Abstract
Transhumanism is a cultural and philosophical movement that advocates human enhancement through technological means. Seeking to eradicate suffering and death and transcend the limits of biology, transhumanists celebrate the power of technology to transform human life. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was intrigued by computer technology and its potential to link humankind on a new level of a global mind. He has been labeled a forerunner of transhumanism; however, his theological vision is not about enhancement but transformation. He recognized that suffering and death are invaluable to the emergence of unitive love, exemplified in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Teilhard’s vision helps us realize that suffering in nature may appear as erratic and absurd; however, in light of God’s kenotic love, suffering is oriented toward freedom and the fullness of love.
Highlights
Transhumanism is a cultural and philosophical movement that advocates human enhancement through technological means
Computer technology emerged in the midst of profound suffering, between World War II and the Korean War, through the work of British cryptologist Alan Turing who devised a simple test to determine if a machine could think like a human (Turing 1950)
In addition to Paul’s writings, Ron Cole-Turner states that the concept of transhumanism is found in several biblical writers who indicate that human beings are destined to go beyond the form and limits of our current humanity (Cole-Turner 2015, p. 40)
Summary
The twentieth century was one of the most violent centuries marked by war, mass extermination, nuclear power and ecological destruction. Unlike Christian transhumanism, Bostrom seized upon Huxley’s secular transhumanism to advance technology as the savior of modernity in its quest to transcend pain, suffering and death. He writes: “In the postwar era, many optimistic futurists who had become suspicious of collectively orchestrated social change found a new home for their hopes in scientific and technological progress”. Bostrom was inspired by Nietzsche’s superman, technological transhumanism espoused by the WTA could thwart the capacity to realize an inner creative power, diminishing human personhood rather than enhancing it
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