Apologia for Transhumanist
Religion
14/Sep/2006 Filed in:
Futurism/Transhumanism
An essay that introduces the notion of transhumanist
religions: their rationale, their context within the
history of religions, and some fundamental
constraints on their design and definition.
click the pic to read the article.
Transhumanism definition From Wikipedia:
"Transhumanism (sometimes abbreviated >H or H+) is
an international intellectual and cultural movement
supporting the use of new sciences and technologies
to enhance human cognitive and physical abilities and
ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and
unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as
disease and aging. Transhumanist thinkers study the
possibilities and consequences of developing and
using human enhancement techniques and other emerging
technologies for these purposes. Possible dangers, as
well as benefits, of powerful new technologies that
might radically change the conditions of human life
are also of concern to the transhumanist movement.
Although the first known use of the term
"transhumanism" dates from 1957, the contemporary
meaning is a product of the 1980s, when a group of
scientists, artists, and futurists based in
California began to organize what has since grown
into the transhumanist movement. Transhumanist
thinkers postulate that human beings will eventually
be transformed into beings with such greatly expanded
abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".
The transhumanist vision of a profoundly transformed
future humanity has attracted many supporters as well
as critics from a wide range of perspectives.
Transhumanism has been described by a proponent as
the "movement that epitomizes the most daring,
courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations
of humanity,"while according to a prominent critic,
it is the world's most dangerous idea"