R. U. Sirius

What is Transhumanism? That's what I asked myself when I saw this book at the library. I only had a vague understanding of it from books and articles I'd read before. Now, I know a bit more.

What I came away with was that transhumanism is an umbrella term that includes different people with different focuses, but all seem to embrace a line from the old TV show The Six Million Dollar Man. 'We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better, stronger, faster.' Transhumanists are looking for miracles in chemistry, biology, and technology that previous generations looked for by falling to their knees before altars. The details of their search aren't clear from this book, but some seem to be going about it rather scientifically. Others seem about as credulous as their ancestors with sore knees.

I suppose we all share the transhumanist vision to some extent. Who wouldn't want to find ways to cure diseases, repair injuries, extend lifespans? But there are also those who dream of adding abilities, either through technological or biologically engineered enhancements. There are some who envision people becoming completely digital and 'living' in virtual worlds. None of these ideas bother me, as such, but they all seem highly speculative for the moment. That doesn't mean the ideas shouldn't be explored, but whereas overcoming disease, injury, and the devastating effects of aging are (I think) achievable in this century, the ability to upload a mind into a virtual world needs a much better understanding of several things first, not least of which is what a 'mind' is.

Transcendence is more of a dictionary than it is an encyclopedia. The alphabetically arranged entries are long enough to provide definitions but not really detailed enough to provide much understanding. It is, however, a pretty good guide to future reading on the subject, if you're interested.

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