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Mythologies of Transhumanism

Author: Michael Hauskeller

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-09

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 3319397419

This book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy – the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy – Michael Hauskeller explores these narratives and the understanding of human nature that informs them. Particular attention is paid to the theory of transhumanism as a form of utopia, stories of human nature, the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement project into the cultural mainstream, and the drive to upgrade from flesh to machine.

Transhumanism

Author: Stefan Lorenz Sorgner

Publisher: Penn State University Press

Published: 2020-12-15

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780271087924

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Transhumanism is widely misunderstood, in part because the media has exaggerated current technologies and branded the movement as dangerous, leading many to believe that hybrid humans may soon walk among us and that immortality, achieved by means of mind-uploading, is imminent. In this essential and clarifying volume, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner debunks widespread myths about transhumanism and tackles head-on the most pressing ethical issues in the debate over technologically assisted human enhancement. On Transhumanism is a vital primer on the subject, written by a world-renowned expert. In this book, Sorgner presents an overview of the movement's history, capably summarizing the twelve pillars of transhumanist discourse and explaining the great diversity of transhumanist responses to each individual topic. He highlights the urgent ethical challenges related to the latest technological developments, inventions, and innovations and compares the unique cultural standing of transhumanism to other cultural movements, placing it within the broader context of the Enlightenment, modernity, postmodernity, and the philosophical writings of Nietzsche. Engagingly written and translated and featuring an introduction for North American readers, this comprehensive overview of the cultural and philosophical movement of transhumanism will be required reading for students of post-humanist philosophy and for general audiences interested in learning about the transhumanist movement.

The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism

Author: Alexander Thomas

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2024-07-24

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1529239648

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Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence Transhumanism is a philosophy which advocates for the use of technology to radically enhance human capacities. This book interrogates the promises of transhumanism, arguing that it is deeply entwined with capitalist ideology. In an era of escalating crisis and soaring inequality, it casts doubt on a utopian techno-capitalist narrative of unending progress. In critiquing the transhumanist project, the book offers an alternative ethical framework for the future of life on the planet. As the debates around the advancement of AI and corporate-led digital technologies intensify, this is an important read for academics as well as policy makers .

Nietzsche and Transhumanism

Author: Stefan Lorenz Sorgner

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2017-05-11

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1443893331

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This essay collection deals with the question of whether Nietzsche can be seen as a precursor of transhumanism or not. Debates on the topic have existed for some years, particularly in the Journal of Evolution and Technology and The Agonist. This book combines existing papers, from these journals, with new material, to highlight some of the important issues surrounding this argument. The collection addresses a variety of issues to show whether or not there is a close connection between transhumanist concerns for progress and technology and Nietzsche’s ideas.

Transhumanism: The Proper Guide to a Posthuman Condition or a Dangerous Idea?

Author: Wolfgang Hofkirchner

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-12-12

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 3030565467

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This book examines the contributions of the transhumanism approach to technology, in particular the contributed chapters are wary of the implications of this popular idea. The volume is organized into four parts concerning philosophical, military, technological and sociological aspects of transhumanism, but the reader is free to choose various reading patterns. Topics discussed include gene editing, the singularity, ethical machines, metaphors in AI, mind uploading, and the philosophy of art, and some perspectives taken or discussed examine transhumanism within the context of the philosophy of technology, transhumanism as a derailed anthropology, and critical sociological aspects that consider transhumanism in the context of topical concerns such as whiteness, maleness, and masculinity. The book will be of value to researchers engaged with artificial intelligence, and the ethical, societal, and philosophical impacts of science and technology.

Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics

Author: Arvin M. Gouw

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-03-10

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 1498584144

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"In this book, the contributors examine how various religious traditions engage with transhumanism and its vision for the future"--

Transhumanism: Entering an Era of Bodyhacking and Radical Human Modification

Author: Emma Tumilty

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-09-29

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 3031143280

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This book surveys the distinctions that underlie the unbound potential and existential risks of life expansion and radical modifications posed by a transhuman world. Humanness is in flux as human bodies are being hacked and altered in their quest for super wellness, super intelligence and super longevity. Now is the time to discuss how best to think about dealing with bodies that have been hacked to exceed natural physical limits or more technically, species typical functioning. Enter the advent of transhumanism to take uncertainty by the horns. According to transhumanists, death is unnecessary and medical conventions undermine the possibility to radically evolve. To biohackers, there is no need to wait to explore the risks that conventional medicine dares not. This book is of interest to anyone interested in tapping into this growing movement of modifying the human body as it is right now.

Mediality on Trial

Author: Ehler Voss

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-09-21

Total Pages: 668

ISBN-13: 3110416417

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This volume addresses controversies connected to the testing of the capacities and potentials of mediums. Today we commonly associate the term "medium" with the technical communication between transmitters and receivers. Yet this term likewise applies to those who cooperate with agencies that exceed the presumed domain of the material world. Insofar as one presumes a division between distinctly opposed categories of religion and the secular, technical media tend to be associated with the secular and human (trance) mediums tend to be associated with religion after 1900. This volume concerns the ways in which the term medium still marks an overlapping of – and thus problematizes – the aforementioned division between religion and the secular, the personal and the technological. The term medium carries with it a seed of doubt that is itself inseparable from investment in the medium's power: insofar as they communicate with an "other" realm, mediums offer the hope and promise of new possibilities and improved efficiency, and thus of a better life; yet they have simultaneously been under suspicion of altering (or even inventing) the messages they communicate. It is due to this combination of promise and suspicion that "mediumism" has tended to evoke scientific, religious, and moral controversies. Thus, we can speak of a "mediumistic trial" – that is, a process in which a medium is put to the test concerning its potentials and trustworthiness. Around 1800, experts were asked if a modern secular institution would be capable of inspiring, domesticating or excluding trance mediumship. This question has stayed with us ever since, and the answers have remained inconclusive. That is why the past and present of mediumship may be asked to elucidate each other.

Images of the Anthropocene in Speculative Fiction

Author: Tereza Dedinová

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1793636648

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In order to demonstrate that speculative fiction provides a valuable contribution to the discussion about the challenges of the Anthropocene, Images of the Anthropocene in Speculative Fiction investigates a range of novels whose subject matter pertains to various aspects of the Anthropocene. These include the destruction and protection of the natural environment, the relationship between human and non-human inhabitants of the planet, the role of myth in the shaping of and combat against the Anthropocene, the political dimensions of the Anthropocene, the ensuing threat of the Apocalypse, and the role of post-apocalyptic narratives. To explore these topics our authors examine the works of Patricia Briggs, M.R. Carey, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Ursula K. Le Guin, N.K. Jemisin, Stephenie Meyer, China Miéville, James Patterson, Maggie Stiefvater, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Scott Westfield. Their essays demonstrate that speculative fiction, given its ability to pursue scenarios of alternative history and present familiar things in an unfamiliar way, can alter the readers’ perception of their duties and responsibilities towards their communities and the world, so that the threat of human-wrought destruction might ultimately be averted.