A Philosophical History of Transhumanism

John Kennedy Philip goes deep into the search for (post-) human heights.

- John Kennedy philip

Throughout our history, we human beings have been trying to transform ourselves with a view of overcoming our limitations, even death. There is a tendency in humanity to search for a way around every obstacle and limitation, and to make one’s life happier and better in this world. This discloses our yearning to become better than we are – better than human: to move from being mere Homo sapiens to become Homo superior. Transhumanism is a movement which advocates this transformation of the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing technologies, and then making them widely available. Transhumanism itself has gradually evolved over the past couple of decades. Now it promotes research into areas such as life-extension projects, cryonics, molecular nanotechnology, human enhancement projects such as bionics, artificial intelligence, uploading human consciousness into computers, and designer babies, among other things. We can say that the ultimate objective of transhumanism is to enable us to live forever.

Commentators tend to say that transhumanism is either dehumanizing or superhumanizing. The view that transhumanism is dehumanizing is held by ‘bioconservatives’ such as Francis Fukuyama and Richard Jones. Fukuyama expresses his critique in his book Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (2003). He thinks that transhumanistic projects will violate basic human rights and will blur the line between natural and artificial, which indeed would induce moral dilemmas. Ultimately, the fear is that transhumans will eliminate original humanity. Transhumanism as a