What will our response be the fifth time around? Have we finally learned our lesson? Will we awaken from our peaceful slumber, or will we passively watch yet another evil leisurely occupy our land? In the 1990s, they warned us about the homosexual special rights movement, and we didn’t care because we thought the idea of men marrying men was ludicrous.Īnd recently, in the 2010s, some raised the red flag about transhumanism. In the 1970s, they wrote about impending euthanasia, and we shrugged. In the 1950s, they told us that abortion would soon be legalized unless we did something, but we disregarded them. In the 1930s, these visionaries warned us about contraception, and we chuckled at them. But we have blithely ignored them and allowed great evils to saunter into our world with virtually no opposition. Prophets arise and warn us regarding the life issues in about twenty-year cycles. It boasts glossy magazines and technical journals, a worldwide network of well-funded organizations, international conferences featuring dozens of celebrities whose names we all recognize, and a multi-billion-dollar media machine to push its ideas. These people are usually astonished to hear that transhumanism is a solidly-established bona-fide social movement that has existed for more than half a century. Many pro-lifers think that transhumanism is limited to video games like “Deus Ex,” science fiction films such as Gattaca, and personalities like Captain America and the artificial person Data from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” They believe that transhumanism is an abstract concept that perhaps our grandchildren or our great-grandchildren will have to deal with. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. In other words, being human is not enough for transhumanists.Īs Oxford philosophy professor Nick Bostrom explains: In broad terms, transhumanism is the philosophy and science of using technology to transcend the physical, mental, and psychological limitations of humanity. 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. Max More, in his work Principles of Entropy, provided one of the first precise definitions of the movement: We envision the possibility of broadening human potential by overcoming aging, cognitive shortcomings, involuntary suffering, and our confinement to planet Earth.” 1 It summarized the goals of transhumanism in saying, “Humanity stands to be profoundly affected by science and technology in the future. In 2009, the World Transhumanist Association’s website posted the Transhumanist Declaration. “And when everyone’s super- no one will be!” ~The villain “Syndrome” in The Incredibles
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