Search Immortality Topics:

Page 9«..891011..2030..»


Category Archives: Transhuman

Venice Biennale 2022: Man’s relationship with the planet gets surreal – Euronews

At the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale art exhibition, the earth and its uncertain future are taking center stage.

Director Cecilia Alemani wants this years edition of the world's oldest international exhibition to ask some fundamental questions: "How is the definition of human changing? What constitutes life, and what differentiates plant and animal, human and non-human? What are our responsibilities towards the planet, other people, and other life forms? And what would life look like without us?"

The questions are inspired by "The Milk of Dreams," a book by British-born Mexican surrealist Leonora Carrington that is also the title of this years Biennale.

It is a world where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else, says Alemani. The exhibition takes Leonora Carringtons otherworldly creatures, along with other figures of transformation, as companions on an imaginary journey through the metamorphoses of bodies and definitions of the human.

Visitors to the 80 national pavilions and dozens of collateral events will confront probing questions about how humans interact with technology, the possibility of a posthuman world and the ecological crisis facing the planet.

As the world begins to return to a fragile sense of normality amid the ongoing pandemic, the Biennale asks what that is going to look like.

Visitors to Denmark's national pavilion enter into a space that is both hauntingly beautiful and unsettling. It is a world inhabited by a family of centaurs set in an undefined moment of the future. These hyperrealistic transhuman creatures of Uffe Isolottos We Walked the Earth seem to represent the result of a biotechnological experiment. As Isolotto explains, They are attempting to survive in a world where it is no longer enough to be human as we know it.

In one room, the male centaur has taken his own life, his half-man half-horse body hanging limply from the ceiling. In the second room, the female centaur is giving birth.

"I think we are in a moment where the world is changing amid the pandemic and the ecological crisis," Isolotto says, "and this artwork suggests something has to die for something to be born."

Beneath the male centaur are small sculptures of mutated farm crops oozing a bright blue liquid. "These could be the nutrition of their future world, or perhaps a drug," says the artist, who deliberately avoids giving concrete explanations in order for the installation to represent the deep ambiguities of current times.

Instead, Isolotto wants visitors to meditate on this liminal world that includes elements from traditional Danish farm life merging with sci-fi-like forms. It is up to the viewer to decide if this is a tragic or a hopeful view of the future.

Italy's national pavilion is being taken over by a single artist for the first time this year. Gian Maria Tosatti's site-specific installation fills the vast nearly 2,000 sq.m Tese delle Vergini space with replicas of industrial warehouses. They represent Italys history of industrial boom followed by decline. Tosatti travelled the length of the country gathering scraps from abandoned factories to create the exhibition.

The thought-provoking work, entitled History of Night and Destiny of Comets, is separated into two sections. In the first, representing the historic part, rusty warehouse interiors are illuminated by harsh LED lights. The Destiny of Comets section instead looks towards the future and ends with a message of hope.

Together, the two sections ask powerful questions about the relationships between man and nature, industry and sustainability, and the exploitation and protection of the planet.

Latifa Echakhch is representing Switzerland this year with an eerie, immersive installation. On entering the pavilion, burnt sculptures and scattered ash on the ground suggest a catastrophic event that has ravaged the area. As Echakhch describes, You are walking in the ashes of what was played in that space.

With forms recalling giant heads and hands, the burnt wooden sculptures were inspired by the ritual fires lit in Switzerland to mark the end of the winter season. Fire is always both the end and the beginning on a constantly turning wheel of time, says Echakhch. The wooden sculptures themselves reuse materials from previous Biennials, continuing the idea of life cycles.

In collaboration with musician and composer Alexandre Babel and curator Francesco Stocchi, Echakhchs The Concert then takes visitors backwards through time as light and darkness alternatively illuminate and veil the monumental sculptures.

Read this article:
Venice Biennale 2022: Man's relationship with the planet gets surreal - Euronews

Posted in Transhuman | Comments Off on Venice Biennale 2022: Man’s relationship with the planet gets surreal – Euronews

What Is Left Of Being Human? On the Anthropology of Trans- and Posthumanism – Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

July 13 @ 8:00 am - July 14 @ 5:00 pm

An International and Interdisciplinary ConferenceJuly, 13/14th 2022Groer Senat, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, Tbingen

We are interested in the intellectual mindset of todays post-human cyberculture which concerns the human being, society, technology and politics. Historically, the rise of this way of thinking is rooted in the emerging technological hub of Silicon Valley with its spread of disruptive technologies in the beginning of the 21st century. Since then, this Silicon Valley metaphysics also unfolded outside the Californian hi-tech industries and gained adherents all over the world.

For our conference What is left of being human? On the Anthropology of Trans- and Posthumanism we are interested in the co-evolution of human and technological development which is one central pillar of the post-human cyberculture. In this regard, we posit the presence of the following three conceptual aspects: There is firstly a libertarian individualism which stresses self-ownership and the exclusive control of ones choices, actions, and body, indedependent of societal contexts. There is secondly a technological optimism suggesting that all human deficiencies can be overcome by continual technical innovations. The justification for this technological optimism is eventually grounded in an utopian pragmatism: Tecnological growth will allow the removal of the diagnosed deficiencies and human fallibility all together.

For all of these three aspects trans- and posthumanist thinking plays an integral role. In this conference we invite both proponents and critics of trans- and posthumanism. Together we aim to unveil its (metaphysical) assumptions and want to shed light on the transhumanist idea of human being from a scientific, philosophical and religious point of view.

The rest is here:
What Is Left Of Being Human? On the Anthropology of Trans- and Posthumanism - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Posted in Transhuman | Comments Off on What Is Left Of Being Human? On the Anthropology of Trans- and Posthumanism – Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Venice Biennale 2022: the worst art on show in the city – Art Newspaper

Leaping into the Metaverse, Ai-Da

Concilio Europeo dellArte (Giardini)

Where do you start with art produced by a machine rather than a human? The AI robot Ai-Da is almost as ubiquitous as Hans Ulrich Obrist on the art scene, popping up in prime art hotspots such as the Venice Biennale this week. Ai-Da has been given a new painting arm, resulting in an astonishing new painting ability, a press statement says. But her clunky self-portraits andImmortal Riddle sculpture still look like they were made by, well, a robot. The statement adds that Ai-Da has no life or sightthat is glaringly obvious from the art on display.

Sterling Ruby's HEX on the faade of Palazzo Diedo, the home of Berggruen Arts & Culture Photo: Andrea Avezz

Palazzo Diedo

In a Biennale dominated by women artists in the Giardini and Arsenale, the presence of male artists screaming from Palazzos (seemingly from a bygone era) provides a jarring counterpoint. Sterling Rubys giant relief sculpture HEX, splayed across the historic faade of the Palazzo Diedo in Venice s Canareggio district is just a representative example. We are told that it interrupts the classical architecture with a sense of precarity. The title "Hex refers to the geometric star emblems hex signs appearing on the sides of Pennsylvanian Dutch barns. Who knew? The Palazzo will be the new permanent home of the Beggruen Arts & Culture centre, following the palaces recent restoration, with Hex announcing Rubys inaugural residency. Will these male outliers in Venice still cast their spell on visitors?

Ignasi Aball's Correccin for the Spanish Pavilion Photo: Claudio Franzini; Courtesy of AECID

Correccin, Ignasi Aball

The Spanish Pavilion closed without giving a reason this morningthe dour gatekeeper staring out behind metal bars, informing hopeful art goers shivering under umbrellas they shalt not pass. Yet a crowd remained, dutifully waiting for entry to Ignasi Aball's representation of the joyous Spanish nation at the 2022 Biennale.

Once inside, they will find Correccin, an installation that attempts to fix the historical architectural "errors" found in the pavilion, rotating its walls by ten degrees. The artist demands we reconsider the space.

The error, perhaps, was the idea itself, which, to put it mildly, is indulgent, boring and pretentious. Once the wet hoards have shuffled through the show, they will likely wish on Aball a stay in a correctional facilityfor crimes committed in the name of conceptual art.

Marc Quinn's Historynow Photo: The Art Newspaper

Museo Archeologico

The British artist Marc Quinn has attempted to sum up viral moments from the past couple of years in the exhibition HISTORYNOW, which lines the walls and ceilings of the Museo Archeologico. Screenshots from social mediashowing images such as Donald Trump, the storming of the Capitol, a scantily clad Rihanna and a Ukrainian woman with her newbornhave been replicated on giant phone-shaped canvases measuring more than 2m, which have then been daubed and splashed with paint.

It would be kind to call these works kitsch, but kitsch can have layers, humour and depth of meaningthese seem to compress historical moments into decorative wallpaper for a Miami mansion. And despite the images being in the public domain and often of people who crave publicity, there is a sense that they are being exploited for someone elses spectacle. Not even Trump deserves this treatment.

Wallace Chan TOTEM exhibition at Fondaco Marcello Massimo Pistore, courtesy Wallace Chan

Fondaco Marcello

TOTEM, the new exhibition by Hong-Kong artist Wallace Chan, should workat least for those into shiny things. The setting is Fondaco Marcello, a 15th-century warehouse by the Grand Canal which houses Chans massive titanium sculptures of Buddhist iconography. The warehouse, was chosen, Chan said in an interview with TL magazine, for its "poetic beauty".

But Chan, for some abstract reason, has decided not to install his exhibition as he initially intendedsomethingabout wanting to reflect his curiosity about life, nature and the mysteries of the universe. Instead, he decided to "just leave it unassembled, so as to address the idea of fragmented reality and uncertainty." The result is collection of works strewn around the warehouse floor in a mess of blasphemous bling that looks like giant trinkets stolen from Venice street hawkers.

Correction: This article originally misinterpreted a quote from Wallace Chan referring to the exhibition's lighting. This has since been amdended.

Uffe Isolotto's We Walked the Earth for the Danish Pavilion Ugo Carmeni

We Walked the Earth, Uffe Isolotto

Uffe Isolottos transhuman installation for the Danish pavilion presents a spectacle that is disturbing and yet ultimately mystifying, failing to deliver any ideas to match the high-spec visuals. There is no denying the cinematic quality of the pavilions larger than life protagonists, a pair of hyperreal centaurs realised by a team of taxidermists, zoological model makers and prosthetic makeup specialists. But why are they here?

A trigger warning outside the pavilion advises visitors of sensitive content, including scenes of life and death. Sure enough, the male centaur hangs from the ceiling by a noose in a dingy chamber. His female partner lies in a farmhouse stall across the way, impassive in the act of giving birth. Mysterious glassy pods litter the floor and one room is inexplicably devoted to a hanging mutant leg of ham. No one seems any the wiser, with the most common reaction being a quick gawp and a photo opportunity, before hurrying out through the exit.

See the original post here:
Venice Biennale 2022: the worst art on show in the city - Art Newspaper

Posted in Transhuman | Comments Off on Venice Biennale 2022: the worst art on show in the city – Art Newspaper

4 Lessons the Era of Technology Has Taught Us – Sprout Wired

Tech has integrated into many peoples lives, so its important to be aware of what its taught us, positive or negative. Weve collected our thoughts about the lessons technology has given us, at least those who have access to it and use it every day.

On that note, for those who need guidance on writing about intricate topics, theres a solution right here. We understand that not everybody can dedicate much time and effort to such tasks as essay writing.

Thats why Studyfy is a perfect option for those who need academic help. Its online essay editing service allows students to hire seasoned editors who will refine their papers and make sure they meet the set requirements. Alleviate your stress and give it a peek today.

Now, if youve already taken care of your assignments, lets go through the lessons of the technology era.

The new era has provided many societies on our globe with the gift of convenience. Our laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and other portable devices serve to make our daily lives easier.

And whats more convenient than the Internet? The era has ushered convenience at our fingertips, and the interweb can be a powerful tool if used in all the right ways. However, the Internet can also be extremely distracting to those who arent so self-disciplined.

Whatever the case, were learning that the technologies that this millennium has brought influence people differently. We have to consider how we will use it in our daily lives and not succumb to addiction. The Internet is a tool.

This topic is not black-and-white, and we encourage our readers not to make extreme assumptions since its not easy to quantify certain things. However, its safe to say that learning with the Internet, especially for people who prefer online education, can be a more active process. In traditional school etiquette, before the ushering of modernity, students had to stay in class and listen to their professors.

With the Internet, people can learn on their own with prepared educational courses that are available at any given point for them. Many artists, music producers, animators, programmers, and other professionals have learned their craft through online courses. Its becoming the norm.

Our challenge right now is to encourage the youth and the general public to learn on their own. One sad thing is that traditional school has made the older generations reliant on a teacher to push them to study. We have to make sure the new generation enjoys learning and takes the initiative in getting new knowledge.

Becoming independent and using the Internet for research is a great way to boost ones motivation to study. However, its not such an easy task since people have to overcome distractions and find quality courses in the pool of contradictory information.

The Internet is vast, and even if we credit it for our progress, its the people who make it valuable. There are so many ways you can make money online nowadays, and this has given many people a chance to start anew. Here are just a few examples.

If you have the necessary skills and determination to make money online, your opportunities are limitless.

Even with the excitement of finding innovative ways to use technology in this era, we must not lose touch with our humanity. For our readers who havent watched Black Mirror, please do. Technology brings a lot of positive outcomes, but it also has a dark side that needs serious consideration.

Transhumanism and innovation might seem trendy and hip, but the excessive reliance on technology can ultimately prove to be the downfall of our society. We must balance the time and energy we spend focusing on our devices and our interactions with the outside world.

Too much of anything is never a good thing in the human experience, so we must be cautious about what we focus on. We cant heavily rely on our inventions to do everything for us. Yet, we cant be closed off to innovation and progressive thinking either. Its about balance in the end. Balance is the key to maintaining a healthy attitude to tech developments.

We encourage our readers to think about the ways they can use technology so that it positively impacts their daily lives. Be mindful so as not to succumb to destructive and addictive behaviors. There is a lot to learn and discover in the tech field, so keep expanding your horizons and improving your skills. Just remember to filter information and concentrate on the long-term benefits technology might bring.

Here is the original post:
4 Lessons the Era of Technology Has Taught Us - Sprout Wired

Posted in Transhuman | Comments Off on 4 Lessons the Era of Technology Has Taught Us – Sprout Wired

Top 7 of the Best Seinen Anime to Watch – UrbanMatter

Darker and more mature-themed anime are called seinen. Beyond the loud, adrenaline-fueled action sequences of the more child-friendly shounen genre, seinen shows place greater emphasis on the viewers ability to contemplate and reflect, providing them an avenue to explore a shows conflicts with more gravitas, and in a grounded, realistic manner.

While it isnt a rule, seinen excels in the grimdark, the solemn, and the cynical. Most seinen anime are aimed towards the young adult demographic, although many enjoy broad appeal from both adolescents and old-timers interested in deep, philosophical discussions, character dramas, and more serious portrayals about society and human nature.

This article lists down some perennial favorites of the seinen genre. After bingeing a series, viewers should feel well-equipped to discuss quandaries such as morality in organized crime, the rise of artificial intelligence and transhumanism, the inevitability of death, or the thin line between humanity and monstrosity.

Dont let the catchy opening theme song lull you into thinking this show is about happy hour at some ordinary bar.

For starters, said bar caters to the souls of the dead. There, emotionless entities called Arbiters serve drinks and preside over Death Games, in which two souls compete over whimsical bar games such as twister, darts and billiards to earn a chance at resurrection or eternity consigned to the endless void.

The show explores the sordid scenarios that led to each players demise, depicting how different people would react to their deaths and the afterlife. Its story is a tear-jerking, existential ride thatll pair well with any alcoholic drink on the shelf.

For the adventuring type, Black Lagoon will let you explore the criminal underbelly of Southeast Asia with the help of the Lagoon Company mercenaries.

This show is a slick symphony of gun-running, diesel-burning, thug-torturing action, revolving around the mercs missions as modern-day pirates at sea. While Rock is ostensibly the main character, the real captain of this show is Revy, a rough, loudmouthed and lethal hitwoman.

The violence can get unapologetically insane, boasting such sights as an operative dressed as a nun assassinating criminals at a church, or a gunship launching its undersea torpedoes at a helicopter and winning. With swagger in spades, this show is a staple for any seinen spree.

Not all seinen series have to be violent, melodramatic and depressing.

As a romantic comedy, Kaguya-sama is a mostly light-hearted dive into the minds of two of the most intelligent but emotionally-stunted geniuses in an academy for the elites. It is, however, interwoven well with commentary on Japanese society.

The shows leads, Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane, secretly like each other, but with their fragile egos on the line, neither is willing to make the first move and confess their feelings first. This has, quite logically, led to them pursuing a variety of strategies more complex than those used in the actual Cold War to get a confession out of the other.

With a lovable ensemble of side characters like the society-lamenting Ishigami, and a pink madwoman named Chika, Kaguya-sama has risen into one of the decades newest and most popular seinen so far.

When the Catholics go crusading, and the Nazis start invading, odds are that theyre both after animes premier vampire anti-hero, Alucard. Most horror anime series pit the main characters against all sorts of vile, nightmarish monsters. In Hellsing, the main character is the monster.

The Hellsing series is a maddeningly fun power fantasy, following Alucard as he goes on missions at the behest of the Hellsing Organization, an order of Protestant knights tasked with protecting the United Kingdom by exterminating the forces of the undead.

Both the original and OVA series are excellent escapades into a world where people explode into oceans of blood and firearms are as abundant as rosaries.

Early in the series, Alucard turns a dying policewoman named Seras Victoria, who tags along as another main character through whose perspective are concepts such as retaining ones humanity and embracing vampirism are explored.

What could be more aesthetically pleasing than being sad in space?

Decades after a catastrophic hyperspace incident ruined life on Earth, humans have settled into colonies based on the Solar Systems other planets and moons. Bounty hunters known as Cowboys are paid by the Inter Solar System Police to capture criminals, with the series main characters being said Cowboys operating aboard their spaceship Bebop.

The action and excitement of navigating space as the new Wild West only serves as a backdrop for the intensely melancholic and existential internal issues that plague the cast.

The recent Netflix adaptation was a ridiculous disaster, and this classic science-fiction seinen is best enjoyed in its original 1998 version, where its comedic elements shine and its cyberpunk space opera aspects are the most visually stunning.

Jojos Bizarre Adventure is violently fabulous. A persisting aspect of modern-day meme culture, this seemingly easy-going series is home to one of animes most malevolent entities DIO as well as a cadre of other unforgettable villains.

The series is split into different seasons, each set in various periods from the Victorian era to modern-day Japan. Members of the Joestar family and other gifted individuals have the power to wield Stands, psychic manifestations of their spirit that can meddle with the real world.

Chances are that youve heard Guts theme from this anime on several memes or videos before. The lamenting tone of that song may have become the background music for many hilarious shorts, but Berserk itself is a never-ending thrill ride of horrific tragedy, brutality and despair in a dark world of fantasy. You have been warned.

Centered on Guts, a drifting mercenary whose mother was a hanged corpse by the time he exited her womb, the show deals with his employment under a bandit guild known as the Band of the Hawk. Prominent characters include the guilds leader, Griffith, whose ambitions to start his own kingdom cause an astronomical amount of mind-shattering anguish to everyone throughout the series, and Casca, Guts unit commander turned lover.

Berserk has been praised for its realistic depictions of characters in various states of trauma, angst and depression, with its cerebral and thought-provoking themes complemented by a nice amount of exhilarating violence and vengeance.

Read more:
Top 7 of the Best Seinen Anime to Watch - UrbanMatter

Posted in Transhuman | Comments Off on Top 7 of the Best Seinen Anime to Watch – UrbanMatter

H+ 2: The Transhuman, the Posthuman, & the Truly Human – Patheos

Should we Christians, Jews, and Muslims board the transhumanist train? Should we ask for our own coach labeled, Religious Transhumanism? If so, how far should we ride? All the way to the posthuman destination? Is a religious transhumanism conceivable?

The public theologian is boarding the transhumanist train, but tentatively. One foot furtively taps the boarding platform. The zephyr is ready to leave the station and to speed toward the future. Should the public theologian accelerate the transhumanists velocity? Or slam on the brakes? Switch to a different rail?

Public theology, I maintain, is conceived in the church, reflected on critically in the academy, and meshed within the wider culture for the benefit of the common good. Much of the public theologians contribution takes two forms: discourse clarification and worldview construction. As an exercise in discourse clarification, we will here ask whether transhumanism also known as Humanity Plus or H+ can share a track with Protestants, Roman Catholics, Unitarian Universalists, Jews, Muslims, and Mormons. Would we want a coach on the transhumanist train labeled, Religious Transhumanism? Some of our closest friends are already reserving seats.

This post continues a previous discussion: Is AI a Shortcut to Virtue? Or to Holiness? A future post will continue discourse clarification: H+ 3: Radical Life Extension? Cybernetic Immortality? or Resurrection of the Body? More will likely follow.

Hybrid scientist-theologian Arvin Gouw fears H+ might misguide religious sensibilities. Two salient yet misguiding themes unite AI robotics with transhumanist eschatology. The first is that we Homo sapiens can do on our own through technology what God has promised. The second is an over-evaluation of intelligence. The public theologian will press the question: which is our summum bonum or highest good: intelligence or love?

To aid us in discourse clarification, the public Christian theologian should distinguish between two ways of describing the future. First, the future as futurum is commonly known as progress. Such a future is that which we make out of resources drawn from the past. Adventus, in contrast, is that dimension of the future that only God can create. Every moment Gods adventus releases us from the deterministic grip of past causes so that we created co-creators can advance the progress of futurum. On the one hand, adventus belongs to the consummate eschatological future while, on the other hand, adventusright now also makes possible futurumscreativity. In short, God opens the future every moment for our creativity to make an impact. But, thats a story for the systematic theologian to tell on another occasion.

Technological progress is futurum at work. The Bibles eschatological promises point us to the advent of Gods transformatory kingdom. Once we have been transformed, then we will be what God has always intended us to be. We will be truly human. Is it the job of religious transhumanism to announce this? (Evolution sculpture by Pari Danadoost)

Piloting futurums zephyr is the transhumanist engineer, Oxfords Nick Bostrom. The posthuman condition in Bostroms scenario includes these characteristics.

Transhumanists are not timid. They press the buttons of evolutions control panel to design a future which, at least in the first phases, will be controllable. Once H+ yields the control panel to Ray Kurzweils forecasted Singularity and then to its posthuman product, we Homo sapiens will be left behind. Robosapiens will replace Homo sapiens.

The new posthuman will be immortal. Those of us who make it all the way to the posthuman destination will enjoy either radical life extension (RLE) in the body or cybernetic immortality (CI) out of the body. CI requires that our mind be uploaded into the computer cloud. Immortality? Living forever? Really?

The Transhumanist Manifesto challenges the issue of human aging and the finality of death by advocating three conditions. These conditions assert that (1) aging is a disease that medical science can cure; (2) augmentation and enhancement to the human body and brain are essential for survival, and that (3) human life is not restricted to any one form or environment. Death is not inevitable. Via either RLE or CI, our posthuman descendants will have the option of living forever.

The terminal station on this techno-posthuman route is nothing short of apotheosis itself. Our H+ friends intend to self-make todays human into tomorrows deity. Having raised humanity above the beastly level of survival struggles, we will now aim to upgrade humans into gods, and turn Homo sapiens into Homo deus, touts bestselling author Yuval Harari(Harari 2017, 21). Deification will be achieved through techno-can-do-ism, following the path of a futurum we ourselves make. We cannot avoid asking: are the hubris of Prometheus and the recklessness of Frankenstein putting our human future at risk?

Transhumanism is a philosophy, a worldview and a movement, declares Natasha Vita-More, Executive Director of Humanity + Inc. (Vita-More 2018, 5).

Transhumanism is the process by which the posthuman comes into being. Transhumanism is about transcendence, about the future transcending the present. Why I want to be a posthuman when I grow up? Nick Bostrom is ready to pass through transhumanism to get to posthumanism.

Where is the religious mind in all of this? Christianswhether of Syriac, Byzantine, or Latin traditionhave long thought of the decisive future as adventus, as Gods future. Gods ultimate future nullifies what has been evil in history. Gods future selects what has been wholesome. Gods future transforms the present creation exhaustively, totally, consummately. Gods future offers salvation.

For Christians, Jesus Easter resurrection from the dead provides the model or prolepsis of the advent of the new creation. A new creation, including eternal life, is a gift of God to those of us who are subject to death. Redemption is a gift of divine grace, not the achievement of human technology. The truly human is the human raised from the dead by God.

So, I ask: why might religious people be interested in a transhumanist version of futurum? If Christian hope directs our attention to divine transformation in the form of adventus, this means no Christians would embrace religious transhumanism. Right? Wrong.

Religious critics of transhumanism fear it will crash into a Dark Mountain. Despite critical assessments of transhumanism by theologians and other scholars, a syncretistic religious zeal propels many of the faithful. (Mercer and Trothen, 2021) Lets see what Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Unitarian Universalists, and Mormons say about religious transhumanism.

The Christian Transhumanist Association (CTA) arose among Evangelical Protestants in 2014. Christian blogs merged with H+ and social media. CTA augments H+ with XH+, where the X or chi represents Christ.

What is the CTA mission? We believe that Gods mission involves the transformation and renewal of creation. This is followed by we believe that the intentional use of technology, coupled with following Christ, will empower us to become more human. Let me call your attention to this wording: more human. Not posthuman. CTA is dedicated to the truly human, the sanctified human.

For sparkplug Micah Redding, founder and president of CTA, H+ is not itself the end but rather a means for effective Christian mission. That mission includes spiritual progress, especially sanctification. Christian Transhumanists will continue to advance the vision of a radically flourishing future that is good for all life (Redding 2019, 794). Similarly, theologian Michael Burdett at the University of Nottingham borrows from technosapienistic zeal to help insure human personhood and human flourishing in an age of techno-domination.

Yet, the Christian theologian dare not be naive about anthropology, especially the doctrine of sin. When utopians forget about human sin, a not very hidden ice berg sinks the ship. Carmen Fowler LeBerge issues a warning. The Christian must ask (and be prepared to explain) what it means to the transhumanist to be human and we must also be prepared to expose the sin-side of their plans. For while there may be much good in longer life, sin remains and sin is prone to ruin good things and the good life so many pursue. We have to face the fact that people even highly evolved people have done, are doing and will continue to do horrible things (LaBerge 2019, 775). Religious transhumanism, in short, offers great promise for the Christian mission. Yet, at the same time, we must be wary that H+ might be a wolf in sheeps clothing.

If the transhumanists are selling radical life extension or cybernetic immortality, are the Roman Catholics buying? Can a Roman Catholic rally around the RLE promise of immortality?

No, not quite. University of Saint Thomas theologian Terence Nichols distinguishes between what RLE plans to deliver and the Christian understanding of resurrection to eternal life. Futurum and adventus are not the same. What RLE promises is a lengthening of life as we know it for those now living; whereas the crucial point in the New Testament is that eternal life can only be attained through and after death. It is not the result of an indefinite postponement of our physical death; it is the gift of God after death.Eternal life, therefore, is not reached by an indefinite prolongation of life in this physical body; it is reached after bodily death in state that transcends this physical body(Nichols 2009, 135-136).

When it comes to Roman Catholic ethics, Santa Clara University professor Brian Patrick Green would filter the benefits of human technological enhancement through an ethical sieve. I believe that Christians should be a particular kind of techno-progressive, specifically one which seeks to use technology for the sake of human development. Specifically, as with all issues of moral salience, we need to direct technological developments towards good and away from evil(Green 2017, 12).

Despite sharing a positive vision of the future, the H+ vision and the Christian vision are not isomorphic. The concept of the future with which transhumanism works is futurum, whereas for the Christian the future is envisioned primarily as adventus. This means for Reformed theologian Ronald Cole-Turner that a Christian looks to what transcends this life, namely, to resurrection tomorrow which translates into a life of love today. Losing ones life for the sake of Christ is not physical death but a living surrender or, as Paul puts it, a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). By letting go of their lives, Christians believe that they are given a life that is far greater, a life (like Christs) that is lived for others, and therefore a life that is eternal (Cole-Turner, Going Beyond the Human: Christians and Other Transhumanists 2015).

Traditional and contemporary Jewish thinkers tend to be accepting of human limitations such as suffering and death. This is due either to the way the vicissitudes of life are biblically acknowledged; or it is due to the fact that they are natural endowments. This makes the perfectionist or messianic tone of H+ unnerving to Jewish sensibilities.

Israel-born Hava Tirosch-Samuelson at Arizona State University refuses to board the H+ train. She fears the technological fetishism of H+ has become a form of techno-idolatry. I view transhumanism as an elaborate pursuit of perfection.I reject transhumanism because it calls for the planned obsolescence of the human species on the grounds that biological humanity, the product of a long evolutionary process, is not only an imperfect work in progress but a form of life that is inherently flawed and has no right to exist (Tirosch-Samuelson 2018, 203). The H+ train will depart without this Jewish scholar on board.

No Muslim will board the H+ train without the Quran in hand. For the Muslim, any consonance with contemporary science must presume the authority of a literal reading of the Quran. At first, the prospect of immortality in the form of RLE looks like a conflict, because the Quran makes it clear that every soul will taste death.

Does this preclude every form of earthly immortality? Prodigious Islamic scholar Aisha Musa searches for an interpretation that might admit compatibility with RLE. She finds one. She recognizes that the universe has a finite futurethat is, at some point, all of physical reality will disintegrate. This end to the universe will also mark an end to the physically immortal beings who live in it. Even the immortals will finally perish, and the Quran will have turned out to be correct. Because RLE does not necessarily imply immortality, it does not necessarily conflict with the Quranic teaching that every person will experience death. Regardless of how much H+ technology might accomplish, human life extension applies only to this life prior to death. Only through death will our relationship to Allah, according to Quranic teaching, be fully realized.

Mormon systematic theologian Lincoln Cannon asserts boldly that Mormonism actually mandates transhumanismone cannot be a Mormon without being a transhumanist. Looking at Mormon scriptures with one eye while looking at the H+ plan for immortality with the other, Cannon claims that God commands us to use science and technology to help each other attain Godhood.to make us immortal in eternal life (Cannon 2015, 213). In short, techno-transhumanism will aid the Mormon to achieve a spiritual goal, namely, posthuman Godhood. Mormonism and H+ are cannonballing down the same track.

It appears that transhumanism and Unitarian Universalism are already on the same track. We have a unique gift because of our uniquely humanist understanding, whether theist or non-theist, that humanity is called to be co-Creator of our own future, says James Hughes in a landmark article. The Transhumanist UU Network provides a web parlor for ongoing discussion. (Robot diagram by James Abundus, Seattle Times 2019)

UU transhumanists believe they are mandated to play God on their way to actualizing our divinity within. Theomimesis, literally imitating God, is the term for playing God. Theomimesis (God-playing in Greek) is our neologism for attempts to acquire Gods point-of-viewwhat might be called the transhumanist telos(Fuller 2014, 48).

Overt religious transhumanism is one thing. Covert religious transhumanism is another thing. If secular transhumanism feigns secularism yet appeals to religious sensibilities, might we have a wolf in sheeps clothing?

If H+ is already about transcendence, might the H+ fetish for technology inspire its own religion de novo? If H+ treats technological progress as ultimate rather than strictly penultimate, will the computer become something spiritual? If you answer in the affirmative, then why not join a church named after the father of computing, Alan Turing? Try Giulio Priscos religion. Turing Church is a group of seekers at the intersection of science and religion, spirituality and technology, engineering and science fiction, mind and matter. Hacking religion, enlightening science, awakening technology. Exploring outer and inner spaces.

UU and Mormon transhumanists positively advocate playing God for the betterment of humanity. Non-religious or even anti-religious transhumanists proudly play God as well. So, a critic might ask: does playing God call upon the tradition of Prometheus and Frankenstein? Is there risk of tragedy here?

Heres Simon Young. From Prometheus to Frankenstein, the myth of punishment for challenge to the Gods derives always from the same cause: the stoical acceptance of human limitations deemed impossible to overcomeand the cowardly fear of the unknown..Let us reject irrational hubraphobia and seek to improve our minds and bodies in any way we can (Young 2006, 50).

When traditional religion vacates and leaves a spiritual cavity, it appears that the myth of Prometheus in its Frankenstein form fills in to satiate the non-religious worldview.

The public theologian may want to appropriate Christian anthropology here. We human creatures are being called forward by the new adam, the God-intended truly human.Our present restlessness is a sign that we are not now what we will yet be. The tensions between soil and spirit, between biology and pneumatology, between sin and grace are signs of our continuing creation. These signs draw us forward toward what we will finally become. The adam of Genesis, to whom we are presently heir, was subject to tragedy in a way that the new adam, who participates in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, will not be. Saint Paul struggles to paint a picture of who we will be, namely, Gods intended truly human.

Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Cor. 15:45-49)

Christ as the New Adam is the first instantiation of our eschatological fulfillment. Our reconciliation with God-like the great turn of the ages in the death and resurrection of Christ which accomplishes itis the fact from which all else follows (Ziegler October 2016, 9-10) . In our resurrection, we will have become truly human.

Religious transhumanism seems superfluous if not diversionary to one who places hope in the biblical promises of resurrection into the Kingdom of God.

Will we have fulfilled the dream of immortality that is promised in Christian faith once our bodies are enhanced enough to live for an indefinite span oflife? The answer is quite clearly, No, according to philosophical theologian Benedikt Gcke, (Resurrection by Glenn Bautista)

Although Christians fully enjoy being alive and, in normal circumstances, seek to lengthen their time in this world in order to do good and to recognize and respond to the grace of God, the transhumanist vision of what often is misleadingly called immortality is theologically irrelevant. First, even an enhanced human body that knows no natural death is not an invulnerable human body and can be killed or destroyed in numerous ways. Second, our universe has only a finite existence and, according to the second law of thermodynamics, is bound to come to a state in which life is impossible. As a matter of physical necessity, human subjects cannot lead an infinitely long life in this world. Third, from a Christian point of view it is not the duration of a particular human life that is important but the moral quality of the life led and the human individuals response to the call of God. A short life can be morally exemplary, and along or an indefinitely long life can be morally horrendous in the eyes of God. The duration of a human life is therefore eschatologically irrelevant. (Gcke, 361).

Not immoral. Irrelevant.

For you or me to answer this call from the future to become the new adam, we must trust in Godsadventus rather than the heroic futurum of H+.

Let me mention that three of usBrian Patrick Green, Arvin Gouw, and Iare editing a new book, Religious Transhumanism and its Critics, to be published by Roman & Littlefield in a couple of months. You, dear reader, have just been introduced to the themes of this forthcoming book.

If our transhumanist friendsboth religions and nonreligiousare able through technology to enhance our potential for human flourishing in this life, lets offer them a heartfelt thank you. We need only to keep in mind the distinction between penultimate futurum and ultimate adventus.

Dr. Ted Peters (Ph.D., University of Chicago) teaches systematic theology and ethics at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, USA. Along with Robert John Russell, he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. He is author of GodThe Worlds Future (Fortress, 3rd ed., 2015) and author of Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2003). He recently edited a new volume on artificial intelligence, AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction? (ATF 2018) Along with two colleagues, Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green, he is now editing a new book, Religious Transhumanism and its Critics (Lexington 2022). He is author of a fiction thriller with a Transhumanist plot, Cyrus Twelve, with Aprocryphile Press. Visit his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

Cannon, Lincoln. 2015. What is Mormon Transhumanism? Theology and Science 13:2 202-218.

Cole-Turner, Ronald. n.d. Extreme Longevity Research: A Progressive Protestant Perspective.

Cole-Turner, Ronald. 2015. Going Beyond the Human: Christians and Other Transhumanists. Theology and Science 13:2 150-161.

Gcke, B. Paul. 2017. Christian Cyborgs: A Plea for a Moderate Transhumanism, Faith and Philosophy 34:3: 347-364,

Green, Brian Patrick. 2017. The Catholic Church and Technological Progress: Past, Present, and Future. Religions 8:6:2-16 file:///C:/Users/Ted/Downloads/religions-08-00106-v2.pdf.

Harari, Yuval Noah. 2017. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. New York: Harper.

Herzfeld, Noreen. 2009. Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-created World. West Conshohocken PA: Templeton Press.

LaBerge, Carmen Fowler. 2019. Christian? Transhumanist? A Christian Primer for Engaging Transhumanism. In The Transhumanism Handbook, by ed. Newton Lee, 771-776. Switzerland: Springer.

Mercer, Calvin, and Tracy Trothen. 2021.Religion and the Technological Future.New York: Macmillan.

Nichols, Terrence. 2009. Radical Life Extension: Implications for Roman Catholicism. In Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension, by eds. Derek F. Mather and Calvin Mercer, 133-144. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.

Peters, Ted. 2019. AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction? Adelaide: Australian Theological Forum.

Peters, Ted. November 2021. Enhanced Intelligence and Sanctification. Living Lutheran 24-25.

Redding, Micah. 2019. Christian Transhumanism: Exploring the Future of Faith. In The Transhumanism Handbook, by ed. Newton Lee, 777-794. Switzerland: Springer.

Russell, Stuart. 2016. Should We Fear Supersmart Robots? Scientific American 314:6 58-59.

Tirosch-Samuelson, Hava. 2018. In Pursuit of Perfection: The Misguided Transhumanist Vision. Theology and Science 16:2 200-223.

Young, Simon. 2006. Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books.

Ziegler, Philip. October 2016. A Brief Theology of Reconciliation. Touchstone 34:3 7-13.

Link:
H+ 2: The Transhuman, the Posthuman, & the Truly Human - Patheos

Posted in Transhuman | Comments Off on H+ 2: The Transhuman, the Posthuman, & the Truly Human – Patheos