What is Transhumanism?

Great article. Man merging with machines to become transhuman is a bit strange and frightening. Very interesting article.

Mind uploading is an idea of transhumanism that I am rather skeptical about. How can we be sure that it would even work and if it did work how can we be sure that it wouldn't just be a copy of you. Some people say that just because it's a copy of you that doesn't mean that it isn't you. Well in a sense they are both right yes it is you but its not the original you. I have even heard one transhumanist say that she is a digital person seeking independence from her human and she even asks how will digital people exploring post-human worlds effect you humans. Personally I think that this whole mind uploading thing is nothing more than the nonsensical fantasy of people who are WAY to over-dependent on technology.

Kurzweil even says that the singularity is inevitable (I don't think that's true if it were than it wouldn't be a prediction it would be a fact and yet singularity is only a theory and a guess which is exactly what a prediction is) and he even offers ways for people to prepare for it and suggests that people live his lifestyle. I think Kurzweil is to optimistic about this and not taking the possible consequences of this seriously enough or the possibility that people could panic if this actually happened (he would probably say that I am bring pessimistic well I don't think I am I think I am being smart in criticizing his ideas on this).

In one of my previous comments I said that there are organizations that protect nature and animal life and plant life an example of this would be the UN. So realistically I don't think they would allow the Earth to be turned into a giant computer as Kurzweil says might happen. Kurzweil even says that once you understand the singularity you will agree with it (I kind of doubt that because I think most people would be put off by some of the things he talk about no matter what it might offer them).

Also in the video it said something about a hive mind of people living in a computer. That I feel pretty sure is not going to happen because as far as I know most people don't want to live as a hive mind no matter what it may offer most people prefer individuality.

Kurzweil believes that we will integrate with machines slowly without even knowing it with things like nanotechnology such as nanobots (which he believe will be infinitely more durable and intelligent than any microorganism) and possible nanomedicine, artificial organs, brain augmentation, cybernetics and mind uploading and that by the time singularity supposedly does happen humans will become indistinguishable from the AI's. He even predicts that sometime within this decade designer babies will be available and that humans will be able to alter their biochemistry or something like that. People who agree with him even say that the line between what is human and what is not quite human is becoming more blurred and him and his son even say that a lot of what he has talked about is real now. I hope they are wrong as much as I like science I still think these ideas are wrong.

If you wouldn't mind could you please name the things that could go wrong or at least some of them. And also what is your opinion on Kurzweil.

Thank you mperrottet. Aside from the idea of machines taking over the world and destroying humanity (which some people think is an irrational fear) I can think of a variety of other reasons why singularity is wrong. For example what if humans some how eventually go insane from this (Kurzweil said this would make us immune to physical disease but he didn't say anything about mental disease) because people miss there old live as normal humans or are repulsed by the idea of becoming part machine. I know people want to live forever and stop aging and never get sick but they are going to have to find some other way to do all of that (thankfully transhumanist's are looking into other ways of accomplishing that besides singularity). Kurzweil and his son say that they are confident that the critics have not look over this fully well I think there confidence is misplaced I think Kurzweil and his son are overly optimistic about this.

I have never read Kurzweil's book (The Singularity Is Near) but I have read about it on Wikipedia and the predictions he makes in it. I will admit that I do find some of the things he has predicted possible and interesting but there are other things about it that scare me. Not so much the idea of machines taking over the world and exterminating humanity (even though that could be possible and even Kurzweil himself admits its possible but not likely) but the idea of the Earth and eventually pretty much everything in the universe into a giant highly efficient supercomputer. How would that effect nature or animal life or plant life I don't want a world without those things. And humans that have chosen to remain in their natural form. And how could artificial intelligence be real intelligence and how could virtual reality be real reality (Kurzweil says that artificial intelligence is real intelligence and virtual reality is a form of real reality and that we will be spending quite a bit of time in virtual reality). These ideas scare and confuse me and when I get scared I get paranoid and don't think straight.

I thought this transhuman stuff was for movies but it might become real...scary but fascinating...great hub.

This was an interesting hub. With the arrival of Google glasses, connectivity has jumped another level, especially considering the sound is transmitted straight through our skulls (no speakers). If is possible this could be a reality sooner than we think, just look at the last 25 years!!

Shared, pinned, tweeted, up and interesting.

There would be a point that if humans could live forever, we'd also have to stop breeding.

This is extremely interesting. I just wonder with humans being literally made to order will human immortality be far off? And of course the fall out effects of humans becoming powerful and living longer on the human race in general. It seems frightening to me.

Very interesting topic to write about. Voted up & interesting and shared.

Thanks for this fascinating discussion! Am slogging through Kurzweil's 'The Singularity is Near' and also reading about/the Nag Hammadi texts (texts found in Egypt 1945) and John Lash's 'Not in His Image' (2006).

The latter two works, though separated by 61 years, refer to the presence of 'beings' called archons, a so-called alien race that has inhabited our neck of the woods since before us. They are supposedly non-organic (hence my mental connect to transhuman-humans becoming more robotic) beings who have managed the earth/humans since we began.

On the etheric level (and not visible to us), they supposedly feed off human negative energies. They also supposedly manage/mentally influence the powers-that-be in order to keep humans in misery to keep that food supply going.

Recent info I've read around the web, talks about the archon species and their minions (creatures that resemble neonates, or greys) trying to find ways to control/merge with humans (we have a soul/imagination, etc. that they lack) and so the transhumanist agenda to me seems like a major step in that direction.

However, I have never seen/felt these creatures though am only in a research phase. On the other hand, it is also pretty clear that humans are labouring under a yoke that perhaps keeps us from understanding what we really are. Personally, I think humans merging with nanotech a very dangerous course in any event. Thanks for the thought-provoking article !

I was very intrigued by your article and was not far behind in recognizing some very positive technological advances that are not very well known among the general population. I read about it in the course of my studies at the University and those who have not reached higher education are not taught this in high schools yet. Wonderful article!

This Hub is on point! Love it! Voted up and useful!

For you Netflix fans, there is a documentary named "Technocalypse" that is compelling. Kurzweil is one of the scientists who make a contribution by explaining the technology which is an evolutionary leap forward, derivative of where we currently are as a race, bound by tech growth, but still only at the bridge between the direct interface of its directives parallel to humanity and its understanding of their similarities to us. Foe one, I am fascinated by it, yet skeptical!!! VERY SKEPTICAL. My thought is that if we interface, a completely conscious collective would trap the human spirit in time. The soul, as it were, could not depart, and the true evolutionary leap would be destroyed. I believe death is to be embraced as our evolutionary high-mark, whereby we transcend time. If a human body dies attached to the collective, the mind would join the unified body, thereby leading to an eventual, if not inevitable "last man standing" that is comprised of all minds left unto its "self". It would know no "Other", and it would create no Other. I think this would be a nightmare, if not a good take on what hell must be like conceptually. A black hole, for instance, is also known as a singularity... don't know if anyone would want to go into such an absence of light, space, time and therefore -- UN-consciousness.

Furthermore, we take it as a fact that computers, while "intelligent", are not "Self" conscious. If indeed, humans were to become bound to one, as an artificial singularity, derivative of tech that seeks to self sustain, it would see no reason to have other life forms to contribute to its effective "realness". We ARE, in so far as we experience the proverbial Other. How can we be sure then, that to interface would not bring about a cold, dark and sinister unconsciousness?

An article packed full of food for thought. Science has definitely made some useful discoveries, but I think it has a very long way still to go. That isn't to say it won't it's desired destination one day or that the journey isn't worthwhile. It is. Voted up, interesting, and will share!

Wow. This stuff is really next generation. It's the first time I am hearing about this and I thought I was such a futurist.

Voting up and useful!

Wow! This has gone way beyond anything I have ever thought of before. It would be wonderful to have to more birth defects and cure diseases such as cancer and aids. It's a little scary to think of going beyond that to immortality. I wonder what God would think of us altering his creations to such an extent. This is very interesting and gives us a lot to think about! Voted up and more. :)

This sounds like Dr. Spock on the Star Trec series. Some science fiction does become reality. The ethical considerations are the main questions remaining. Personally I believe that we have souls that continue on beyond this life. Who would want to live forever in this life? Interesting subject. Up, interesting and will share.

I'm fond of reading fiction books when I was in high school. Most authors delved on this subject. And now, it is becoming a reality.

A first-rate hub, voted up and shared!

Trans-humanism is a little too close to Eugenics for my taste. Humanity has a long history of developing technology before we know how to use it. We already live in a country pervaded with genetically modified foods, all developed to increase profits. People end up being guineas pigs for businesses and hoping there are no bad results. Will we build a race of genetically modified people or stop at building cyborgs? All of our technology comes with hidden and unforeseen side effects and the future is ours to choose and develop. Lets hope wise people make good decisions because there will be no turning back

Ah, the basis of most post-apocalyptic sci-fi lit finally sees fruition? This sounds like Oryx and Crake waiting to happen. Very thought-provoking.

You have such an interesting mind that delves into the most thought provoking areas. I think there will be an elite, and those of us who are not chosen will be drones. History tells us there was always an elite, but a neurochip in the brain could perhaps genuinely make us superhuman, in that we respect, care and cherish one another, revel in all our differences and view them with fascination rather than fear or disgust. However, transhumanism will win over idealism and reduce us to sameness, which is easier to manage and although we won't be living longer, as drones, it will feel as though we are, as we are all bored stiff! Wonderful hub, voted up and across.

Very interesting. Having just read Crichton's "Prey" though, it makes me a little nervous ;)

You've done great research and put together some facts that will make us think and wonder.

Voted up, useful, and interesting.

This is a fascinating article on transhumanism. I have always been fascinated by technology and artificial intelligence. I don't ever think machines will achieve sentience and take over the world.

I think it will be transhumans that rule the world. Computers still aren't able to process text to speech properly or even translate webpages properly. Computers can't understand things like grammar which seem completely intertwined with brain development.

In college I took a multidisciplinary class on linguistics and the brain. You find out that as you age your brain loses the ability to learn foreign grammar rules. The research shows that the changing physical structure of the brain itself prevents it or inhibits it, but as the brain changes structures it gains other abilities. I think this is what makes the brain different from computers. As the brain receives information it begins to alter its own physical makeup.

This would be akin to a computer that starts changing it hardware on its own and on the fly as you add software to it or as it receives new information. If a computer is to alter itself on the fly then we need to re-envision what the parts are going to made out of. It would need to be parts made out of biological or chemical materials. Machines will have to become more like humans or humans would need to merge into machines before we ever have anything approaching artificial intelligence. Just my thoughts. Your article is fantastic.