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Transhumanism is the theory that humans can evolve past our current physical and mental limitations through the means of science and technology. As society has been evolving for some time, humanity can already be described as ‘trans human’, with the incorporation of technology into our physical being. Media portrays trans humans as individuals with enhanced sensory perceptions, there are many examples within films, with superheroes saving the future of humanity. However, what are the consequences of incorporating technology into our physical being? Is it both immoral and unethical to overcome universal human limitations, such as the concept of immortality? Will human enhancement technologies improve life for all in the future?
So while watching this I wrote up a couple of questions…
From the use of prosthetics, pacemakers, glasses, hearing aids in health, Humanities use of books and the internet to store and locate information or communicate over vast distances and our distant ancestors use of spears and bows to hunt far beyond what the average human could ever do without these tools are we not already transhuman?.
To what extent do you believe humanity is defined by our intrinsic transhumanistic drive and history.
Do you believe the fear of transhumanism has always existed and if not do you believe there is a reason for the current fears?
You successfully answered or addressed all of these by the end.
Do you think our current fears are based on medias representation of transhumanism or our instinct to fear the “other” using our current selves as baseline without considering how are baseline constantly shifts even within a lifetime.
I think that we are always and only scared of the future.
On a basic level, we cannot be scared of something in the past, because it has already happened to us. When our past haunts us, we are only scared of it happening in the future, or, in the case of trauma, how that past event will continue to scare you in the future. Fear is always to do with the future.
On a deeper level, we have always been scared of the new and unknown. Not that long ago (and arguably a disturbingly high number still today), there were many that were scared to educate women. Before that, many were scared of science in general (the church for example). And, I imagine, a long time ago many were scared of fire.
It is in our nature to scared of the new. Hindsight is 20/20. We can easily look back at these now and laugh at the people then, but if we can laugh at the entirety of human history, how unlikely is it that 100 years from now a cyborg will not laughing at us?
Of course, the media is at such a scale now, it’s reach is so far spreading, that it could be argued that we’ve never seen the effects of something like this before, meaning we can not compare to the past, but I would argue that every generation has likely felt this way. We often give ourselves a false sense of grandeur, when we have very little reason to feel this way. In my opinion, we are much less different to out past than what we would like to think.
What a beautiful presentation! By far the most entertaining and exciting I’ve seen so far. I love how you connected radical futuristic innovations all the way back to the start of civilisation. You’re absolutely right, to be human is to be trans-human!
So what are you most looking forward to?
Would you like to be immortal?
Although I do think that to be transhuman is human, I don’t think (I would have loved to elaborate on this in the presentation if I had more time) that this is a good thing.
We are in a constant state of pushing towards advancement, a reflection of our human nature, but all this ultimately means is that we will never be happy or content.
So what am I looking forward to? It’s a difficult one. I think I would instead wish for us not need to constantly advance, for us to be able to be content with less. And would I like to be immortal? If I could be I would be, but I think I know that I shouldn’t. Immortality is a slippery slope to madness and depravity. We see it often in the elderly, who I have personally heard say “I’m kind of done with life.” There’s only so many times we can experience things before they no longer give us the same feeling, and hence, only so long before we fall to vices like drugs and alcohol and sex.