Transhumanism: Should We Embrace the Future Human?
Questions for a Post Human World
I recently did a video/meditation talking about how we are in a spiritual war. The push toward transhumanism is a part of the on-going attempts for control.
Many people remain unaware or uninformed about Transhumanism and its potential long-term consequences for humanity. Transhumanism sounds lovely, combining “transcendence" and "human," and speaks about humans evolving beyond their current physical and cognitive limitations. Advocating for augmented human capabilities and envisioning a time when aging and death are no longer a concern. Through advancements in biomedical technology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence some are creating a radically new vision for human life and our relationship to the natural world. I argue this redefining of life has profound implications in ethics, social structures, spirituality, and the very nature of consciousness itself.
Origins of Transhumanism
A British biologist named Julian Huxley coined the term ‘transhumanism’ in 1957. However, the roots of this movement can be traced back to the Enlightenment period. An era in time punctuated by the desire for human progress through reason and science. Since then scientists and philosophers have looked for ways to apply technology and science with the goal of human evolution. Huxley proposed we could become a ‘better than human” species not just biologically but could overcome our limitations through deliberate and conscious self-improvement.
In the 1990s, advancements in biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), and information technology led many to envision a future with enhanced human capacities. More recently, organizations such as Humanity+, the Singularity Institute, the Future of Humanity Institute, and the much-maligned World Economic Forum (WEF) are advancing initiatives and publications that could make transhumanism a reality.
“The fourth industrial revolution, however, is not only about smart and connected machines and systems. Its scope is much wider. Occurring simultaneously are waves of further breakthroughs in areas ranging from gene sequencing to nanotechnology, from renewables to quantum computing. It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital, and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.”
― Klaus Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Core Goals of Transhumanism
Proponents of transhumanism generally focus on the following areas that they believe will be the most beneficial to humanity and the many existential crises that we face.
Life Extension: Death is seen by transhumanists not as an inevitability but merely a problem that hasn’t been solved. Focusing their efforts in fields such as biotechnology, regenerative medicine, and anti-aging research, proponents hope for a future where aging is slowed, halted or perhaps even reversed. Hoping to extend life indefinitely, through advancements in gene editing, cellular reprogramming, and possibly even replacing the whole body using cybernetic systems.
Cognitive Enhancement: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), neural implants, and pharmaceutical interventions for improving human intelligence are another central tenet of this movement. Tools are currently being developed to augment cognitive abilities or even merge the mind of the human with AI to enhance our capacity to problem solve, be more creative, or learn novel tasks within minutes. Think of Neo downloading programs to learn Kung Fu in the movie The Matrix.
Physical Augmentation: Using a blend of cybernetic systems and human biology (think cyborg), transhumanists are also focused on ways to augment the body to bolster physical capacities beyond normal human limits. Advanced prosthetics, exoskeletons, and genetic modifications offer ways to enhance strength, speed, and endurance. Allowing humans to survive extreme environments, resist diseases, or possess senses far beyond current abilities. Perhaps even redesigning the human body entirely.
Moral and Emotional Enhancement: Some transhumanists believe that we can even engineer complex moral and ethical qualities. Creating humans that are potentially more empathic, compassionate, and rational.
Are We Playing God?
While the promises of transhumanism are grand, the movement also poses significant ethical, philosophical, and spiritual dilemmas. It begs us to ask ourselves some questions that many of us never thought we would need to ask. What makes us human? What happens to our souls if our bodies are replaced? Are we committing crimes against God or natural law? What happens to the earth if we circumvent the natural cycles of birth, life, and death? How will the Earth support a population that continues to grow and never dies? It seems to me that we have God like capabilities without the wisdom of God.
“God is dead – it's just taking a while to get rid of the body.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
Key Technologies Driving Transhumanism
There is no debate that some of the technologies can have benefits, especially for those with physical limitations or diseases caused by genetics. However, as Thomas Sowell once famously said, “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs”. Since these tradeoffs include re-defining what it means to be human, we should be asking if these tradeoffs are worth it.
The one technology on everyone’s tongue lately is Artificial Intelligence. It feels like just last week ChatGPT was made public. Since then, so many companies have unveiled their version of large language models (LLMs). While LLMs are not the generalized AI that we see in science fiction. The ‘HAL’ type of AI that is self-conscious is not far off. Many believe this technology exists but has not yet hit the mainstream public.
What happens once this technology has been unleashed and decides that humans are a threat to the environment? Or when AI’s energy requirements outgrow our current capacities? Will there be an off switch? As AI becomes more human like, what rights will they require/need?
Genetic Engineering using technologies like CRISPR which allow for gene editing is sold as having the potential to cure genetic diseases, enhance intelligence, or even choose certain traits for future generations. We are living in a reality where life has begun to imitate our science fiction. In Huxley’s, A Brave New World, natural reproduction was eliminated and social order and status were predetermined before the child was ‘decanted’. Do we want to move toward a world of designer babies?
If we really care about equality, this latest version of eugenics is a great way to create deeper divides among people. Francis Fukuyama said, “The first victim of transhumanism might be equality……..the most serious political fights in the history of the United States have been over who qualifies as fully human”.
We have already witnessed how GMOs have impacted our food supply. Currently, about 90+% of GM soybeans, corn, and cotton at the stores are modified to withstand larger applications of herbicide. Consequently, this has increased the amount of herbicide in our environment by tens of millions of tonnes per year. This has greatly impacted the health of our soil and rivers yet sold to the public as a way to boost production.
Brain-computer Interfaces such as neural implants like Neuralink, aim to connect the brain directly to digital devices. These interfaces could allow for mind-machine communication, potentially assisting disabled individuals and opening the door to cognitive enhancements for the general population. They also open us up to the potential of being controlled or influenced. In the 1960’s Dr. Joseph Delgado was able to control the behavior of a bull using a brain-computer interface (BCI). Can you imagine how far that technology has come in the last 65 years?
Nanotechnology could have the potential to transform medicine, enabling interventions that target diseases at the cellular level. Repairing damaged cells, fight infections, and potentially slow the aging process. But, much conversation has been had around self-assembling nanotechnology that has the potential to be activated from sources outside the body.
Is it possible for the nanobots to be hacked or re-programmed to do other things?
Recently in Japan, they rolled out a new type of mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 that utilizes self-assembling nanotechnology. Kostaiv uses sa-mRNA to make copies of the mRNA which generates the production of more protein compared to an equivalent amount of mRNA in the Modern or Pfizer vaccines. Is prompting the body to create more of a non human protein really the way to go?
Messing with Complex Systems
When we talk about the Western medical model we talk a lot about drug interactions and side effects. A side effect is the unintended consequence of introducing a targeted solution into a complex system. We are tinkering with not only one complex system but complex systems integrated with other complex systems. Not only is our scientific method not great at parsing the risks of complex and dynamic processes/technologies, but many of the unintended consequences will only be seen over longer scales of time. Which makes their true impact often hidden or we are unable to determine causal effects.
What type of side effects will be born from these large scale human experiments?
Mind Control
All of us who walk around staring at our phones for any amount of time are already being conditioned for mind control. Have you noticed how the internet has shifted since the advent of smartphones? More and more of our interactions and information are coming from highly concentrated sources like apps. Apps designed to commodify our attention and keep our dopamine centers highjacked. We are already under a form of control. Now, imagine if we give these technologies even more access to our inner landscape.
What happens to our sovereignty and will?
The Primacy of Consciousness?
Amit Goswami and non materialists believe in the primacy of consciousness; that matter is a secondary creation derived from an infinite field of probabilities. What happens when we aim to create at the point of matter first, without regard to consciousness? Perhaps we could never be outside of spirit or our soul’s intention. But, for example, if we consider cloning, where does that soul reside? If creation begins at the point of matter instead of in the unified field of consciousness, the answer is unclear.
The thing that frightens me is there is no awareness or contemplation of the soul in any of these discussions. If we grow genetically modified fish or a human from birth, what happens to the soul? It may be that we are bypassing the spiritual dimensions altogether. If we lose this connection to spirit, then we lose our connection to the Whole. Uncovering that connection has been the greatest hope for humanity to find peace with one another.
Loss of the Divine Feminine
For decades, people in the spiritual communities have been talking about the rise of the Divine Feminine. I can think of no approach to life more in opposition to this than transhumanism. The idea that we can live in defiance and domination of all natural cycles and systems is the antithesis of the Divine Feminine rising. We are seeing a plug-and-play view of the human body. If you don’t like something about yourself - here are ways to hack or alter your biology. We are removing the sacred from the equation and instead of looking at the whole human, we are just seen as chemistry and tissue that can be manipulated or changed.
We are even challenging the idea of what is a woman.
This is intentional and part of moving the human consciousness away from the maternal and sacred capacities of the Divine Feminine. Of living in harmony with nature and Mothe Earth. We are standing on the precipice of abolishing the archetypal energies coursing through the universe since the beginning of time. To what end?
Is it easier to move man closer to machine, when the foundational energies of all of life are seen as modifiable or just a matter of parts to be tinkered with?
We are doing large-scale experiments on humanity, that may take years to see the damage that we are causing. Some have even likened this new technological era to the advent of the atomic bomb in its scope to alter the course of humanity. While some of the rationales for transhumanism are lofty and perhaps well intentioned. Transhumanism raises challenging ethical and spiritual questions that society must confront. As transhumanism continues to gain traction, humanity will need to grapple with these questions, balancing the promise of enhancement with the preservation of the values, identities, and experiences that define us. Whether embraced or resisted, transhumanism is poised to shape the future of humanity in profound and lasting ways.