How to Become the Engineers of Our Own Evolution
The "transhumanist" movement says better technology will enable you to replace more and more body parts—even your brain
- By Abigail Tucker
- Art By José Torres
- Smithsonian magazine, April 2012, Subscribe
The reports regularly come in from around the world: U.S. engineers unveil a prototype bionic eye, Swedish surgeons replace a man’s cancerous trachea with a body part grown in a lab, and a British woman augments her sense of touch by implanting self-made magnetic sensors in her fingertips.
Adherents of “transhumanism”—a movement that seeks to transform Homo sapiens through tools like gene manipulation, “smart drugs” and nanomedicine—hail such developments as evidence that we are becoming the engineers of our own evolution. Enhanced humans might inject themselves with artificial, oxygen-carrying blood cells, enabling them to sprint for 15 minutes straight. They could live long enough to taste a slice of their own 250th birthday cake. Or they might abandon their bodies entirely, translating the neurons of their brains into a digital consciousness.
Transhumanists say we are morally obligated to help the human race transcend its biological limits; those who disagree are sometimes called Bio-Luddites. “The human quest has always been to ward off death and do everything in our power to keep living,” says Natasha Vita-More, chairwoman of Humanity+, the world’s largest transhumanist organization, with nearly 6,000 members.
Though the movement is largely secular, pundits observe that its missionary zeal carries religious undertones, including a belief that we are approaching the end times. While some transhumanists believe that technological change will be gradually incorporated into ordinary life, others anticipate the arrival of the “singularity,” the watershed moment in the mid-21st century—otherwise known as the “rapture for geeks”—when exponentially smarter machines transform our world in unknowable ways. Some transhumanists believe that the only humans able to adapt will be those who have become cyborgs and merged their minds with intelligent machines.
For the time being, transhumanists’ options are more limited. Some wear cryonics necklaces, which instruct paramedics to pack their corpse in ice (“especially [the] head”) so it can be deep-frozen and then resuscitated by the super-scientists of the future. They read H+ magazine, Humanity+’s flagship publication. And they network, hosting conferences everywhere from Stanford Law School to Parsons the New School for Design.
Some worry about the implications of transcendent technologies. Political scientist Francis Fukuyama, the author of “The End of History?” and a former member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, warns that efforts to rid ourselves of negative emotions could have unforeseen side effects, making us less human. “If we weren’t violent and aggressive, we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves,” he wrote in Foreign Policy. “If we never felt jealousy, we would also never feel love.”
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Comments (14)
The link to Pure science Wiki is http://purescience.wikia.com
Posted by Martin J Sallberg on February 1,2013 | 03:16 AM
There is research showing that lifeforms are NOT sums of fixed capacities at all. Rather, evolution takes leaps when environmental obstacles are removed. For instance, yeast stressed so that it cannot afford hostility between the cells spontaneously becomes multicellular. Scientific metastudies of recoveries after brain damage also shows that tolerant environments are the key factor. Apparently, the key to become super-intelligent and defeat ageing by cellular self-criticism is by eradicating all social pressure to blame and justify. See Pure science Wiki for more info. purescience.wiki
Posted by Martin J Sallberg on December 30,2012 | 07:43 AM
One thing that I have not read about is how a 'soul' is treated. Most religions believe in an afterlife where a 'soul' moves about in some environment that can't yet be felt or seen by our human senses. So, the question that is begged is ...if/when human minds are joined with technological machines and can subsequently live forever, where does the 'soul' go? Does it get conjoined (man & machine) at the instant that the biological entity ceases to exist as a singular entity? As an aside, being somewhat religious, I've never understood the demarcation points between the conscious mind, subconscious mind and the soul. Since the 1st two are more tied to bodily functions, how does the soul interact? Is it an innocent bystander throughout our mortal life having rewards or demerits heaped upon it until the end when we meet our maker? When the singularity occurs, are the body/machine connections happen at the conscious mind, subconscious mind or soul level? Interesting topic.....way too complicated for my not-yet-internet-connected mind!!
Posted by Ozzie on June 24,2012 | 10:24 AM
Progress for the sake of progress is science. Believing in the Singularity is the religion-like part. If anything, its "another" Singularity. An event to wake up the masses, create empathy, cleanse, etc... again. There have been and will be many more Armageddons and Apocalypses (Revelations!)
Posted by MaryOfTheRose on March 30,2012 | 07:25 PM
My observations have been that Natasha Vita-More is one of the leading thinkers on human enhancement, life extension and human rights. Morphological freedom is one of the ideas she supports and it is not about morality, it is about freedom. From her writings, she encourages ethical means for living longer. Her design Primo Posthuman is probably one of the most creative innovations about the human body and the future.
Posted by Leigh Christian on March 24,2012 | 07:13 PM
I am very sorry if I offend, but has anyone stopped to notice how utterly insane this article makes the transhumanist out to be. It slipped by me the first time but I hardly think the people go so far with the idea that they have separated the world into us and them with the use of name calling. (That would be a horrible mistake if you want to be embraced and respected by your peers for your views). I will admit this is my first time crossing paths with the term transhumanism but I find it to familiar too disregard. I would love to know the diversity of understanding and belief among the community of transhumanists. How long has the collective thought been around?
Posted by Ellorah James on March 22,2012 | 09:20 AM
Instead of calling the Singularity the "rapture for geeks" I call it the "car-wash for crustaceans" because both phrases are utterly nonsensical misrepresentations. The "geek rapture smear" is a good way to spot a Singularity-troll. I know we shouldn't feed the trolls but occasionally I do try to correct these smears. There is not one shed of evidence to connect the Singularity with religion. Sure, some people who are knowledgeable about the Singularity are religious but some scientists are religious, and some US military personal are also religious, but this does not mean science is a form of religion and it doesn't mean US military actions are religious. The vast majority of Singularitarians are actually atheists. There is zeal (enthusiasm) regarding achieving (and publicizing) immortality via medical science, but please drop the utterly unjustified pejorative descriptor "missionary". It is odd that the article admits "the movement is largely secular" and then segues into the religious smears. Surely considering the largely secular nature, the religious descriptors are clearly troll-droppings?
Posted by Singulatity Utopia on March 21,2012 | 11:35 AM
"including a belief that we are approaching the end times." No. No. NO! Transhumanists do not rally around the idea of approaching end times. I do not even understand where the author got this information. Complete misinformation. Transhumanists believe that we should use science and technology to improve our bodies, minds and life experience in general. Singularity thinking is separate from Transhumanism, for some they may overlap, but they are completely separate concepts. There is nothing religious about it and it is completely science based. Transhumanism suggests that we may one day be able to achieve things that are now only promised by religion (indefinite lifespan, eternal happiness), but this does not make it religious in nature. Just because it hopes to achieve great things does not put it on par with bronze age mythology and faith-based fairytales.
Posted by Mike on March 20,2012 | 01:38 AM
> This article has just described Hell. So would you better leave thy neighbour blind, let them die from cancer or be disabled, just because of your fears? If you call H+ "hell", then to hell with what you call "heaven".
Posted by Vx on March 20,2012 | 09:31 AM
Natasha makes a very important point, often (deliberately) misunderstood by transhumanism's critics: "transhumanism supports human rights, and morphological freedom - the right to select to enhance oneself AND the right NOT to be coerced to enhance." I am one of those who believe that, in the long term, humans will "abandon their bodies entirely, translating the neurons of their brains into a digital consciousness," which will be a quite radical way to transcend biology. But I see this as an option that, I hope, will open to those who want to choose it, not as an obligation to be coerced on others.
Posted by Giulio Prisco on March 20,2012 | 08:12 AM
While the future may indeed be hellish, we can't escape it except through death. The future is coming, ready or not. I believe that the future will be better than the present, though there will of course be novel evils and ills as is always the case with new technologies. Prior to this decade, it was less common to have mp3 related hearing loss. New technology, new problem. But would you go back to no mp3 players at all because some people abuse the technology? If a technology makes 51% of things better and 49% worse, then it is still progress, be it ever so slow. BTW, there is no missionary zeal in transhumanism. Transhumanists by and large just want others to leave their legalistic hands off of their bodies. Let them do their thing, and they won't have a problem with you. Get in between them and their desired enhancements, and then you'll have an argument on your hands. If you want laws against human modification, you need to make tattoos illegal, get rid of body piercing, tanning and so forth. Otherwise, you won't be able to stop it later. In other words, there is no stopping the inevitable future. However, it will sneak up on you, and you'll have time to get used to it as it arrives.
Posted by Kelly on March 19,2012 | 03:34 PM
One very serious point that needs to be clarified is that transhumanism does not suggest that transhumanists or anyone is "morally obligated to help the human race transcend biology". This may be the view of certain people who are utilitarian in their perspective, or have a religious view proposes a moral authority to help humans transcend biology in going to an afterlife. Nevertheless, it is not the view or the role of transhumanism to suggest such a universal rhetoric. In fact, it is to the contrary: transhumanism supports human rights, and morphological freedom - the right to select to enhance oneself AND the right NOT to be coerced to enhance. This is highly significant. The only obligation imho that I have as a moral responsibly is to my own person, and to toward others to be kind and understanding, to help others achieve their dreams, to protect life, and to be tolerant of others' beliefs.
Posted by Natasha Vita-More on March 19,2012 | 11:07 AM
Good God. No...thank...you. This article has just described Hell.
Posted by Kathleen on March 18,2012 | 06:21 PM
It seems that some people try to fuse their minds & emotional state to another more intelligent mind- in the transformative thereapy of psychoanalysis. It would be an extension of that therapy if our minds were able to modulate unhealthy thoughts & emotions like compulsions, narcissism, anxiety. That would be a relief to many who suffer such illnesses and humanity would be improved and more peaceful. Knocking down prejudices and extreme feelings of anger & aggression is a very good goal. Great religious faiths and movements as well as philosophies have always tried to do this same feat.
Posted by Helen Kelly on March 18,2012 | 02:58 PM