Author of The Faithful Prepper and Zombie Choices
You’ve likely heard a word tossed about in the narrative of late that has you somewhat dumbfounded: transhumanism.
What on earth does that mean?
What is Transhumanism?
While the term has been around for decades, it’s always been a fringe aspect of the scientific community. And by fringe, I mean fringe of the fringe. Nobody knew what transhumanism was. However, now the movement is growing like never before, and the well-informed American needs to know what it encompasses.
The end goal of transhumanism: defeat suffering, pain, disease, inequality, and death through biotechnological implants.
Do you remember the Borg from Star Trek? While perhaps not as grotesque, transhumanism seeks a similar path to reach its end goal. In some cases, you can see aspects of transhumanism in today’s culture. Ever seen anybody with a prosthetic leg? Transhumanists would claim them as one of their own.
But that only scratches the surface of the situation. A true transhumanist wants to see things go much further. Brain implants, neural links to the internet, and much more are all part of their ultimate goals.
And what is the ultimate goal?
The Difference Between Posthumanism and Transhumanism
It’s important to note that there is a difference between transhumanism and Posthumanism. Yet, just as socialism is the stepping-stone to communism, one is the stepping-stone to the other.
- Transhumanism seeks to use technological implants to improve the human condition.
- Posthumanism aims to eradicate humanity as we know it altogether.
Within the realm of Posthumanism, the ultimate end goal is the death of death – to become immortal. And for that to happen, you have to become a machine. Such is the end goal of Posthumanism.
What Are the Aspects to Usher in a Transhumanist World?
There are several talking points transhumanists will reference when discussing how to reach their end goals. Chief of these are:
- Nanotechnology – If you’ve ever seen Johnny Depp’s Transcendence and witnessed how nanotechnology was used in medicine there to make the sick well, the injured whole, and the weak strong, this is precisely what they are talking about.
According to transhumanists, using nanotech to become stronger, smarter, and teleport are all potential uses for such science.
- Molecular assemblers – This is the creation of living material or lifeforms. 3D bioprinting could somewhat be an aspect of this. If you have a burn victim who needs a skin graft but whose burns are so complete that he doesn’t have any locations to harvest from, then 3D bioprinting could print the skin graft for him.
Designer babies would probably fall under this umbrella as well. Imagine the notion of showing up to a fertility clinic and choosing the traits you want your child to have (boy, blue eyes, athletic, intelligent, etc.) and then having a scientist compile those genetic traits together for you into an embryo. According to transhumanists, the end goal is a healthier child that meets your expectations and wishes.
- Epigenetics – This is the act of changing genes. While this is already possible (and happens) by the lifestyle you live, transhumanists want to take things a step further. They actively want to change your DNA to improve your disease resistance, to make you stronger, smarter, and so on. If you’ve seen Iron Man 3 with the fire people, it’s pretty much the same concept.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Regularly touted as a means for improving our knowledge base, AI is argued as being the perfect scientist, and thus, the ideal means of further improving our condition. Done via the generation of a ‘superintelligence,’ a self-conscious AI connects to the internet. The AI quickly gains more knowledge than all of humanity combined, throughout all of history. This type of knowledge would mean we’d get sooner access to improvements in surgery, medicine, fuel, and the like.
- Uploads – This is a concept considerably pushed by Ray Kurzweil, likely the most famous transhumanist around. It’s the point at which mankind melds with machines, entering a virtual world.
What’s the Background Story Here?
To my knowledge, the earliest notions of transhumanism can be found in a 1929 article by JD Bernal titled The World, The Flesh, and The Devil. Bionic implants, cognitive enhancement, and space colonization were all discussed here. While there are arguments made for transhumanism being a thought process even further back, I think this paper is the most modern example.
However, the first self-described transhumanists didn’t meet until the early 1980s in Los Angeles at the University of California. The movement continued to spread as Nick Bostrom founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 (now Humanity+).
Milestones were made for the movement. Among those were:
- Kevin Warwick has a 100-electrode array implanted into the nerves of his left arm in 2002 that directly linked his nervous system to the internet.
- Artist Neil Harbisson had a curved antenna implanted into his brain, allowing him to see infrared and ultraviolet colors.
- The Journal of Posthuman Studies was started in 2017 by Penn State Press.
As you can see, transhumanist thought has been around for quite some time. As time goes on, it will become more frequently and openly discussed. You can check out Steve Quayle’s book on the subject for more information.
Are There Moral Conundrums With Transhumanism?
Just as with anything, there will be pros and cons, and transhumanism is no exception here.
What are your thoughts on:
- George Washington having wooden teeth?
- What about a little girl getting a cochlear implant?
- Are you ok with a little boy getting a prosthetic leg after a freak accident leaves him missing his original?
- What are your thoughts on braces?
All of these situations had a problem solved by an implant/addition created by current technology. It’s hard to have a problem with such.
But do transhumanists take things a step further? I believe they do.
How Far Are Transhumanists Willing to Go?
Uploads: Remember, this is the melding of man with machine. Ray Kurzweil points out in his book The Singularity is Near, this is when your consciousness is uploaded to a cloud. Uploads enable a person to theoretically teleport and manifest anywhere on earth. These capabilities are made possible by an ever-present cloud of nanobots that reassemble the person.
Can the soul be transferred out of your body to a machine, though? Nope. To me, that is mass murder/suicide. A simulation may predict how you would react in every situation. However, it wouldn’t be the real you. The real you would have died at the moment of upload.
Nanotechnology | Epigenetics: If ever-present nanotechnology is a goal, what about those who don’t consent to such. Is this not akin to a sheddable vaccine? Is it not a violation of informed consent? If I don’t want nanotechnology interacting with my body, what right does anyone have to force me to do so?
Molecular Assemblers: What could be the cost of tinkering with genetic material? What if problems arise we can’t undo? Could we very easily end up with a Will Smith I Am Legend type scenario? Or, humans being genetically engineered to be tiny dolls, super polite waitresses, or other one-shot entities like those in Cloud Atlas?
Artificial Intelligence: How much of your autonomy are you willing to give up to a machine? Eventually, one should ask, “How much government control should we hand over to artificial intelligence?”
Are There Dangers to Transhumanism?
Aside from the moral qualms, there are some veritable dangers to transhumanist philosophy as well.
The Singularity: As pointed out above, this would be mass suicide/murder. In a world where climate change is a chief concern, though, it could be argued the more uploads we have, the more negligible effect we’ll have as a whole on the planet. Could mandatory uploads result? This point is most certainly very remote and far out. However, if transhumanists are going to raise it, we should think of some response aforehand, should we not?
Nanotechnology: Both Michael Crichton and Nick Bostrom have pointed out the dangers of self-replicating nanotechnology – something many transhumanists favor. How do you get self-replicating nanotechnology to stop? Does it reproduce indefinitely, becoming a new problem? Could nanotechnology be hacked? What’s to stop somebody from using your body’s nanobot to drill a hole through your heart, eat your pancreas, or cause a blood clot? What if you were given nanotechnology with capabilities you weren’t entirely made aware of?
Epigenetics: DNA is notoriously complex. While one may believe they’ve created a solution, what if they’ve made a bad genetic trait that’s not revealed till 30 years down the road? Puberty is genetic, striking 13 years or so after birth. Baldness is genetic, striking decades after birth. Who’s to say they won’t create something more severe like psychosis that spontaneously demonstrates at the age of 25?
We literally have no idea. Why? Because it’s never been done before? What if the bad trait created becomes inherited? Perhaps it’s that somebody’s arm rots off when they turn 38. We end up with a whole generation of kids who are bound to suffer the same fate. Once more, while that’s an extreme example, it gets us to think about the host of potential possibilities that need to be considered before engaging in such an action.
What is the Future of Transhumanism?
According to Klaus Schwab, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution will lead to a fusion of our physical, digital, and biological identity.”
Some wonder if this is verification the Great Reset is foundationally driven towards transhumanism. We’ve most certainly seen it’s a growing movement. In 2016, noted transhumanist Zoltan Istvan actually ran for US president.
So where are we going to turn next? It’s hard to say. I believe that nanotechnology will be one of the prime movers in the near future. However, I do know this: transhumanism is here to stay, and it is only going to gain even more momentum within the next few years.
It pays to stay well-informed on what is happening here. This movement is going to impact your life.
What are your thoughts on Transhumanism?
Where do you think this movement will lead? Do you consider it a benign, positive science, a threat to mankind, or something in between? Let’s discuss it in the comments.
About Aden
Aden Tate has a master’s in public health and is a regular contributor to PewPewTactical.com, SurvivalBlog.com, SHTFBlog.com, ApartmentPrepper.com, HomesteadAndPrepper.com, and PrepperPress.com. Along with being a freelance writer he also works part-time as a locksmith. Aden has an LLC for his micro-farm where he raises dairy goats, a pig, honeybees, meat chickens, laying chickens, tomatoes, mushrooms, and greens. Aden has two published books, The Faithful Prepper and Zombie Choices. You can find his podcast The Last American at Preppers’ Broadcasting Network.
Great article to stimulate a discussion of the ethics of transhumanism.
So, we may not want to go here, but couldn’t one make an argument that mRNA vaccines are transhumanistic? They’ve been described as uploading an operating system since mRNA gives instructions to code for making new proteins. And the spike protein the COVID vaccine codes for has been found to be damaging to human vascular cells (https://www.salk.edu/news-release/the-novel-coronavirus-spike-protein-plays-additional-key-role-in-illness/). Also these vaccines employ nanotechnology in the form of a dye called luciferase, which serves as a marker for those who have received the vaccine.
Yep, one most certainly could make that argument. Many have been.
Good post, Fina, and exactly why I will NOT get the ‘jab’. I will leave it to God to instruct my proteins to do His will. He doesn’t need help from Big Pharma.
Silly article
TRUMP WON
Silly response, Seminole! (totally irrelevant)
Human interaction with advanced technology is a topic I’ve been worried about for a long time. I’ve addressed it repeatedly in my stories and novels (there are three free stories on this and related topics in the Free Short Stories menu on my blog, plus I’ve written full-length novels dealing with the idea).
From the time humans began to use technology, this problem has been in-built into human existence. Who wouldn’t want to be healthier, stronger, better looking, live longer? Early man discovered that a club hit harder than a fist. A sharpened stone would cut better than fingernails. An Atl-atl would throw a spear farther than an unaugmented arm. We are, by nature, tool-users.
Today, technology is on the edge of opening up a new universe of tools. Autonomous tools that do the job without direct human intervention. Tools augmented with Artificial Intelligence. Tools that can be integrated into our bodies. Of course, we’re going to want to use them. It’s human to want to better our condition, and most of us don’t much care what tools we use in that effort.
There is a price that we must pay for this convenience. Even if you have no interest in participating, you won’t be able to avoid involvement. Autonomous weapons systems, robots for convenience, robots for war, AI, IoT, surgical robots, implants to rectify physical failings (the list is getting longer daily) will all impact your life whether or not you want the interaction.
The net result is that we cannot avoid this general issue, call it transhumanism or what you will. We must figure out how best to live with it without losing our essential humanness. That’s a tricky proposition since humanness is a fragile property. History shows that it is easily lost to political ideologies. Who would say that ideologically directed genocide is a good thing? (Yeah, I know: a lot of people, especially today. It was a rhetorical question anyway.)
Changing the gene pool by eliminating vast sections of it or physically modifying parts of it is an act that can have dire repercussions. Nature modifies genes in response to long-term environmental exigencies. Humans don’t live in the “long-term.” Our perception is so short-term that we could extinguish our species with a single ill-thought approach to solving a long-term problem.
What we need most urgently is a morality designed to allow us to deal with the powers conferred by our increasing mastery of technology. If we do not develop this (and I’m pessimistic about that), we’ll end up trying to survive in a world that has become inimical to our very nature. Think GMOs, fake meats, aerosols in the atmosphere to block global warming, mono-cultured plants that die at the first invasion of an unforeseen disease and hold no essential nutrients anyway, the surveillance state, and all the issues raised in Aden’s well-thought outpost.
Without planning and morality, humanness, our very nature, might easily be lost. We can’t avoid change, so we must manage it. With the strong push toward therapeutic mRNA treatments in response to what appears to be an artificial illness, the time for planning is running short.
You raise some interesting points.
For those looking at further reading on the subject, I highly recommend Nick Bostrom’s “Superintelligence”. It’s a fantastic look at the potential dangers and the ethical dilemmas of AI/robotics. Anything written by Isaac Asimov will help do the same within that realm.
Regarding transhumanism in specific, I do believe that “Cloud Atlas” (a book I found gross) actually gives the best examples of where transhumanism is going to trend. It’s freaky stuff that I wasn’t willing to delve into above (e.g. sexual stuff).
Savulecu’s Human Enhancement and the other book Beauty Junkies may shed further light on transhumanist ethics. I haven’t had the chance to read either of those two, but I understand them to tackle the subject.
Great topic – the technology to do this is already here. They just need incentives for mass buy-in.
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/22/658808705/thousands-of-swedes-are-inserting-microchips-under-their-skin
“The Matrix has you Neo” I’m not being sarcastic. Technology is frightening. There is a bible verse regarding the “end times” that says something along the lines of people will seek death and not find it. Who knows where all this will end up?
I often wonder what it was that Daniel (within the book of Daniel) that made him sick (for a week, right?). Here you have a man of Biblical times seeing what, cars, skyscrapers, maybe masked people?
I don’t know.
It is interesting to think about though. This is why I believe spiritual preparedness – getting your heart right with Christ – is paramount.
I am doing all I can to stay out of the matrix, and to keep nanotechnology out of me. Not sure how successful one can be — it’s purported that nanotechnology is everywhere — chemtrails, vaccines starting a decade or so ago, etc.
I agree that spiritual preparedness (in Christ) is paramount.
P.S. Aden – I like Steve Quayle’s books, videos, and articles. He shares some interesting stuff.
A few points of correction: epigenetics is not the act of changing genes. Epigenetics is defined as Image result for epigenetics defined as the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence. Your definition refers to eugenics, tried via selective breeding during the early 20th century. Didn’t work.
Artificial intelligence isn’t “the perfect scientist.” It’s the simulation of human intelligence by machines, ie expert systems. They neither replace nor control humans and so far at least, cannot outdo human thought processes.
As for mRNA rewriting the genome, please! That is the most ridiculous idea touted by anti-vaxxers to date, along with the nonsense about virus shedding.
You’ve written some very interesting articles. Here’s a place where you could do better, starting with proper factual definitions and concepts.
Perhaps I should have said ‘gene alteration’ instead.
AI could very easily be argued to be the perfect scientist. Programmed correctly, it wouldn’t have anywhere near the bias as a human. Though it may not be there yet, that’s not the point of the article. The point is to look at what could happen in the future. The arguments that could be argued for this or for that.
Viruses do shed. That’s how they spread in the first place. I believe what you’re referring to though is ‘vaccine shedding’. For those who are interested in the concept, I encourage one to look at the history of the eradication of polio and the IPV vaccine versus the OPV vaccine.
OPV was able to be shed to others. It’s one of the reasons it was so (and still is) so controversial.
Artificial intelligence is a simulation of a part of human intelligence.
Generally speaking, trans/post humanists don’t give a hoot about forcing their ideas on everyone else as long as other people reciprocate. Think of how the Amish are treated.
It took about five million years from the human – chimp common ancestors to H. sapiens. The chimps are still chimping but H. sapiens is moving on – barring annihilation by government. So I will offer this thought:
Man is the new chimpanzee on the block.
They might state they believe in equality, like socialist –
But in reality they want maximum inequality between government people and non-government people, i.e. a ruling class and a slave class.
Interesting article, especially as it raises questions about ethics, human rights and how it may change with the adoption of more and more advanced surgeries, implants and enhancements. Will people with over a certain percentage of prosthetics/implants/modifications still be considered “biological humans” and what are the implications?
Will the medical nano bots become self aware and demand autonomy? (That was actually addressed in an episode of Star Trek, the Next Generation ;).
A lot of food for thought and hypothetical debate.
GIGO
Exactly right. Learning to use tools millenia ago does mean we can someday become tools. This type of transhumanism will never happen. The expense of it all will be over the top. We can’t even find energy sources to sustain the technology we have now. Solar and wind don’t cut it. We are headed for a regression in technology as well as a regression into totalitarianism. I wish it wasn’t so but that’s what is happening.
There is only one way to immortality.
Need I say more?
I pray for the souls of this world !!
????????????
A thought provoking article whether we agree or disagree with the ethics of what could be fact today or some day.
I do agree with some responders here. There is an easier way to become immortal. A way that looks ahead to a day when the mortal can put on immortality.
I think for the medical community gene therapies, limb replacements that can be attached to nerves to open and close a hand for example are all seeking the good. With improvements could we one day have a super human with bionic eyesight, hearing, speed and strength? Like the old Million Dollar Man series? Ie. nano bots- seemed so far fetched on Star Treck- but today to some degree they are real. Nano technology is a serious field of study.
What ifs, often do spark research and to some extent become reality. Our human trips and robotic trips into space prove that. What ethical limits, if any, would we preset to hinder research? How far is each of us willing to go? Right now many are drawing the line at the new vaccines. The J&J vaccine is proving quickly to be problematic. New maybes, have now become new warning of some real problems emerging quickly. Not yet long term-a right now problem for some. I remember the same fears of the, then new, Salk Vaccine which helped halt a horrible polio epidemic. Each new vaccine has used new methods. Every new intervention messing with nature has potential for good or for bad. As a preteen child my parents insisted I swallow the sugar cube with one drop of liquid placed on it. That was approximately 64 yearsago. Am I a bit leary of the newest rushed vaccines? Yes. Another new way to work on us. And yes already one is proving dangerous. That isn’t calming fears one bit. It seems to support the fears.
I guess the question is; what ethical limits or lack of limits are humans willing to live with?
Personally I have limits that far exceed the norms of the already acceptable. I refused a heart transplant yearsago because of a failing heart in my 30s and 40s. I couldn’t walk one city block. I was weak, swollen, became overweight, at times my blood pressure dropped to such low numbers as to be almost non existent then it would pull back up again. Over and over. I made peace with my maker and decided what will be, will be. One day nearly 10 years later I realized I was in fact doing more and feeling better. No longer under a specialist care. Then in my early 60 I was getting out of breath too quickly. When checked I was told the heart muscles were thickening. I could carry nitro to relieve the pains in the heart but at my age nothing much could be done for it. Another form of heart failure. Again I prayed earnestly about it. And one day I realized I was no longer in pain or out of breath all the time. I’m 74 now. I was able to do weight training at the gym. I’ve had covid and it was horrible. I’ve spent over a year rebuilding strength and stamina by hard work. Pushing on to exhaustion. I’m definitely getting better. Working more hours each day. Gardening more hours. At first a gallon of milk was too heavy to pick up. Today I’m again lifting 40 lb bags of heating pellets and feed for my critters. The 50lb dog food bags are still just beyond my abily. I get help at the store and from a neighbor to bring them in. But I keep trying to lift them. Carring 40 lb bags up my steps is beyond me yet. I take them up a step. Set them down. Step up to it. Move it up one more step. So on up to the top. Many time a neighbor brings in 6 for me then I move them to where I want them.
I know my choice was right for me. I guess that is it for each of us. Make a personal choice and live or die with it. I don’t want a government forcing me against my will. In fact I really hate to be told what to do. Knowing human nature, mandates may work for some, but many will rebell. Just because ” I won’t be forced…”
Do I want to see legal limits set on what can be done to the human body or why it can be done? Do I want to see a transhuman army for the sake of making super humans to fight, forgo sleeping or eating for long periods of time. No I don’t. What do you do with them afterwards? Would they reintegrate at home well. How would they be chosen? Special Breeding? Randomly like a lottery? Volunteers? A draft? Same with anyother experiments involving humans.
I wear a full upper denture. And folks who’ve lost limbs wear prosthetics. Wonderful. Those are real aids. But how far do we want it to go?
It gladdens me to see how many have brought God to the table in their comments. My own church group doesn’t seem to understand why I think the Covid vaccines are an abomination that have no part with the design of God. And yes, they are only the beginning. We are in for a rough ride, my friends.
I DO believe in God and the beauty of his creation…and man—who does not yet know how to create a single living cell—playing at God with my DNA does not set well!
Aden Tate you ask “Where do you think this movement will lead?”
Easy Answer:
The movement will lead to more control by the PTB over the gullible masses who see any shiny new technological innovation as a wonderful thing.
Transhumanism and Posthumanism promises to ever improve the human condition and ultimately to conquer death. Who can resist a carrot like that especially with the globalist mainstream media brainwashing machine pushing it.
A giant clue to their end game is the statement by the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) CEO Klaus Schwab, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution will lead to a fusion of our physical, digital, and biological identity.”
Nice of them to tell us what they want to do before they do it. Sounds familiar for some reason.
What this means is that they want everyone to be part of their Fourth Industrial Revolution hierarchical command structure with them at the top and the puppets at the bottom. The technology will allow them to make the world in to a giant human kennel just like a dog kennel but far most sophisticated. Cages will exist but the they will be virtual with their boundaries created and controlled by their technocrats running the system with the help of ever vigilant AI programs. And just like dogs in a dog kennel humans will own nothing. Klaus even brags about it as if it is a good thing. Of course some one has to own and control every thing and that would be Klaus Schwab and his globalist puppet masters. Can’t have puppets without a puppet master can we. All together class it will be a
“Dictatorship of the Proletariat” but with better marketing. Let’s see in a communist utopia you own nothing and in Klaus’s Brave New World you own nothing. And this time it will be true communism. The lemmings nod their heads and applaud loudly.
Orwell’s Ministry of Truth will be the collusion of the government with the social media tech giants to prevent the expression of any speech that they deem to be misinformation. We already see this now.
But it will be all worth it we will be told. After all we are talking about utopia here. Everybody join together and stampede off the digital cliff. Let the puppet masters own and control every thing. Because this time with all of this power centralized in the hands of this small group of globalists, utopia for the entire world will finally be achieved. And this time power will not corrupt and absolute power will not corrupt absolutely because it will a benign dictatorship. Benign dictatorship is an oxymoron by the way. But why let human history and common sense stand in the way of progress. I would call it deevolution. But that’s because I have learned from history.
Problem – Reaction – Solution is the globalist strategy for achieving their goals. They run this same play over and over and the masses never catch on. At least so far.
I would be a candidate for upload tomorrow if the technology existed. This is one way to achieve immortality and live to see how the universe ends, which is a desire of mine.
Human genetic modification is inevitable and will occur regardless of any laws or proscriptions put in place by governments. At first, it will be diseases that will be fixed but eventually going direct to the germline. Designer babies won’t be far behind followed by people building themselves giant muscles as in some of the superhero movies.
The wealthy will of course get first dibs on all human DNA modifications because it will be expensive to begin with. If governments foolishly try to outlaw such modifications under some kind of ethical justification or religious proscription, people will simply go the criminal underworld.
As a long time reader of SF, there have been many books and authors dealing with or incorporating uploads and DNA mods into their work.
One rather famous book is the 1993 “Beggars In Spain” by Nancy Kress that presupposes a genetic mod becomes available that eliminates the need to sleep, gives those modified a higher IQ and may make them immortal. Of course, the mod is incredibly expensive so only the rich can afford it. Well worth reading.
A trio of well known British SF authors have written books/constructed universe where these technologies are commonplace.
Peter F. Hamilton in the Commonwealth universe books features much genetic modification and mind uploads. He also offers a device that is implanted in a person’s neck and which collects their every thought/emotion. When they are old or if they die suddenly, as long as this implant can be retrieved, the person’s mind can be restored to a clone grown for this purpose offering virtual immortality.
Alastair Reynolds offers rampant genetic modification in his Revelation Space universe.
Neal Asher has written many books in his Polity universe that is run by a [sort of] benevolent AI where genetic modification is easily available. AI, aliens, hive minds, machine/bio constructs and much more are seen throughout his writings.
Listen to a Roadmap to Immortality interview with a Russian scientist Alexei Turchin here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfSr825Uq7Y from J3Unscripted
I have written quite a bit about Transhumanism over the last several years, and my latest article might bring some extra thoughts to the table. Today, the movement is revealing its dominance in world affairs.
The Evil Twins Of Transhumanism And Technocracy
https://www.technocracy.news/the-evil-twins-of-transhumanism-and-technocracy/