technology to reduce poverty, disease, disability, and malnutrition around the world, [38] transhumanism stand out for its particular focus on the application of technology to improve human health at the individual level. [Sources: 1, 3]
Developing and upgrading the intelligence and physiology of humanity
Besides the obvious benefits of eternal life or superhuman strength, transhumanism also explores the potential dangers and ethical pitfalls of human improvement. Transhumanism intends to use sophisticated technologies to develop and upgrade the intelligence and physiology of human populations to superhuman levels. [Sources: 2, 14]
What transhumanism does not encourage
Some of the staunchest proponents of transhumanism make it clear that they are few. While even transhumanism clearly discourages selection for the superiority of a particular group, the methods endorsed by some prominent transhumanists serve the same purpose. Thus, the difference between transhumanism and eugenics is that transhumanism clearly does not encourage the controlled reproduction of humans or the reproduction of a particular race. [Sources: 12, 14]
Transhumanism envisions a “superior” human race
However, both the transhumanist and the eugenics movements envision a “superior” human race, a goal that (as history shows) is inseparable from sociocultural ideas and prejudices. Transhumanism is largely divided between adherents of two views of posthumanism:
* one in which technological and genetic improvements have created a special kind of radically improved people, and
* the other, in which artificial intelligence is manifested that is superior to humans.
On the other hand, transhumanism deals with the concepts of mind loading (on a computer) and what happens when we finally create a computer with higher intelligence than humans (the technological singularity).
Because transhumanism is more than just the abstract belief that we are going to transcend our biological limitations through technology; it is also an attempt to reevaluate the entire human situation in its traditional sense. [Sources: 2, 7, 10, 12]
Transhumanism is about merging people with technology
This undertaking is an attempt at a forward-looking and constructive approach to our new situation. The first priority is to provoke the broadest possible debate on these issues and to promote better public understanding. This philosophical and ethical complexity stems from the fact that transhumanism is about merging people with technology, and technology develops, improves, and opens up new horizons very, very quickly. [Sources: 2, 7]
Transhumanism believes that humanity can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations
Transhumanism is based on the belief that humanity can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially through science and technology. While transhumanism may seem like an obvious philosophical product of an era of unprecedented technological acceleration, it has deep roots that can be found by traveling back in time.
The takeaway — Achieving human perfection
The roots of transhumanism go back to Russian futurism at the end of the 19th century when the Christian mystic philosopher Nikolai Fedorov suggested that the natural destiny of man is to reach the stars, achieve immortality with the help of science, resurrect the dead with the help of technology, medicine and the colonization of space. Cosmism sought to achieve human perfection, to unite humanity in an effort to overcome death and dominate the cosmos, as God intended. [Sources: 6, 9]
Hopefully, my article has prompted you to share your sentiments in the comments section. Thank you in advance for sharing! As always, my thanks to @DrMehmetYildiz for publishing my article in Illumination’s Mirror. Thank you for reading my article!
The Sources List is at the very bottom of my blog post! Enjoy!
Thanks for reading! If you liked my article, subscribe to Medium to get more articles that I publish regularly!
Free or $5/month: Check out Medium — a social media platform venue for freelance writers like me
If you want to support me as a writer, consider signing up to become a Medium member. It’s $5/month, giving you unlimited access to stories on Medium. If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission.
Join Medium with my referral link:
Get an email whenever Patrick OConnell publishes:
You can find me on LinkedIn (ID: azpat0)
If you like my article, check out my other stories on my Medium Profile page!
I am a freelance writer- available to write YOUR blog posts or articles -
Samples of my work are on my Medium Profile page:
And also on my website -
Full Disclosure — This link will take you offsite outside of Medium:
I also publish a weekly newsletter on Substack: The Market Algo Newsletter — It forecasts the direction of the S&P 500 market — index for the upcoming week -
Full Disclosure — This link will take you offsite outside of Medium:
Sources
[0]: https://superhumantalks.com/what-is-transhumanism/
[1]: https://medcraveonline.com/IPMRJ/transhumanism-the-big-fraud-towards-digital-slavery.html
[2]: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/152240-what-is-transhumanism-or-what-does-it-mean-to-be-human
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
[5]: https://academic.oup.com/jmp/article/42/3/237/3817401
[6]: https://www.theverge.com/a/transhumanism-2015/what-is-transhumanism
[7]: https://www.nickbostrom.com/old/transhumanism.html
[9]: https://www.maize.io/news/what-is-transhumanism/
[10]: https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism
[11]: https://www.smith.edu/news/2021-saq-su-susan-levin
[12]: https://www.thecut.com/2019/08/what-is-transhumanism.html
[13]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563415/
