The Challenge of Transhumanism

About The Challenge of Transhumanism

Abstract

Technology like glasses, pacemakers and artificial limbs aim to restore normal human capacities that have been lost or damaged due to disease or accidents. In contrast, transhumanism is a movement that seeks to use technology to enhance humans far beyond the limits of their current physical and intellectual capacities to evolve into something better. The goal is for humanity to take control of its evolutionary destiny and move towards a “posthuman” future. A key element of the transhumanist worldview is morphological freedom, the notion that one has the right to modify oneself according to one’s desires. Some transhumanists even believe we will conquer death by shedding our human bodies and downloading our brains into a computer. These notions of disembodied existence reveal some Gnostic notions embedded in certain transhumanist ideals. We need to be cognizant that some of our current technologies, such as virtual reality and social media, come with liturgies of control that can make us more comfortable with morphological freedom. The longings of transhumanists point, in part, to a recognition of our fallen condition with disease and death, and that things are not the way they are supposed to be. But they look to technology instead of God (or in addition to God) as savior of the human condition. We need to remember how the incarnation reveals the value God places on our physicality and humanity and how Christ, “the Word who became flesh” (1 John 3:2), models what it means to be truly human. Recognizing the importance of valuing bodies and presence should therefore also inform the design and use of our technologies.