What is Transhumanism?

in #blog6 years ago (edited)

Our ancestors settled our world with an unconscious desire to use the abstract to reform the material. Humans created technologies to perform tasks effectively. Rational thinking developed strategies to succeed in our environments faster than biological evolution ever could. Our powers of abstraction are a continuation of early human's, they had nurtured the praxis we now bear into the cloudy future. Humanity is a process and does not represent its completion. We are an early phase emerging from evolutionary forces and into a primal world.

Transhumanism is an individualist mode of thinking about the future and set of values that help lead to personal betterment. It is to critically embrace how technology can change ourselves as individuals. The ideal Transhuman desires wellbeing for society as an extension of themselves, but we must first be mindful of our own self before mindful in the errors of others. Transhumanism is a philosophy on how to live as a temporary agent within a highly technologically advanced society.

It is defined formally as the following:

  1. The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.
  2. The study of the ramifications, promises, and potential dangers of technologies that will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations, and the related study of the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. (Transhumanist FAQ, World Transhumanist Association)

We suffer from being a synthesis of opposites, of infinities and finites. Our infinite is the actualization of the possibility of our reason. Our infinite are the conceptual answers to unending questions. Who shall I become? How can I find purpose? What is it to be a good person? Our finite is concrete and it is substantiated in and amongst our existence. Deterministic factors that have led to where we are now and will lead to our future. Hormones, hydration, rest, diet, physical resources, genetic predispositions (cognitive and physical).

Transhumanism is to develop our finite in the image of how we reflect on our infinite.

Humanity left the world of the finite Sublime and into that of infinite possibilities Reason. Ever since our human ears have heard whispers of existential angst. We lost the meaning of the finite and now beg for false choice to be given to us by our own culture industry. A more accessible choice when compared to the alternatives, including but not limited to exploring the abyss for meaning and reconnecting with the Sublime.

Intellect has liberated us from us from hunter-gatherer society. Humanity developed technology to improve our lives. This is a process of iterating our understanding of the infinite within the finite. As time continued, survival had been globalized from the individual and onto the back of the collective.

We used symbols and tools to move the intimacy of labor onto the shoulders of our collective greatness.

We gathered around the campfire of civilization and took a vigil against the darkness.

We gave our primal nature to the collective as tribute; now it's machinations automate tribal warfare and provide humanity an existential-eject button in the form of WMDs.

We do so without intent, as individuals and as a collective.

Critics of modern society argue that it alienates us from mindful existence harmoniously with nature. I agree with them, and I don't stop at that critique. It is ideal for anything to live in a way congruent with its own teleology. Transhumanism seeks to provide the individual choice over one's teleology and thusly order their existence towards one's own infinite. It is the radical next step in our progressing autonomy that has been developed by the progression of civil rights of the 20th and 21st century.

A conservative progression towards Transhumanism is necessary to reign in the anatomy of human destructiveness. Out of every person ever born few names would be spoken in a requiem for those truly innocent. We must be mindful of how often aggression seems like an ideal resolution. It is proven that we justify our actions after we commit them. We must be cautious in our approach towards the call of technological revolution. It is all too human to aggress towards one's critics; too human to design technology to aid in this destructive end.

How can one value agency if one doesn't value the agency of others when they disagree? Competitive ideologies require persuasive tools built in them, such as logic, emotions, reputation, and the timing of the rhetoric. External persuasive forces used to spread or maintain ideology demonstrate them as unpersuasive. These forces are only persuasive to those who have already drank the kool-aid and thusly act not as their own agents, but as agents of their ideology. Citizens of the world should be skeptical of Transhumanist movements that happen as a result of labor markets, as they are external forces and do not represent uncoercive ideological consent.


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We already debated this, but just to give readers a little taste of my counter:

"Oh, it's not about fear of death or ego-driven at all. It's about allowing the complexity of the universe to actualize itself."

"Suuuure, it's not ego-driven at all, it's just about the universe's emergent properties arising specifically in the way you want them."

(As always, with a cheeky wink.)

(A cheeky grin returns)

Why should there be a separation between our wills and the universe that created them? Our ideological antagonisms are part of a larger game that is being played here and ultimately I do not believe either of us are right. Rather I would prefer voicing the desires that I as an individual have, and negotiating them within the "ego-driven" persuits of others' which results in an emergent cooperative framework.

Nevertheless I am excited to have your body heat power a virtual reality system built to hold anarcho-primitivists and luddites captive. (Kidding kidding)

nice post

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Why am I thinking this is about A.I.?

Artificial intelligence is a component of Transhumanism. It is one answer to the question "What forms does superintelligence come in?"

Thank you for the elaboration on transhumanism. You covered some topics I had been given ambiguous answers for. Do you mind if I share this with some friends outside of Steemit? :D

Go for it! I would be glad to have my content shared.

This subject can be really vague. Honestly depending on who you are discussing it with Transhumanism can either be a religion or a secular theory. It is well established within certain circles like Ray Kurzweil or Zoltan Istvan, but they don't really have a lot of reach.

Could not, in a million years, no matter how hard I tried, have said it better myself.

You honor me. :)

Transhumanism. I will never forget this concept, from the medieval age to the present day. However what seems not to have changed at all is our endless seeking of development at every single point in time.

We, as humans, don't know how to be satisfied. We hunger for more. We live a life where there is no contentment. We develop more and more but in the end we did not have a complete life

To be human is to have this existential emptiness. What benefit does completeness provide to a biological organism? States of mindfulness arise through meditation, prayer, yoga, chanting, dancing etc, but they serve as virtual tools to momentarily grasp at completeness.

You put it nicely @xanadumedia.
Man's appetite is insatiable leaving him seeking and searching always longing to expand without bounds

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