The Transhumanist Reader E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1207

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

The first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and current state of transhumanist thinking

The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns. Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature.

Leseprobe

Contents

Contributor Biographies

Part I Roots and Core Themes

1 The Philosophy of Transhumanism

I. The Philosophy

II. History

III. Currents

IV. Misconceptions

2 Aesthetics

Introduction

Current Discussion

Form and Perception

Adaptation

Relationship

A Field

A Study

Concluding Thoughts

3 Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up

I. Setting the Stage

II. Becoming Posthuman

III. Healthspan

IV. Cognition

V. Emotion

VI. Structure of the Argument, and Further Supporting Reasons

VII. Personal Identity

VIII. Commitments

IX. Ways of Life

X. Human Nature

XI. Brief Sketches of Some Objections and Replies

XII. Conclusion

4 Transhumanist Declaration (2012)

5 Morphological Freedom – Why We Not Just Want It, but Need It

Morphological Freedom as a Right

What Possibilities Do We See Today and Tomorrow?

Morphological Freedom and Society

Why Do We Want It?

Why Do We Need Morphological Freedom?

Morphological Freedom and Future Healthcare

Conclusions

Part II Human Enhancement: The Somatic Sphere

6 Welcome to the Future of Medicine

Introduction

What is Nanomedicine?

Nanorobotics

Nanorobotics Revolution by the 2020s

Conclusions

7 Life Expansion Media

Living

Matter

Degeneration/Regeneration

Transmutation

Dialectics of Desirability and Viability

Cybernetics

Human-machine Interfaces and the Prosthetic Body

Life Expansion

8 The Hybronaut Affair

Techno-Organic Environment

The Umwelt Bubble

Network and the Hybronaut

The Appendix-tail

Conclusion

9 Transavatars

Avatars and Simulation

Avatar Censuses

Secondary and Posthumous Avatars

Conclusion

10 Alternative Biologies

Biology as Technology

The Rise of Machines

Complexity

The Science of Complexity

Synthetic Biology – Complex Embodied Technology

Top-Down Synthetic Biology

Bottom-Up Synthetic Biology

Protocells

Artificial Biology

From Proposition to Reality

Future Venice

Artificial Biology and Human Enhancement

Part III Human Enhancement: The Cognitive Sphere

11 Re-Inventing Ourselves

I. Introduction: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

II. What’s in an Interface?

III. New Systemic Wholes

IV. Incorporation Versus Use

V. Extended Cognition

VI. Profound Embodiment

VII. Enhancement or Subjugation?

VIII. Conclusions

12 Artificial General Intelligence and the Future of Humanity

The Top Priority for Mankind

AGI and the Transformation of Individual and Collective Experience

AGI and the Global Brain

What is a Mind that We Might Build One?

Why So Little Work on AGI?

Why the “AGI Sputnik” Will Change Things Dramatically and Launch a New Phase of the Intelligence Explosion

The Risks and Rewards of Advanced AGI

13 Intelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality

Preface

Text Translation and Its Consequences

Enhanced Multimedia

Structure of Enhanced Reality

Historical Observations

Truth vs. Convenience

Biofeedback and Self-Perception

Distant Future

Terminological Exercises: ER < - > EP - > …- > IE - > ?! - > .

Social Implications

14 Uploading to Substrate-Independent Minds

Your Mind, but not Constrained to the Biological Brain

Whole Brain Emulation

Main Developments toward SIM

Structural Connectomics and Functional Connectomics

Structure-Function and Questions of Resolution and Scope

SIM within our Life-Spans

What is the Rationale for Investing in SIM Projects Now?

15 Uploading

How Many Bits to Describe a Molecule?

Do We Really Need to Describe Each Molecule?

How Many Bits Do We Really Need?

A Functional Estimate of Human Long-Term Memory Capacity

How Much Computing Power?

The Brain Uses Energy

Nerve Impulses Use Energy

The Energy of a Nerve Impulse

Our Model Isn’t Perfect

The Ultimate in Experimental Evidence: Try it and See!

Summary

Part IV Core Technologies

16 Why Freud Was the First Good AI Theorist

17 Pigs in Cyberspace

Mind without Body?

18 Nanocomputers

What’s a Nanocomputer?

Nanotechnology

General Computer Principles

Additional Constraints for Nanocomputers

Entropy

Drexler’s Mechanical Logic

Registers and Memory

Motors

Other Logics for Nanocomputers

Other Mechanical Logics

Electronic Logic

Conclusion

19 Immortalist Fictions and Strategies

Introduction: Something Like Penicillin for Immortality

Immortality in Fiction

Science of Biological Immortality

Technological Prospects for Near-Term Human Biological Immortality

Fictitious Technology vs Actual Technology

20 Dialogue between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler

Part V Engines of Life: Identity and Beyond Death

21 The Curate’s Egg of Anti-Anti-Aging Bioethics

22 Medical Time Travel

23 Transhumanism and Personal Identity

Personal Identity and the Enlightenment

Enhancement, Transhumanism and Personal Identity

24 Transcendent Engineering

I. Cornerstones of Transcendent Engineering

II. Two Possibilities of Resurrection

III. Conclusion

Part VI Enhanced Decision-Making

25 Idea Futures

Introduction

Concept

Scenario

Scope

Procedures

Advantages

Criticisms

Related Work

An Appeal

Conclusion

26 The Proactionary Principle

The Origin of the Proactionary Principle

The Wisdom of Structure

The Failure of the Precautionary Principle

The Proactionary Principle

Preamble to the Proactionary Principle

Be Objective and Comprehensive

Prioritize Natural and Human Risks

Embrace Diverse Input

Make Response and Restitution Proportionate

Revisit and Revise

27 The Open Society and Its Media

Improving Society

Media Matter

Xanadu

Links

Hyperlinks

Emergent Properties

Transclusion

Remembering the Past: Historical Trails

Preparing for the Future: Detectors

The WidgetPerfect Saga

Permissions

Reputation-Based Filtering

External Transclusion

Conclusions

Part VII Biopolitics and Policy

28 Performance Enhancement and Legal Theory

29 Justifying Human Enhancement

Rationalizing Medical Interventions on a Slippery Slope

Life as a Commodity

The Accumulation of Biocultural Capital

Counterpoint: Reducing Human Diversity?

Conclusion

30 The Battle for the Future

Who Will the Early Enhancers Be?

The Threat of Human Enhancement

Protecting the Human Race

A Spiritual Crossroads

31 Mind is Deeper Than Matter

Persona Creatus

The Sex of an Avatar

Counting Cyberfolks

Papering a Transhuman

Is Consciousness Like Pornography?

Bio-Cyber-Ethics

32 For Enhancing People

Do the Technologies that Enable Human Physical and Intellectual Enhancement Undermine Virtue?

The Dangers of Immortality

The Politics of Toleration

What about the Genetically Engineered Children?

Enhancement Wars?

The End of Gene Tyranny

Moral Toleration

So How Will Enhancement Enable People to Flourish?

33 Is Enhancement Worthy of Being a Right?

Introduction

So What Does Putting the Question of Enhancement in Terms of Rights Do?

What is the Problem with Putting the Question of Enhancement in Terms of Rights?

How Might One Make the Case that Enhancement Be Treated as a Right?

Appeal to Autonomy

Appeal to Interests

Appeal to Natural Law

Conclusion

34 Freedom by Design

Introduction

Legal Right by Design: Cognitive Liberty

Design Thinking and Cognitive Liberty

Caveats on Concept: Fictions of Freedom

Freedom in Spite of All Else

Part VIII Future Trajectories: Singularity

35 Technological Singularity

I. What is the Singularity?

II. Can the Singularity Be Avoided?

III. Other Paths to the Singularity

IV. Strong Superhumanity and the Best We Can Ask For

36 An Overview of Models of Technological Singularity

Introduction

Definitions of Technological Singularity

Models

Accelerating Change

Discussion

37 A Critical Discussion of Vinge’s Singularity Concept

Comment by David Brin: Singularities

Comment by Damien Broderick

Comment by Nick Bostrom: Singularity and Predictability

Comment by Alexander Chislenko: Singularity as a Process, and the Future Beyond

Comment by Robin Hanson: Some Skepticism

Comment by Max More: Singularity Meets Economy

Comment by Michael Nielsen

Comment by Anders Sandberg: Singularity and the Growth of Differences

Part IX The World’s Most Dangerous Idea

38 The Great Transition

What is Transhumanism?

Anxieties

Evolution and Ethics

Naïvety about Progress

The Apocalyptic Temptation

39 Trans and Post

40 Back to Nature II

41 A Letter to Mother Nature

42 Progress and Relinquishment

Index

About the Editors

Max More, PhD is President and CEO of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the world’s leading cryonics organization. An internationally acclaimed strategic philosopher and co-founder of the first explicitly transhumanist organization, Extropy Institute, Dr. More is recognized for his thinking on the philosophical and cultural implications of emerging technologies.Natasha Vita-More, PhD is a leading expert on human enhancement and emerging and speculative technologies and is a Professor at the University of Advancing Technology. Dr. Vita-More’s writings have appeared in Technoetic Arts:A Journal of Speculative Research, Metaverse Creativity, and Sistemi Intelligenti. She has been featured in numerous televised documentaries on media design, culture, and the future.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The transhumanist reader : classical and contemporary essays on the science, technology, and philosophy of the human future / edited by Max More and Natasha Vita-More. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-33431-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-118-33429-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Medical technology–Social aspects. 2. Humanism–History. 3. Human body (Philosophy)–History. 4. Genetic engineering–Social aspects. I. More, Max, 1964– II. Vita-More, Natasha, 1950–R855.3.T73 2013 610.285–dc23

2012050378

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover designer: www.simonlevyassociates.co.ukCover images: Main image © Edvard March/Corbis. Chip © Aldis Kotlers / Shutterstock

Contributor Biographies

Rachel Armstrong, MD, is a Teaching Fellow, the Bartlett School of Architecture, and a TED Global Fellow. She authored Living Architecture (TED Books, 2012); and co-authored with Neill Spiller Protocell Architecture: Architectural Design (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).Roy Ascott, is President, Planetary Collegium, Visiting Professor, School of the Arts, University of California Los Angeles. He authored “Behaviourist Art and the Cybernetic Vision” (Cybernetica: Journal of the International Association for Cybernetics, 1964); and co-authored with Edward A. Shanken Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology, and Consciousness (University of California Press, 2007).Ronald Bailey, is Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine, and University Lecturer, Harvard University. He authored Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution (Prometheus Books, 2005); and Ecoscam: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse (St. Martin’s Press, 1994).William Sims Bainbridge, PhD, is Co-Director, Human-Centered Computing, at the National Science Foundation. He authored The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World (MIT Press, 2010); Nanotechnology: Societal Implications (Springer, 2007); and co-edited with Mihail C. Roco Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2010).Laura Beloff, PhD, is Associate Professor, IT University of Copenhagen and a Visiting Lecturer, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. She authored “Shared Motifs: Body Attachments in RL; and SL” (Metaverse Creativity 1, 2011), and “Wearable Artifacts as Research Vehicles” (Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 8.1, 2010).Russell Blackford, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Evolution & Technology. He authored Freedom of Religion and the Secular State (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) and An Evil Hour (I Books, 2003); and co-authored with Van Ikin and Sean McMullen Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (Praeger, 1999).Nick Bostrom, PhD, is Director, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University. He has ­written numerous papers and authored Anthropic Bias (Routledge, 2010); and co-edited with Julian Savulescu Human Enhancement (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Global Catastrophic Risks with Milan Cirkovic (Oxford University Press, 2011).David Brin, PhD, authored Existence (Tor Books, 2012); The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (Basic Books, 1999); The Postman (Bantam Spectra, 1997); and “Future of Surveillance,” in Changing Minds (Penguin Academics Series, 2009).Damien Broderick, PhD, is Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne. He authored The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed by Rapidly Advancing Technologies (Tor, 2002); co-authored with Paul di Fillippo and David Pringle Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985–2010 (Nonstop, 2012); and co-authored with Barbara Lamar Post Mortal Syndrome (Wildside, 2011).Alexander “Sasha” Chislenko (1959–2000) MS, was an AI theorist, former Researcher Society of Mind Group, MIT. He authored “Technology as Extension of Human Functional Architecture,” delivered at Extro3 Conference 1999, and “Intelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality” (1997). Many of his essays can be found at http://www.lucifer.com/~Sasha/.Andy Clark, PhD, is Professor and Chair in Logic and Metaphysics, University of Edinburgh. He authored Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension (Oxford University Press, 2010); Natural Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human (2003); and Intelligence Mindware (Oxford University Press, 2000).Aubrey de Grey, PhD, is Chief Science Officer, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence Foundation. He co-authored with Michael Rae Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs that Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008); and “Combating the Tithonus Error: What Works?” (Rejuvenation Research 11, 2008).Eric Drexler, PhD, is an academic visitor at Oxford University. He authored Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (Doubleday, 1986); and Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation (Wiley, 1992).Robert A. Freitas Jr., JD, is Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Molecular Manufacturing. He has published three books: co-authored with Ralph Merkle, Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines (Landes Bioscience, 2004); authored Nanomedicine, vol. 1: Basic Capabilities (Landes Bioscience, 1999); and Nanomedicine, vol. 11a: Biocompatibility (Landes Bioscience, 2003).Ben Goertzel, PhD, is an AGI Researcher, Novamente LLC, Chief Scientist, Aidyia Holdings, and Vice Chair, Humanity+. He authored The Hidden Pattern: A Patternist Philosophy of Mind (Brown Walker Press, 2006); A Cosmist Manifesto: Practical Philosophy for the Posthuman Age (Humanity + Press, 2010); and co-edited with Cassio Pennachin Artificial General Intelligence (Springer, 2007).Robin Hanson, PhD, is Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University. He authored “Meet the New Conflict, Same as the Old Conflict” (Journal of Consciousness Studies 19, 2012); “Enhancing our Truth Orientation” (Human Enhancement, Oxford University Press, 2009); and “Insider Trading and Prediction Markets” (Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy 4, 2008).Patrick D. Hopkins, PhD, is Associate Professor, Philosophy and Gender Studies, Millsaps College. He authored Sex/Machine: Readings in Culture, Gender, and Technology (Indiana University Press, 1999); and co-authored with Larry May et al. Rethinking Masculinity: Philosophical Explorations in Light of Feminism (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996).James Hughes, PhD, is Director, Institutional Research and Planning, Trinity College. He authored Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future (Basic Books, 2004); and “Embracing Change with All Four Arms: A Post-Humanist Defense of Genetic Engineering” (Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 6, 1996).Randal A. Koene, PhD, is Founder and CEO, Carboncopies.org. He authored “Fundamentals of Whole Brain Emulation: State, Transition and Update Representations” (International Journal on Machine Consciousness 4, 2012); and “Embracing Competitive Balance: The Case for Substrate-Independent Minds and Whole Brain Emulation” (The Singularity Hypothesis: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment, Springer, 2012).Ray Kurzweil, PhD, is Founder, Kurzweil Technologies, Inc., Co-Founder and Chancellor, Singularity University. He authored How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed (Viking Adult, 2012); The Singularity if Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Penguin Books, 2006); and The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence (Penguin Books, 2000).Ralph C. Merkle, PhD, is Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, Faculty, Singularity University. He authored “Nanotechnology: What Will It Mean?” (Spectrum, 2001); “It’s a Small, Small, Small, Small World” (MIT Technology Review, 1997); and co-authored with Robert A. Freitas Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines (Landes Bioscience, 2004).Andy Miah, PhD, is Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies, University of the West of Scotland. He authored Genetically Modified Athletes: Biomedical Ethics, Gene Doping and Sport (Routledge, 2004); and co-authored with Beatriz Garcia The Olympics: The Basics (Routledge, 2012); and co-authored with Emma Rich The Medicalization of Cyberspace (Routledge, 2008).Mark S. Miller is Chief Architect, Hewlett-Packard Labs. He authored with K. Eric Drexler “The Agoric Papers” (The Ecology of Computation, Elsevier Science, 1988); and Robust Composition: Towards A Unified Approach to Access Control and Concurrency Control (PhD dissertation, 2006).Marvin Minsky, PhD, is co-founder MIT AI Laboratory. He authored The Society of Mind (Simon & Schuster, 1988); and The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind (Simon & Schuster, 2007).Hans Moravec, PhD, is Research Professor at Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. He authored Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind (Oxford University Press, 2000); and Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence (Harvard University Press, 1990).Max More, PhD, is President of Alcor Life Extension Foundation and Co-Editor of The Transhumanist Reader. He authored “The Overhuman in the Transhuman” (Journal of Evolution and Technology 21, 2010); “True Transhumanism” (Global Spiral 2009); and “The Extropian Principles” (Extropy: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought 8).Michael Nielsen is one of the pioneers of quantum computing. He is an essayist, speaker, and advocate of open science. His most recent book is Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science (2012).Ravi Pandya is Systems Software Architect, Microsoft. He co-authored with Sergey Bykov, Alan Geller, Gabriel Kliot, et al. “Orleans: Could Computer for Everyone” (ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing, 2011); and with Sergey Bykov, Alan Geller, Gabriel Kliot, et al. “Orleans: A Framework for Cloud Computing” (Microsoft Research, 2010).Giulio Prisco, is a physicist, and former Senior Manager, European Space Agency. He authored “Transcendent Engineering” (The Journal of Personal Cyberconsciousness 6, 2011); “Let a Thousand Turtles Fly” (Quest for Joyful Immortality, 2012); and “Transhumanist Avatars Storm Second Life” (H+Magazine, 2011).Michael R. Rose, PhD, is Professor and Director of NERE, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California Irvine. He authored Evolutionary Biology of Aging (Oxford University Press, 1994); and The Long Tomorrow: How Advances in Evolutionary Biology Can Help Us Postpone Aging (Oxford University Press, 2005).Martine Rothblatt, PhD, JD, is Chief Executive Officer, United Therapeutics and Inventor, Sirius Satellite Radio. She authored Apartheid of Sex: A Manifesto on the Freedom of Gender (Crown, 1995); and Your Life or Mind: How Geoethics Can Resolve the Conflict between Public and Private Interests in Xenotransplantation (Ashgate Publishing, 2004).Anders Sandberg, PhD, is a James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University. He co-authored with Nick Bostrom “Converging Cognitive Enhancements” (Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 2006); and “Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap” (Technological Report, 2008).Wrye Sententia, PhD, is Postdoctoral Lecturer, University of California Davis. She authored “Neuroethical Considerations: Cognitive Liberty & Converging Technologies for Improving Human Cognition” (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1013, 2004); and “Written Comments to the President’s Council on Bioethics on the Topic of Mind Enhancing Technologies and Drugs” (Journal of Cognitive Liberties 4, 2003).Michael H. Shapiro, PhD, is Professor of Law, University of Southern California. He authored Cases, Materials, and Problems on Bioethics and Law (Thomson West, 2003); edited and authored Biological and Behavioral Technologies and the Law (Praeger, 1982); and “The Identity of Identity: Moral and Legal Aspects of Technological Self-Transformation” (Social Philosophy and Policy 22, 2005).Marc Stiegler is a Researcher, Intelligent Infrastructure Lab, Hewlett-Packard. He authored The Gentle Seduction (Baen Books, 1990); and David’s Sling (Baen Books, 1987); and co-authored with Joseph H. Delaney Valentina: Soul in Sapphire (Baen Books, 1984).Gregory Stock, PhD, is Chief Executive Officer, Signum Biosciences, former Director of Medicine, Technology and Society, University of California Los Angeles. He authored Redesigning Humans: Choosing Our Genes, Changing Our Future (Mariner Books, 2003; and Metaman: The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism (Simon & Schuster, 1993).J. Storrs Hall, PhD, is Founding Chief Scientist, Nanorex, Inc. He authored Beyond AI: Creating the Conscience of the Machine (Prometheus Books, 2007); and What’s Next for Nanotechnology (Prometheus Books, 2005).E. Dean Tribble is Principal Architect, Microsoft. He authored nine patents, including: with Mark S. Miller, Norman Hardy, and Christopher T. Hibbert “Diverse goods arbitration system and method for allocation resources in a distributed computer system” (Sun Microsystems, 1997); and with Norman Hardy, Linda L. Vetter “System and method for generating unique secure values for digitally signing documents” (2000).Vernor Vinge, PhD, is former Professor of Mathematics, University of California San Diego. He authored A Fire Upon the Deep (Tor, 1993, 2011); “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era” (Whole Earth Review, 1993); and True Names … and Other Dangers (Baen Book, 1987).Natasha Vita-More, PhD, is Professor of Design University of Advancing Technology, ­co-founder, Institute for Transhumanism, chairman of Humanity+, and co-editor of The Transhumanist Reader. She authored “Epoch of Plasticity” (Metaverse Creativity 1, 2010); and “Aesthetics of the Radically Enhanced Human” (Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 8, 2003).Brian Wowk, PhD, is Senior Scientist, 21st Century Medicine, Inc. He authored “Thermodynamic aspects of vitrification” (Cryobiology 60, 2010), “Cryopreservation of complex systems (Cryobiology, 2007) and “Cryonics Revived: Verification Unjustly Vilified” (Skeptic, 2005).

Part I

Roots and Core Themes

Transhumanism developed as a philosophy that became a cultural movement, and now is regarded as a growing field of study. It is often confused with, compared to, and even equated with posthumanism. Transhumanism arrived during what is often referred to as the postmodernist era, although it has only a modest overlap with postmodernism. Ironically, transhumanism shares some postmodernist values, such as a need for change, reevaluating knowledge, recognition of multiple identities, and opposition to sharp classifications of what humans and humanity ought to be. Nevertheless, transhumanism does not throw out the entirety of the past because of a few mistaken ideas. Humanism and scientific knowledge have proven their quality and value. In this way, transhumanism seeks a transmodernity or hypermodernism rather than arguing explicitly against modernism. One aspect of transhumanism that we hope to explore and elucidate throughout this book is the need for inclusivity, plurality, and continuous questioning of our knowledge, as we are a species and a society that is forever changing. The roots and core themes of transhumanism address some of the underlying themes that have formed its philosophical outlook.

The first section of the book presents a definitive overview of transhumanism. Transhumanism is a class of philosophies that seeks the continued evolution of human life beyond its current human form as a result of science and technology guided by life-promoting principles and ­values. Transhumanism promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human condition and the human organism opened up by the advancement of technology.

To begin this section, philosopher Max More sets forth the core values, goals, and principles shared by transhumanists and outlines commonly shared epistemological and metaphysical views, while noting the various distinct schools of transhumanist thought. More provides a briefing on the historical roots of the philosophy from the ancients through to the twentieth-century precursors, explains transhumanism’s relationship to humanism and to other concepts including extropy and the technological singularity, and then outlines contemporary variations. He concludes by identifying several misconceptions about transhumanism.

Although the philosophical, scientific, technological, and even political aspects of transhumanism have received much attention over the past decades, the aesthetic aspects have often been treated as secondary, especially to technology. Natasha Vita-More fills that gap. Vita-More explores the artistic, design-based approaches to the classical human form stemming from the Renaissance and on to the cyborg and the transhuman and asks: “What might be concerns of artistic works and design-based practices that approach human enhancement and life extension?”

In his essay “Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up,” philosopher Nick Bostrom notes that extreme human enhancement could result in “posthuman” modes of being. Being posthuman would mean possessing a general central capacity (healthspan, cognition, or emotion) greatly exceeding the maximum attainable by any current human being. Bostrom argues that some possible posthuman modes of being would be very good, and that it could be very good for us to become posthuman.

The Transhumanist Declaration sets forth values and practical goals for transhumanism and the many organizations and scholarly research associated with transhumanism that largely evolved out of the seminal work of Extropy Institute, an educational non-profit organization and, more recently, Humanity+. The Declaration was co-authored by a collection of trans­humanists with diverse backgrounds.

Part I concludes with an essay by Anders Sandberg arguing that we have sound reasons to affirm a right to morphological freedom. A right to freedom and the right to one’s own body implies that one has a right to modify one’s body. Morphological freedom is a negative right – it is the right to be able to do certain things without interference but it does not create any claim on others to support one’s exercise of that right. Sandberg argues that we want morphological freedom because of an ancient drive for self-creation through self-definition. We need morphological freedom because not accepting it as a basic right would have negative effects. Sandberg concludes by briefly considering some implications for the future of healthcare.

1

The Philosophy of Transhumanism

Max More

I. The Philosophy

To write of “the” philosophy of transhumanism is a little daring. The growth of transhumanism as a movement and philosophy means that differing perspectives on it have formed. Despite all the varieties and interpretations we can still identify some central themes, values, and interests that give transhumanism its distinct identity. This coherence is reflected in the large degree of agreement between definitions of the philosophy from multiple sources.

According to my early definition (More 1990), the term refers to:

Philosophies of life (such as extropian perspectives) that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.

According to the Transhumanist FAQ (Various 2003), transhumanism is:

The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.

A corollary definition (also from the FAQ) focuses on the activity rather than the content of transhumanism:

The study of the ramifications, promises, and potential dangers of technologies that will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations, and the related study of the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies.

Thus transhumanism is a life philosophy, an intellectual and cultural movement, and an area of study. In referring to it as a life philosophy, the 1990 definition places transhumanism in the company of complex worldviews such as secular humanism and Confucianism that have ­practical implications for our lives without basing themselves on any supernatural or physically transcendent belief. Transhumanism could be described by the term “eupraxsophy,” coined by secular humanist Paul Kurtz, as a type of nonreligious philosophy of life that rejects faith, ­worship, and the supernatural, instead emphasizing a meaningful and ethical approach to living informed by reason, science, progress, and the value of existence in our current life.

What is the core content of this philosophy? A simple yet helpful way to grasp its nature is to think of transhumanism as “trans-humanism” plus “transhuman-ism.” “Trans-humanism” emphasizes the philosophy’s roots in Enlightenment humanism. From here comes the emphasis on progress (its possibility and desirability, not its inevitability), on taking personal charge of creating better futures rather than hoping or praying for them to be brought about by supernatural forces, on reason, technology, scientific method, and human creativity rather than faith.

While firmly committed to improving the human condition and generally optimistic about our prospects for doing so, transhumanism does not entail any belief in the inevitability of progress nor in a future free of dangers and downsides. The same powerful technologies that can transform human nature for the better could also be used in ways that, intentionally or unintentionally, cause direct damage or more subtly undermine our lives. The transhumanist concern with rationality and its concomitant acknowledgment of uncertainty implies recognizing and proactively warding off risks and minimizing costs.