I’ve often been asked why I’m an advocate of Transhumanism, and one reason is simply for pictures like this:
Bottom Line: We are fragile creatures, and no, I don’t think there’s anything honorable about that. I don’t think “God made me this way” is a valuable reason to be unable to hear, see, smell, think clearly, run, be able to pick things up and operate in basic ways that are fundamental to the human society we’ve created.
It is not a sense of fear that drives me, either, but rather logic. Why suffer when we do not have to? Hasn’t the purpose of life always been to pursue health and happiness at whatever cost so long as it doesn’t impinge on the happiness of another?
How, then, can anyone reasonably stand up against Transhumanism and it’s ability to restore what so many have lost?
It would seem to me that it is strictly a luxury of the able-bodied, able-minded, and the well-off to look at technology with such disdain. I would argue more often than not ( historically-speaking ) the most staunch opponents of change are those who are in power. And it’s not hard to wonder why. They don’t want things to change, for any change could potentially uproot their cozy existence; they don’t want the risk of losing what they’ve struggled so hard for: control.
For that is truly what we are buying with our money–the control of our reality and of our surroundings, so that we can afford to make them as comfortable as we want, or as tantalizing and risque as we want? You see, I feel control is the mark of the ego, and the ego is an anchor in a world of change that says “I don’t care what things happen, I have my opinions on the world and I refuse to budge from my comfortable explanation.”
I would say it’s that same egotism that drives the fear of the wealthy to say: “well, if I become a machine, and everyone else does too, then I won’t be on top of the hierarchy anymore.” And perhaps for the average person who is against Transhumanism, their ego is fearing a change in the routine they cling to so desperately that makes it easy to endure the hardships of a chaotic and unpredictable universe.
This is the reason I truly believe technology will never be stopped and why we must embrace it. Why we must not demonize the tool, but rather focus on changing our zeitgeist’s state of mind, ridding ourselves of our petty fears that breed a fear of change and greed. It is by creating an altruistic, compassionate, cooperative, and loving culture that makes decisions out of love instead of fear that we will see technology thrive to its most positive potential.
And changing our zeitgeist is all we can really do anyway, because we simply won’t be able to stop technology. As long as humans suffer, technologies will continue to be created to fix the pain, whether it’s curing cancer, growing a new heart, making arms, returning eye-sight or hearing, creating food, etc; there will always be people who will find a way–no matter what–to support and use such technologies that will allow them to escape the horrors of living in pain. Only those who are so fortunate as to be without any physical hindrance in their life(or who can afford to buy a fix for their hindrance)–only the selfish and greedy and scared–could be so heartless in believing we shouldn’t invest in bettering the fragility of our species.
Even in these early stages, we’re seeing significant joy come from the most minor of breakthroughs:
[quote_center] “It’s crude, but it’s significant.” –Allen Zderad , recipient of bionic eye[/quote_center]
And what about returning the ability for people to continue the passions that make them come alive? It’s easy to say when you don’t need the cure, but what if the only place you felt like yourself was on top of a mountain, wouldn’t you want the arm that you could control with your thoughts to get you there?
For me personally, I don’t know how we say no to healing our weaknesses, healing our sufferers, and embracing an immortality that rids us of the one thing that has driven our species to so many atrocities and still enslaves us to this day: fear.