Transhumanism and human enhancement: A postmortem

ANDRÉS VACCARI

Swiss Journal of Biomedical Ethics

Institutionen im Bereich der Ethik

Año: 2015 vol. 8 p. 22 - 23

1662-6001

Transhumanism is an ideology that advocates the improvement of human capacities through technological modification. Since it burst in the scene in the 1990s, its popularity has grown in inverse proportion to its relevance. However, I believe the failure of transhumanism can offer some valuable reflections on the topic of human enhancement (HE). Transhumanists talk about transcendence, overcoming nature, and fulfilling human potentials. We will take the reins of our own evolution to the point we will become better than human. Some believe that posthumanity itself is the goal of the transhumanist project, while others claim that it will be the natural outcome of pursuing values that we already hold dear. In both cases, posthumanity is conceived as a beneficial state we should actively strive to make a reality. The politics of transhumanism is largely libertarian and exalts the sacred autonomy of the self. But libertarianism has some trouble legitimating modifications done to future others: the type of inherited, irreversible changes that will drive directed evolution (such as those resulting from germline engineering). This is why it is necessary to argue for a future, collective benefit, and posthumanity comes in to fill the gap.