Transhumanism (EOTO 2)

 T R A N S H U M A N I S M 

Transhumanism, according to Brittanica is the social and philosophical movement devoted to promoting the research and development of robust human-enhancement technologies. This specific definition is a little hard to follow, so in more simple terms; Transhumanism is a movement devoted to maximizing human capabilities by using feature enhancing technology. The Transhumanism movement is divided into two belief systems. The first group believes Transhumanism is about promoting and backing emerging greater-than-human machine intelligence. The second belief system of Transhumanism is the push to enhance humans to extend lifespan and maximize human capabilities. 

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Greater-than-human machine intelligence

The people who promote this concept find it beneficial because they view it as a way to push society to its max potential. There are many instances in history in which emerging technology has advanced and propelled society in beneficial ways. These people believe in the opportunities society could have if it honed technologies' true capabilities. 

The potential issues of this concept are just as substantial as the potential growth associated with it. A main concern with this concept is the potential that artificial intelligence can gain humanistic qualities and out perform humans. Picture robots with human strength, emotional intelligence, and very few weaknesses. Machines do not need to sleep, eat, etc. Humans naturally have more physiological set backs that machines do not. Viewing this concept in an extremist way; robots could take over and overpower society.

In a less extreme view, this movement still has major holes. If technology is really pushed, economy, as we know it, would likely crash. This is due to the loss of jobs that would be taken over by automation. With less jobs available for people, there will be less money put into the economy, resulting in a market crash. There would possibly be an ephemeral high provided by this technology, but it would quickly come to a halt. There is no way that society could sustain a lack of job availability that this movement would perpetuate.

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Maximized Human Performance

This idea differs from the first as it is referring to the mergence of technology and humans with the end goal of maximizing human capabilities, not technologies' capabilities. In theory, this movement is a beneficial one as it aims to extend the average human life span. Combining technology with medicine is arguably the best way to achieve this goal. This form of transhumanism already exists on a small scale with advances such as, Lasik eye surgery, artificially intelligent prosthetics, hearing aids, and more. 

While there are many benefits to this category of transhumanism, there are also many controversial elements, societal concerns, and general complications. One of the first major concerns is the morality of technologically altering humans. An example to explain this is, some members of the deaf community view hearing aids as a cultural impediment. They believe that hearing aids imply a negative stigma upon the deaf community. While this is not the view of all individuals with a hearing impediment, it is a moral view of many of them.

Hypothetically pushing this concept further, what if humans were able to pick genetic qualities of their child; using technology to design their children. While the argument in favor of this concept would be potential health benefits, there are many ethical arguments against it. Would this promote racism? Would it promote the negative stigma and inferiority surrounding disabilities?

Another major issue with this movement is the concept of overpopulation. If there was a technology designed the expands the average human life span, or potentially create immortality, Earth would become unsustainably overpopulated. How would society handle this overpopulation?

C O N C L U S I O N

Overall the concept of transhumanism, in theory, is a beneficial one. Just like anything, if applied in moderation, it can help society. But also, just like anything, there are extremists. It is important to balance the incorporation of technology into society with the consideration for morals, ethics, and privacy.