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Difference between revisions of "Transhumanism"

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Revision as of 21:51, 21 August 2010


Transhumanism, broadly speaking, is a set of beliefs with a common theme of there being an evolutionary plateau beyond the current Homo sapiens. Such a belief, particularly in a negative form, is a common theme in science fiction, especially movies such as The Matrix or the Terminator series, where humanity has been essentially replaced by machine life, or TV shows such as Babylon 5, where humanity itself evolves beyond the need for physical bodies as we know them.

While frequently laughed off as speculation at best by most rationalists (especially in light of the many failures of artificial intelligence), transhumanism is a strongly-held belief among many computer geeks, notably such alpha geeks as synthesizer and accessible computing guru Ray Kurzweil (a believer in the "technological singularity", where technology evolves beyond humanity's current capacity to understand or anticipate it) and Sun Microsystems founder and Unix demigod Bill Joy (who believes the inevitable result of AI research is the obsolescence of humanity).

Certain recent technological advances are making the possibility of the realization of transhumanism appear more plausible: Scientists funded by the military have recently developed an implant that can translate motor neuron signals into a form that a computer can use, thus opening the door for advanced prosthetics capable of being manipulated like biological limbs and producing sensory information.[1] This is on top of the earlier development of cochlear implants, which translate sound waves into nerve signals; they are described on Wikipedia as being often called 'bionic ears'.[2]

Even DIY transhumanism is becoming an option, with people installing magnetic implants, allowing them to feel magnetic and electric fields.[3] Others have taken to wearing belts of magnets, in order to always be able to find magnetic north.

In July, 2009, Stephen Hawking came out as a proponent of transhumanism,[4] which of course means we must all bow down and accept the concept as fact, being as we are devout atheists.

See also

  • Cryonics, which tends to form a belief cluster with transhumanism and belief in the Singularity.

External links

Footnotes