Transhumanism
Sun, 2007-01-07 10:04
#1
Agent 204
Transhumanism
Sun, 2007-01-07 10:04
#2
Agent 204
quote:
Transhumanism (sometimes abbreviated >H or H+) is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human cognitive and physical abilities and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as disease, aging, and death. Transhumanist thinkers study the possibilities and consequences of developing and using human enhancement techniques and other emerging technologies for these purposes. Possible dangers, as well as benefits, of powerful new technologies that might radically change the conditions of human life are also of concern to the transhumanist movement.Although the first known use of the term "transhumanism" dates from 1957, the contemporary meaning is a product of the 1980s, when a group of scientists, artists, and futurists based in the United States began to organize what has since grown into the transhumanist movement. Transhumanist thinkers postulate that human beings will eventually be transformed into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".
The transhumanist vision of a profoundly transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters as well as critics from a wide range of perspectives. Transhumanism has been described by a proponent as the "movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity," while according to one outspoken opponent, it is the world's most dangerous idea.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism]Source.[/url] So whatdya all think? I figure that humanity as we know it is simply a stage along the evolutionary path, and that since as progressives we want to change the course of our [i]social[/i] evolution (building a more just society) there's no reason [i]in principle[/i] why we shouldn't also look at changing the course of our [i]biological[/i] evolution. However, I don't think our society is sufficiently developed (in either the technological or moral sphere) to make any concrete moves right now. It is, however, something that I think any serious futurist has to consider.
Sun, 2007-01-07 10:34
#3
If this is the definition,
quote:
supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human cognitive and physical abilities and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as disease, aging, and death.
then using eyeglasses would be an action of transhumanism, as would any intervention to ameliorate disease, for example by using medicine, or even diet.
I can't see any possibility that efforts to make things better for humans will stop soon. And those efforts should not stop.
As you get farther out, things become increasingly dangerous. For example, ending the experience of death would be nifty for those now alive, but would also guarantee that we would have Stephen Harper and George Bush around forever, and not some soon-to-be-born Einstein.
I'm not really sure much can be said about the more distant prospects, but they should be undertaken only after lengthy and serious discussion, and not just because some individual scientist has figured out how to do it.
Sun, 2007-01-07 18:25
#4
Agent 204
Absolutely. In fact, I'd suggest that advanced transhumanist research should be restricted to far away places- farther than a geosynchronous orbit, at a minimum. That would also be where it would be most fruitful, since it might be useful to develop traits that would be adaptive during long spaceflights.
Of course, this poses a risk of its own, since populations that colonized other planets would evolve in a very different direction from those who stayed behind, and might eventually not see Earthlings as members of their own kind. Fortunately, the kind of resources they'd most likely be after would be easier for them to obtain in places other than the Earth, so there might not be too big a risk of conflicting interests.