What is Transhumanism? (with picture) – wiseGEEK

allenJo Post 5

@miriam98 - Thats science fiction. I dont think in real life society would set those kinds of barriers, with the perfect breeds in one corner and the sub breeds in another corner.

Transhuman technology is there to benefit people. I think of things like electronic visors or implants that can enable people who are visually impaired to finally be able to see.

I dont envision the kind of world the article talks about, where people are equipped at every level with technology to enable them to do things. I think it would only be useful for remedying health problems.

Transhumanism seems to have become the subject of many science fiction movies, and in none of the movies is the result very good.

Years ago I watched a movie called Gattaca about this guy who had been genetically inferior from birth. Growing up, he wanted to be in the space program. However, the space program would not let you in if you were not a perfect genetic breed.

So this guy rips off the genetic identity of a perfect breed human and connives his way into the program. He borrowed the guys urine for the urine samples and other strange things like injecting himself with the guys DNA.

Well, thats what a transhuman society would lead to genetic perfection would be the coveted prize if you really wanted to succeed, and people would buy and barter DNA in order to have a chance at that kind of perfection. Is this what we want?

I don't know why transhumanism is criticized so much. I mean, most of the technology that transhumanists talk about utilizing already exists or is under-development. So this is not a far-off imaginative idea at all. It's very much possible and I think it will happen sooner or later. Denying it or refusing to consider it isn't going to get us far.

What I'm more interested in is if transhumanism will be available to all of humanity equally? Considering the fact that there is still huge gaps in wealth among humans in different parts of the world, I'm afraid that transhumanism will only be available to wealthy nations. I don't like the idea of some humans being 'superior' to others because they have more access to technology and money.

@burcidi-- Actually, you are right that a transhuman would not be a human. Transhumanists agree with this too and it's not seen as something undesirable by people who conform to this idea.

If you ask me, the goal of transhumanism has a lot to do with evolution. I think transhumanists believe that we are currently still in the beginning of our evolution and have a long way to go. As we are able to apply more scientific, genetic and technological advances, humans will keep evolving and come closer to our actual potential.

I personally like the concept of transhumanism. Who can deny that we are still evolving and who wouldn't want to live longer, be affected by less illness and to improve the human functions? I think it's a great concept and it has a very optimistic view about the future of humanity. I like that.

I don't think that transhumanism is possible. I mean look at nature. Whenever we try to eliminate something dangerous in nature, like a creature, a virus or bacteria, new ones emerge in a short time that undermines all of our work up to that point and we have to start over.

Similarly, if we were to eliminate disease and aging in humans, I'm sure new problems would come up that would still shorten our life span.

From a spiritual, religious point of view, it's not possible either because every living thing is destined to be born and to die at one point. A human that's void of disease and disability and that has numerous technological parts is not a human at all. It's essentially a robot, a machine.

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What is Transhumanism? (with picture) - wiseGEEK