Transhumanism is an ideology centred on the idea that the human species can “transcend” itself and fulfill its destiny. The idea was already present among 20th-century eugenicists such as Julian Huxley, president of the British Eugenics Society from 1959 to 1962, while the term “transhumanism” may have been coined in the 1940s by W. D. Lighthall.
Since the 1980s, modern transhumanists, instead of exploiting the mechanisms of genetic inheritance, affirm the feasibility and desirability of radically “enhancing” the human organism and mind through technology, allowing individuals to freely choose whether and how to undergo radical enhancement to live longer and become superintelligent in order to achieve “posthuman” abilities, to use the terminology of Nick Bostrom (2013, 2005).
The eschatological character (i.e. concerning the destiny of humanity) of this philosophy explains, as do some religions, the existence of a paradoxical dualism between utopia and apocalypse.
The utopian side leads David Pearce (1995) and Nick Bostrom (2005) to speak of “paradise engineering”, whose goal is “the complete abolition of suffering in Homo sapiens”, to the point of theorising a “cosmic rescue mission to promote paradise engineering throughout the universe” (Pearce, 1995).
The apocalyptic side is due to the fact that, according to the same authors, the same technologies necessary to transcend the human condition, like AI, can be used for dual-use or can go out of control if they are not aligned with our values (see existential risks).
Transhumanism, therefore, simultaneously studies the desirability of transcending the human condition and ethical issues related to risks associated with technologies that would enable such human evolution.
High-tech millionaires such as Sam Altman (OpenAI), Marc Andreessen (of venture capitalism firm a16z), Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX), Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum), Sergey Brin (Google), Dustin Moskovitz (Facebook, Asana), Elon Musk (Tesla), Larry Page (Google), Peter Thiel (Palantir and Founders Fund) are supporting transhumanists (e.g. the World Transhumanist Association) also with significant funding.
Transhumanism takes different forms, such as extropianesm, singularitarianism, cosmism, rationalism, and longtermism, which we will discuss in specific articles.
Negative eugenics focused on reducing the reproduction of individuals with genetic characteristics considered undesirable through social exclusion, forced sterilisation, birth control, or the elimination of individuals deemed to be inferior. Positive eugenics aims to promote and incentivise the reproduction of people with genetic characteristics considered to be desirable. One of the reasons for the closure of the Future of Humanity Institute was Bostrom’s promotion of the “dysgenetics” theory that people with higher IQs tend to reproduce less, leading to general degradation in human quality.
Transhumanists, on the other hand, propose enhancement of the human body and mind as a voluntary rather than imposed act. The voluntary nature of this choice, however, should not make us ignore the negative implications of the issue. The first risk is that we face a world divided between “normal” and enhanced human beings. It is clear that the distinction can lead to discrimination between the two groups, starting in the workplace. Discrimination that will end up invalidating the voluntary basis of enhancement. Workers, for example, may be induced to accept enhancement against their own will or ethical convictions in order to remain in the market.
Secondly, these are extremely expensive technologies that are predicted to be accessible only to a minority, again increasing the risk of discrimination. If only part of the population can afford such improvements, it will create an “enhanced” elite class that will be able to enjoy any possible advantages, unlike the rest of the population. This disparity can lead to a profoundly unequal society. Unenhanced people may be considered “inferior” or less capable, thus adding a new form of discrimination to existing ones based on ethnicity, gender or socio-economic status, further aggravating social divisions.
Finally, the extension of life expectancy, resulting from biotechnological research supported by the ultra-billionaire financiers of transhumanism, is not sustainable from the point of view of natural resources and would lead to further overpopulation of the planet.
Transhumanism thus becomes one of the ideological bases used by Big Tech to justify the introduction of new technologies. For transhumanists, such technologies are not only legitimate but also desirable because they lead to overall improvement to the human species.
[1] The term eugenics comes from the British anthropologist, sociologist and psychologist Sir Francis Galton and appeared for the first time in 1883.
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