The Transhumanist Project: Assessment and Critique
‘Transhumanism’ denotes the deliberate improvement of the human condition by using science and technology. As a result of converging technologies (e.g., genomics, robotics, informatics, and nanotechnology), and the scientific knowledge that undergirds them, humans will be able to redesign the human species, enhance physical and cognitive capacities, extend human life span significantly, and even direct the evolutionary process itself. This paper assesses the transhumanist project as an ideology, philosophy, social movement, and worldview. The paper locates the origins of the transhumanist worldview in cultural developments that took place in England in the 1920s and 1930s, and present the current phase of the transhumanist vision as a secular eschatological vision that manifests deep discomfort with human embodiment. The paper critiques transhumanist vision from feminist, ecological, and political perspectives, while conceding that the technological developments that gave rise to the transhumanist vision could not be stopped; it is also doubtful that the activities entailed by the transhumanist vision could be regulated. Despite its philosophical shallowness, transhumanist project will continue to shape the culture of post-industrialist societies throughout the 21st century. Citizens of liberal democracies in particular must be aware of the challenges posed by the transhumanist vision and ponder who should determine the future of humanity, and how should the decision-making process take place.
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Hava Tirosh-Samuelson (Arizona State University) is professor of history and project director of “Facing the Challenges of Transhumanism: Religion, Science and Technology.” She specializes in premodern Jewish intellectual history, Judaism and science, Judaism and ecology, and feminist philosophy. She holds a Ph.D. in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1978) and a B.A. from SUNY-Stony Brook (1974). Prior to joining ASU in 1999, she taught at Indiana University, Emory University, Columbia University, and Hebrew Union College (New York). In addition to articles and book chapters, she is the author of Between Worlds: The Life and Work of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon (1991), Happiness in Premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge and Well-Being in Pre-modern Judaism (2003) and Nature and Judaism (forthcoming). She is also the editor of Judaism and Ecology: Created World and Revealed World (2002), Women and Gender in Jewish Philosophy (2004), and most recently The Legacy of Hans Jonas: Judaism and the Phenomenon of Life (2008). She sits on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and is on the academic advisory board of the Metanexus Institute.
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