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2019
In this article the author describes practical Transhuman experimentation including biohacking implants and neural implants. In all cases actual, practical results are presented for discussion. The overall impact and potential effect of such realisations is also considered. Based on these techniques, some realistic future scenarios involving the capabilities of Transhumans, over and above those of normal humans (as we know them today), is described. These include extended/extra sensory input, nervous system extended over networks and communication by thought.
Transhumanism can be viewed as an extension of humanism, from which it is partially derived. Humanists believe that humans matter, that individuals matter. We might not be perfect, but we can make things better by promoting rational thinking, freedom, tolerance, democracy, and concern for our fellow human beings. Transhumanists agree with this but also emphasize what we have the potential to become. Just as we use rational means to improve the human condition and the external world, we can also use such means to improve ourselves, the human organism. In doing so, we are not limited to traditional humanistic methods, such as education and cultural development. We can also use technological means that will eventually enable us to move beyond what some would think of as “human”. Transhumanism takes a multidisciplinary approach in analyzing the dynamic interplay between humanity and the acceleration of technology.
The word 'transhumanism' was first used in 1957 by Julian Huxley who saw it as 'man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realising new possibilities of and for his human nature.' Huxley was an advocate of eugenics, seeing it as means to planning and controlling human evolution. H. G. Wells, a friend of Huxley and author of Men Like Gods imagined 'benevolent scientist-technicians who will use science and technology to manufacture a perfect future.' Thus the scene is set for the general approach to the Good, not in some Platonic, religious or properly humanist understanding, but as a practical extension of capabilities and without adequate consideration of the will and its purposes behind the capabilities.
The appearance of this text indicates a milestone of a bigger project about transhumanism. Since the parent text was expanded beyond my initial planning and i will take some more time to be completed I thought that this part has a rather strong unity and could appear as a a standalone whole. What remains to be depicted is primarily some aspects of technoscience and the realtions with ideology (liberalism). However their impact of the first is small and the second is here wrapped inside the idea of the progress and seems to me its internal details would not affect the basic approach, structure and content of this text.
This book brings together sixteen of the world’s foremost thinkers on the prospects of a radical reshaping of human nature through biotechnologies and artificial intelligence. The often heated debate about transhumanism is an extremely fruitful field for philosophical and theological inquiry. The last hundred years of human evolution have seen remarkable scientific and technological transformations. If the pace of change continues and indeed accelerates in the twenty-first century, then in short order we will be a much-transformed species on a much-transformed planet. The idea of some fixed human nature, a human essence from which we derive notions of humane dignities and essential human rights, no longer applies in this brave new world of free market evolution. On what basis then do we make moral judgments and pursue pragmatic ends. Should we try to limit the development of certain sciences and technologies? How would we do so? Is it even possible? Are either traditional religious or Enlightenment values adequate at a speciation horizon between humans and posthumans? Is the ideology of transhumanism dangerous independent of the technology? Is the ideology of the bioconservatives, those who oppose transhumanism, also dangerous and how? Are the new sciences and technologies celebrated by transhumanists realistic or just another form of wishful thinking?
The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
Bioethics and Transhumanism2017 •
Transhumanism is a " technoprogressive " socio-political and intellectual movement that advocates for the use of technology in order to transform the human organism radically, with the ultimate goal of becoming " posthuman. " To this end, transhumanists focus on and encourage the use of new and emerging technologies , such as genetic engineering and brain-machine interfaces. In support of their vision for humanity , and as a way of reassuring those " bioconservatives " who may balk at the radical nature of that vision, transhumanists claim common ground with a number of esteemed thinkers and traditions, from the ancient philosophy of Plato and Aristotle to the postmodern philosophy of Nietzsche. It is crucially important to give proper scholarly attention to transhumanism now, not only because of its recent and ongoing rise as a cultural and political force (and the concomitant potential ramifications for bioethical discourse and public policy), but because of the imminence of major breakthroughs in the kinds of technologies that transhumanism focuses on. Thus, the articles in this issue of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy are either explicitly about transhumanism or are on topics, such as the ethics of germline engineering and criteria for personhood, that are directly relevant to the debate between transhumanists (and technopro-gressives more broadly) and bioconservatives. *N.B.: This article is an introduction to a thematic issue of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy on transhumanism.
2009 •
An investigation into how we have become the reproductive organs of our technologies.
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