TOP 10 PHILOSOPHIES
@Paracelsus1092
@Heghoulian
@ViciousRicardan
(10) TRANSHUMANISM
Harder, better, faster, stronger
A philosophical and intellectual movement with objectives summed up in that Daft Punk lyric
@Paracelsus1092
@Heghoulian
@ViciousRicardan
(10) TRANSHUMANISM
Harder, better, faster, stronger
A philosophical and intellectual movement with objectives summed up in that Daft Punk lyric
Although one might also add smarter and longer (as in longevity, rejuvenation or even practical immortality)
Or essentially an SF philosophy of the Nietzschean ubermensch, but by technology rather than will to power (or at least the application of the former to the latter)
Or essentially an SF philosophy of the Nietzschean ubermensch, but by technology rather than will to power (or at least the application of the former to the latter)
Transhumanism looks to emerging technologies to transcend fundamental human limitations and transform humanity into, well, something superhuman or so transformed as to be posthuman
The foremost technologies to reshape humanity tend to reflect the same dichotomy as in the Shaper-Mechanist stories of Bruce Sterling - the genetic engineering or biotechnology of Shapers, and the cybernetic enhancement or engineering of Mechanists
However, transhumanism extends beyond that to the transformation of human society as well as concepts or technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital 'uploads' of human minds), nanotechnology, post-scarcity economics and concepts underlying the Singularity
The term transhumanism itself apparently originates from an influential 1957 essay by biologist Julian Huxley, while its emergence as a distinct movement or school of thought occurred in the last decades of the twentieth century
Or rather, movements or schools of thought in the plural, as there is a plethora of transhumanist philosophies, methodologies or concepts worthy of their own top ten
Such as posthuman transhumanism or posthumanism, cyborgism, extropianism, immortalism, singularitarianism and technological utopianism (perhaps with a little technopaganism or technoshamanism thrown into the mix)
Not to mention transhumanism as political ideology - or variations such as technogaianism (essentially technological environmentalism), anarcho-transhumanism, technolibertarianism or libertarian transhumanism, democratic transhumanism, techno-progressivism or even postpoliticism
Although I suspect these will have to fight hard to win out against the usual corporate transhumanism of cyberpunk fiction
Of course, the very notion and prospect of human enhancement arouses controversy and debate, both sides of which are worthy of their own top ten (arguments for and against transhumanism)
Although perhaps the most compelling arguments against transhumanism remain whether its more grandiose claims are practically feasible or even possible
I have to confess to having a soft spot for transhumanism, mainly from my love for the science fiction that introduced it to me and on the whole has presented (and continues to present) it to me positively
Foremost among them being my introduction to the Singularity, as well as the various concepts for the enhancement of humanity or society, underlying it in The Spike by Australian SF writer Damien Broderick
Which perhaps leads me to find the argument for transhumanism that it is essentially a question of degree particularly persuasive - that in essence transhumanism or technological advancement of human life is already here to stay and has been for quite some time
Also, I don't quite have a rosy-eyed view of nature as good or ideal, at least when it comes to human life, either as a species or as individuals. After all, nature is a predator picking out your brains or a parasite picking out your guts
And all of human prehistory and history has been pushing back at those limits as much as we could to carve out a niche for human life, let alone civilization.
And for that matter, I've always been struck by how our bodies produced by evolution are essentially juryrigged or slapped together from happy accidents that happened to be fit for their environment, rather than anything approaching what we might ideally design for ourselves
And as I like to quip to those who argue that to intervene in nature is playing God - well, somebody's got toβ¦
Loading suggestions...