Transhumanish? What it is and why it matters

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  Monday, November 2, 2015
Jeff Lampl

Transhumanism?
What it is and why it matters

 “In the Image of God he created them”     Genesis 1:27

Transhumanism is an international movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.  Behind this effort are some of the most powerful people in the world.  Some of the technologies advanced are wonderful.  Others must be questioned, including the efforts on the part of some very powerful people to evolve humanity to the point of “singularity”, the point where man and machine are fully merged, where death will have been defeated and post-humans will have replaced the frail humanity we’re currently “stuck with”.   Transhumanist endeavors are backed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Ray Kurzweil of Google, NASA, the CIA and many, many more.    

On Wed, Nov 4, at 7:00 pm you are invited to the Hot Topics Class where we will look at things that we and our children are already doing, some of which are wonderful, but some of which are changing us in ways that we need to question.   Following are some examples of technological “enhancements”(?) that have been achieved so far  

Bioengineering:   The teenage girl with three biological parents.  IVF.  Designer babies who will look great, be athletic and intelligent and will have genetic defects edited out.  Wouldn’t you like to be one of them?  Or your child to be one of them?  

Virtual Reality:   how TV, smart phones, computers and Video games are leading human beings into a world that isn’t real, but will become preferred.   Just wear google glass when it gets fixed or an entire suit that will put you in a better virtual world than you’re in now and you’ll be able to live the vibrant fascinating life you’ve always wanted!    Actually you can get a precursor to this kind of thing for a hundred bucks on Amazon.  

Bionics and Cyborgs:  What is the difference between a person with a pacemaker (part human, part machine) or with a brain implant that can control prosthetic legs and a brain with an implant that can control an entirely new prosthetic body?  Where do you draw the line?  Stepford wives anyone?   How about part human and part animal combos who can do our soldiering for us (didn’t Sauron have Orcs?)  (we have already produced mice with 100% human brains which can produce human sperm – what if your dad was a mouse?)   What about the iron man (Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr.) exoskeletons that are in the works for soldiers to keep them safe in battle?  

Cybernetics:  Ever wanted to send someone a message with nothing but your mind, or have a neural implant that gives your brain direct access to Google? Hundreds of corporate and academic labs across the world are working on projects that generate progress in telepathy.   How about full spectrum vision via artificial eyes, or disease immunity, or the elimination of suffering, or the elimination of even the possibility of suffering and eventually immortality?  Sound Good?   How does a Christian define “good”?     

How do Christian know when to affirm or disaffirm life enhancing technologies?   I suggest starting with following six  basic truths about humanity and asking the accompanying questions.

1.    Everyone is in some way shape or form a carrier of the image of God.  (Genesis 1: 26,
       27, 2:7)       
       Question:  In what way does each new technological advancement enhance human
       beings as bearers of God's image and in what way does the new technology deface the
       image of God in human beings?

2.    Every human being you encounter is built for God centered community.  Everyone
       needs to be noticed, cared about, engaged and loved by God by being loved by God's
       people (Genesis 1:28, 2:18)
       Question:  How does any particular new technology separate us from one another or,
       conversely, how does it bring us together?
       Does it make us more or less dependent on and caringly observant of one another?

3.    Every human being needs to be engaged in God's purpose for his or her life:  to
       accept their role as God's partner in cultivating a flourishing, God honoring, loving world
       wherever they find themselves in life.  (Genesis 1:28, 2:15)
       Question:  How does a particular new technology serve to this end or how does it
       serve to make us more dependent on the technology than on God (the biblical definition
       of idolatry).

4.    Every human being misses the mark (sin).  You will never meet anyone uncorrupted

       by sin.  This means that each person you meet needs both God's forgiveness and

       yours.  (Genesis 3:1-13)
       Question:  In what ways does a particular new technology embed human sin (our
       autonomy from God, our selfishness, our depersonalization and objectification of
       others, our manipulating outcomes by our own devices, etc.) and in what ways does
       that new technology serve to create us ever more into the image of Christ (selflessness,
       living for the sake of God and others).

5.   Every human being needs God in order to flourish, to transcend their sin, to live the life
      they were meant to live.
      Question:  In what way does a technology honor or dismiss that reality?

6.   Every person who ever lived is viewed by God as incredibly and equally valuable
      John 3:16, 17).  The Cross applies to everyone.  Therefore the human task in life is to
      view others as God views them, and act accordingly.
      Question:  In what way does each new technology advance a perspective of other
      people which values each person equally, no superiority and no inferiority?  In what way
      does the new technology separate the "haves" from the "have nots"?  

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