Transhumanism on the Air
I was interviewed for an hour by Derek Gilbert yesterday on KSSZ about transhumanism, post humanity, and genetic enhancement of our progeny. We discuss transhumanism as religion, its obsession with control, and its threat to human exceptionalism. I quote James Hughes' assertion from Citizen Cyborg that creating an ape/human hybrid would prove that human exceptionalism is bunk, or as he puts it, would disprove "human racism." We also discuss transhumanism as a "new eugenics" and get into the history of the old eugenics. If you are interested, check it out.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 9:54 AM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
I enjoyed that show. You covered a lot from the Catman to transhuman aspirations. I wonder if there is volunteer work such as research or other work that I can do to assist your work.
That was very good radio! Nice job explaining so much history and philosophy.
We can confront the transhumanists and point us back to a human future. I think the point to focus on the rights of people to conceive with people of their own sex. We should publicize this area of research and force the marriage debate to deal directly with the issue of conception rights. Offer same-sex couples Civil Unions with all the rights of marriage except conception rights, and see if anybody is crazy enough to admit that they want conception rights more than everything else. If we can prohibit SSM, we can prohibit non egg and sperm conception, and that would stop postgenderism and transhumanism.
PS, have you heard of "postgenderism"?
Also, I think I heard you say that, next to the jihad, this is the most important issue facing us today.
My question is, do you think they are really very seperate issues? I don't see the Jihad ending as long as we are continuing to allow transhumanists to pursue genetic engineering. One of the reasons for the jihad might just be the eugenic reproduction technologies that our society seems to be endorsing, we seem to continually disrespect man and woman and nature. I think that repudiating postgenderism and transhumanism with an egg and sperm law could be a major factor in getting them to call the jihad off.
John Howard:
Gads, here's a frightening thought: as it stands, even if you had same-sex conception (which I disagree with on many levels), you'll still need a woman to carry the baby, but if we get to the point where a human carrier isn't necessary, then we're sunk. This is such a not good thing. There's too much risk in us screwing something up severely, and then you have a baby that's going to suffer for the rest of its life...
I don't trust humans not to flub the whole mess. Nature gave us the necessary tools to procreate; the more we screw around with animal and human cloning and its ilk, the more likely we are to end up accidentally murdering or torturing a helpless individual.
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