Transhumanism

Transhumanism

How do we declare what does it mean to be human, and what is transhumanism? It is really hard to classify and ratify what actually make us human. Do we classify humans by their biological traits, or sociological or psychological behavior? It is really hard to specify what makes us human. Today knowing how computer technology and biomedicine continue to drastically improve, we are starting to search for answers on those questions and try to confront them. Transhumanism is Utopian social movement and philosophy that believes that we can improve the human species and their condition through the use of technology. Transhumanists find human nature as some kind of unfinished work-in-progress, they think aging and death is something should not be part of our life, something unnecessary. This movement and philosophy try to transform humans into something post-human, something that is better than human, through biological and technological means. Transhumanists believe that humans are meant to “reach intellectual heights as far above any current human genius as humans are above other primates; to be resistant to disease and impervious to aging; to have unlimited youth and vigor; to exercise control over their own desires, moods, and mental states” (Coleman 3).

Talking about this big issue of humanity and transhumanism there are always going to be skeptics, like me, that see many negative aspects of transhumanism. In my opinion, the most complex one and the most important one is loss of the free will. Ben Goertzel in 2005 on the Immortality Institute conference speaks about this topic. As stated by Goertzel, there is no such a thing as free will, because he believes that no one can escape the determinism of the unconscious mind. Goertzel believes that our only defining characteristic is our intelligence so migration to human software won’t be hard concept. He thinks that our choices have already been prearranged and that personal identity, self-consciousness...