What is Transhumanism?

BY MACLEOD SAWYER

Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.

They promote an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human life. Attention is given to both present technologies, like genetic engineering and information technology, and anticipated future ones, such as molecular nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

The enhancement options being discussed include radical extension of human health-span, eradication of disease, elimination of unnecessary suffering, and augmentation of human intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities. Other transhumanist ideas include space colonization and the possibility of creating artificial intelligent machines, along with other potential developments that could profoundly alter the human condition. The ambit is not limited to gadgets and medicine, but encompasses also economic, social, institutional designs, cultural development, and psychological skills and techniques.

Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, something that needs to grow and change as we learn more about the world around us. Transhumanists believe that we can take control of our own evolution, and make not only ourselves better, but make the world better through science.

Elon Musk is a great example of a Transhumanist. With his love and appreciation to make the world and human life a better place through renewable energies such as solar (SolarCity), electric cars (Tesla Motors), revolutionizing transportation with HyperLoop, and his plan to begin colonizing Mars by 2030 using SpaceX — He is a Transhumanist.

Transhumanism is an effort to put a name and movement behind the push for scientific advancement of the human species. They do not believe that anything is purely “natural” and can’t be changed. They believe anything, and everything can be changed, modified, and made better through advancements in medicine, renewable energies, technologies and colonization. This a pro-science, pro-change, pro-human movement that you are (hopefully) already a part of.

This may sound like something straight out of an Isaac Asimov novel, but it’s not, and the faster you realize what kind of world we live in (and will live in), the better the world will be.

(Portions of the above are taken from Ethical Issues for the 21st Century)

Thanks for reading! I hope you learn more about the ideas behind Transhumanism, it’s always been an interest of mine. Click that green “recommend” button below if you enjoyed this piece!

P.S. You can also follow me on twitter: @mxsawyer!