It’s fun playing around with the future – you can make the rules and no one can really tell you that you’re wrong. At least not yet. But there are those who in their quest for the future are also changing the present and not all these changes are morally neutral, especially as some people are spending billions on changing humans whether it is on the metaverse, extending lifespans or augmenting humans with more and more technology – this is the world of the transhuman. For those who want to be prepared for tomorrow’s world today, then these essays will be of interest to you.
The Abolition of Man (and Woman): in this fantastic essay Paul Kingsnorth starts by dealing with the transgender movement (which reshapes human bodies) but ends up exposing the darker side of transhumanism. Must read. Start here.
Beyond our ‘ape-brained meat sacks’: can transhumanism save our species? Read this to get a sense of what a transhumanist thinks: “My honest answer is that I think the best case scenario is that by the end of the century… humans are done. But humanity is not done, right? So intelligence goes on,”
The Quest to Transcend Biological Limitations: What is Transhumanism? Read this for a short introduction to the topic.
The dream of transhumanism: Are we merely human — or are we something more? Take the subject a little further with this short(ish) piece on what transhumanism is aiming at.
Augmented reality will give us superpowers The transhuman future won’t just arrive but will sneak up on you. Like introducing augmented reality.
Welcome to the metaverse or it might plug you into this.
Will we download our minds into new bodies? Some people think this is an option
The future of humanity – A good Christian response to the aims and desires of transhumanism from John Wyatt.
Book Review: Lifespan. A long book review/essay that introduces you to the whole issue of extending the human lifespan.
How the Amish Use Technology. It’s not the first time I’ve pointed to the fact that people are studying the Amish (here and here) and how they discern how to embrace technology. People realise there’s wisdom there.
If you have an hour or so then you could watch this conversation between John Wyatt (who I’ve linked to above) and Martin Rees. Fascinating throughout.
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