Transhumanism, the ideology that believes that technology can improve humankind. This ideology may seem harmless, but the implications of this philosophy are far much more dangerous than first thought.
While the origin of the term is complex, it was first popularised by American biologist Julian Huxley in his 1957 essay “New Bottles for New Wine”, which he defined as “man remaining man, but transcending himself by realising new possibilities of and for his human nature” and he believed this could only be achieved if science was used to improve society.
This has now evolved into an ideology focusing on the use of technologies to improve the human condition. On the surface it sounds quite optimistic: a drive and determination to use technology to improve humanity. It is this curiosity and passion that produced marvels like mechanical organs, artificial limbs and defibrillators. This is definitely the side of this ideology that we see from the likes of Elon Musk and the tech right. This desire to colonise Mars, to dominate the virtual and cosmic plains and to democratise the banking system through cryptocurrency is absolutely the type of forward thinking that we need; however, it is a reductive worldview that believes that technology can solve all of humanity’s shortcomings.
It is important to note this worldview is a consequence of the evolutionary view of humans. Humans are seen as machines, a product of chemical compounds who can be altered just like your average recipe. And because of that, the view is that we must be improved to continue the evolution of the human race. But more than that, there is a belief that humans must transcend, as in go beyond what is possible for the human race, including being able to do what is physically impossible for humans. And the ideology sees technology as the pathway towards that.
On one side, this view has been beneficial. Overcoming the issue of proximity has led to advances in communication and transport, including sea and space. Overcoming the challenges of the human body has led to advances in medicine. Overcoming shortages in food and water has led to innovations to increase the supply.
However, what happens when you think there are no limits that can’t be overcome? Including the physical limits of humans. One is life expectancy. Certainly this is the mission of Bryan Johnson, who has had numerous surgeries and treatments including gene therapies to literally change his DNA in order to stop ageing.
Another challenge in communication is the transmission of thoughts without using words. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is now exploring ways to use your brain to control technology. And now with artificial intelligence and the advances in robotics, the possibilities are endless, including solving one of humanity's mysteries: how to make humans. How to replicate the reproductive process without leaving it up to chance. How to use AI to build a consciousness that, just like the human brain, has the ability to make decisions using the information presented before it and how to use robotics to build a body with the same functions as a human. That appears to be the transhumanist visions for the future. The crazy thing is we may be closer to this. Recently Disney announced they had created a real life android of Walt Disney that had an AI programmed to respond using archival sound clips of Walt. If humanity can already do this, imagine what they could do if robotics got more realistic. There is already a website that creates images of people who don’t exist. It won’t be too far away before we start making people of our own, albeit mechanical ones guided by programmes with cold reasoning and logic.
The creators of our technology are starting with the assumption that we as humans are machines that can be recreated. However, they will struggle to recreate complex attributes like our instincts and our emotions and, more importantly, they will find it impossible to create the very thing that separates us from other living things: a moral conscience. How do you create a machine that can understand the nuance and complexity of human society and bring about justice? In reality the complexity of humans should be a clue to our origins, that perhaps there is an eternal complex entity that created us rather than natural processes or random chance? That is something scientists and engineers have experienced.
So how should we respond to this threat? By using these emerging technologies of AI and robotics for truth, goodness and beauty. While the transhumanists continue to build their virtual idols to human progress, God’s people and conservatives can build in the virtual world technology as an act of worship that, like all creation, points to our creator.
