Transhumanism could push human evolution into hyperdrive. Should we embrace it?

Biological evolution takes place over generations. But imagine if it could be expedited beyond the incremental change envisaged by Darwin to a matter of individual experience. Such things are dreamt of by so-called “transhumanists”. Transhumanism has come to connote different things to different people, from a belief system to a cultural movement, a field of study to a technological fantasy. You can’t get a degree in transhumanism, but you can subscribe to it, invest in it, research its actors, and act on its tenets.

Transhumanism could push human evolution into hyperdrive. Should we embrace it? Transhumanism-popular-mainstream-9

Transhumanism could push human evolution into hyperdrive. Should we embrace it? Transhumanism-popular-mainstream-9

So what is it? The term “transhumanism” gained widespread currency in 1990, following its formal inauguration by Max More, the CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation. It refers to an optimistic belief in the enhancement of the human condition through technology in all its forms. Its advocates believe in fundamentally enhancing the human condition through applied reason and a corporeal embrace of new technologies.
It is rooted in the belief that humans can and will be enhanced by the genetic engineering and information technology of today, as well as anticipated advances, such as bioengineering, artificial intelligence, and molecular nanotechnology. The result is an iteration of Homo sapiensenhanced or augmented, but still fundamentally human.

Evolution in hyperdrive

The central premise of transhumanism, then, is that biological evolution will eventually be overtaken by advances in genetic, wearable and implantable technologies that artificially expedite the evolutionary process. This was the kernel of More’s founding definition in 1990. Article two of the periodically updated, multi-authored “transhumanist declaration” continues to assert the point: “We favor morphological freedom – the right to modify and enhance one’s body, cognition and emotions.”
To date, areas to improve on include natural ageing (including, for die-hards, the cessation of “involuntary death”) as well as physical, intellectual and psychological capacities. Some distinguished scientists, such as Hans Moravec and Raymond Kurzweil, even advocate a posthuman condition: the end of humanity’s reliance on our congenital bodies by transforming “our frail version 1.0 human bodies into their far more durable and capable version 2.0 counterparts”.

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/04/19/transhumanism-could-push-human-evolution-into-hyperdrive-should-we-embrace-it/

Transhumanism could push human evolution into hyperdrive. Should we embrace it?

Evolution in hyperdrive

Transhumanism could push human evolution into hyperdrive. Should we embrace it?

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