TRANSHUMANISM: THE IMPROVED HUMAN
TRANSHUMANISM CAN PLAY DICE
“Science fiction is the literature of the future” dares to affirm Robert J. Sawyer in this article. And he is right, if we review the main milestones of science fiction: getting closer to Mars, improving the cognitive and physical capacities of human beings, while they are enslaved by robots created by themselves. Writers and popularizers of science fiction seem in many cases to be the raw material that engineers and scientists feed on to design the world. This literature seems to seek answers to the Kantian questions of where do we come from, what are we, where are we going? But if that were not enough, technology and science threaten to become the architectural structure that gives them answers.
A good example of this is the article by the science fiction author James Graham (JG) Ballard, published in 1977, under the title “The future of the future” (The Future of the Future), in which he already anticipates the social transformation that social networks would bring about. JG Ballard tells it like this:
“Our every action during the day, across the entire spectrum of domestic life, will be instantly recorded on a video-cassette recorder. In the evening we will sit down to analyze the unreleased material, culled by a computer trained to pick out only our best profiles, our boldest dialogues, our most affectionate expressions filmed through the gentlest filters, and then weave these together into an augmented recreation of the day. Regardless of our hierarchical place in the family, each of us within the privacy of our own rooms will be the star in an ever-unfolding domestic saga, with parents, husbands, wives and children demoted to appropriate supporting roles.”
These ideas from the science fiction writer describe what social networks like Facebook and Instagram are today. The tone, although dramatic and even humorous, reflects an everyday reality that already affects many of us closely. To what kind of paradigm are many of the ideas in science fiction literature taking us?
TRANSHUMANISM: THE IMPROVED HUMAN
When it comes to defining a complex concept like transhumanism, using real examples allows us to get closer to its meaning in a more practical way. Neil Harbisson He is the first cyborg recognized by a government. In the field of science, Kevin Warwich With his cybernetic implants and his theory about the arrival of telepathic communication, he is another of the main examples. Both cases are described in depth. in this first article on transhumanism in the present.
In art we find the figure of Sterlac, who has taken the ideas of transhumanism to almost another level by implanting an ear in his own arm, and a third robotic arm. He also stated that, “We will reach a second level of existence where the body becomes the object for physical and technical experiments in order to discover its limitations.”.
To focus on the issue of transhumanism from its theoretical perspective, we must go back in time, specifically to Dante, in his work “The Divine Comedy”. Here, the concept of transhumanism, or more correctly “transhumanizing” was used for the first time:
“The ultimate goal of man and represents the experience impossible to explain in words of being elevated by grace, beyond the human towards our total and transcendent realization of God.”.
By bringing this same concept closer to a contemporary basis, it can be said that transhumanism, as it is currently understood, was first introduced by the biologist J. Huxley, (brother of the writer Aldous Huxley) in 1957 as follows:
“The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself – not just sporadically, one individual here in one way, another there in another way – but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this belief. Perhaps transhumanism can help: man remains man but transcending himself, through the realization of the new possibilities of and for his human nature.”
In this conception Huxley maintains the concept but changes its meaning. Now transmutation has become a task of man with the help of science. like psychology, biology, or engineering. The advancement of humanity no longer depends on the grace of God, but on the advancement of humanity by virtue of technology as a purely human work.
A little later, in 1966, a first movement considered properly transhumanist appeared, led by the philosopher and futurologist Fereidoun M. Esfandiary (known as FM-2030, for his desire to reach his centenary by that date). He believed that technology by this time would have advanced enough to allow him to achieve immortality. Esfandiary died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. However, It is currently preserved by cryogenics in it Alcor Life Extension Foundation from Scottsdale, Arizona.
By 1988, cyberculture began to become popular, and in that same year the philosopher Max More founded the Extropian Institute and developed the transhumanist doctrine under the seven principles of: perpetual progress, self-transformation, practical optimism, intelligent technology, open society, information, democracy, autonomy, and rational thought.
In 1998 the World Transhumanist Association (WTA), created by philosophers Nick Bostrom and David Pearce. This non-governmental organization was born with the objective of recognizing transhumanism as a legitimate object of scientific research. A year later, the document was drafted and approved the Transhumanist Declaration, which begins like this:
“In the future, humanity will be radically changed by technology. We foresee the feasibility of redesigning the human condition, including parameters such as the inevitability of aging, the limitations of human and artificial intellects, undesirable psychology, suffering, and our confinement to planet Earth.”
SUPERINTELLIGENCE, SUPERLONGEVITY AND SUPERHAPPINESS
The improved man arrives, the bionic man. Humans began by conceiving technological tools and now those same tools will transcend their biology. What will remain of this Homo sapiens when a 50%, or even an 80%, of their biology is replaced by technological devices? A society connected to the cloud, which will be able to adapt to modern challenges better than the rest of human beings. The rest of humans will live anchored in biological needs, diseases, difficulties in competing for a job, or for mere survival. Perhaps we are facing the thesis of the historian Harari and we will take the step of Homo sapiens to the Homo deus, with all that this entails.
In order to achieve this type of “enhanced human”, transhumanism has focused primarily on the development of four strategic areas of knowledge known as NBOC, or what is the same: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Knowledge SciencesThese disciplines will allow us to make the leap to what transhumanists have called “human enhancement.” (human enhancement). It is no longer just about eliminating disabilities or curing diseases, but about produce stronger, smarter, and happier beings. After all, this is what human beings have always pursued.
And it is that desire of the transhumanists to achieve the superintelligence, the super happiness and the super longevity It is not a good idea to take it as a joke. Google has and manages one of the largest databases in the world. In fact, the largest, and it collects the preferences, concerns, personal tastes, and even illnesses of many of us. Google and other companies have been working for years to combine Big data with algorithms based on artificial intelligence, which have their origin in human behavior. Just last summer, WatsonIBM's supercomputer saved the life of a woman with leukemia by comparing the patient's genetic changes with a database of 20 million cancer research reports in just 10 minutes. IBM's artificial intelligence made the correct diagnosis and suggested several appropriate treatments for the case.
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