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Exploring the philosophical implications of using technology to enhance human physical and cognitive abilities.
What if you could 'download' a new language in seconds, or replace your heart with a permanent, high-performance turbine that never tires? Is this the next step in our evolution, or the end of what it means to be human?
Transhumanism (often abbreviated as H+) is a philosophical and scientific movement that advocates for using technology to move beyond our current biological limitations. Transhumanists believe that the human species in its current form does not represent the end of evolution, but rather a beginning. They focus on three primary pillars: super-longevity (extending life indefinitely), super-intelligence (enhancing cognitive capacity via AI-brain interfaces), and super-wellbeing (using biotechnology to eliminate suffering). By viewing the human body as 'work in progress' rather than a finished masterpiece, transhumanism challenges our traditional definitions of nature and identity.
Quick Check
What are the three 'supers' that define the goals of the transhumanist movement?
Answer
Super-longevity, super-intelligence, and super-wellbeing.
A critical debate in bioethics is the line between therapy and enhancement. Therapy is generally defined as medical intervention intended to restore a person to 'species-typical' functioning (e.g., using a hearing aid to fix hearing loss). Enhancement, however, is the use of technology to improve functions beyond the human baseline (e.g., an implant that allows you to hear ultrasonic frequencies). This distinction is often blurry. For example, if we use gene editing to prevent a disease, that is therapy. But if we use that same technology to increase muscle density by , it becomes enhancement. Critics argue that once we cross into enhancement, we risk 'playing God' and losing our human essence.
Consider the evolution of limb technology: 1. Therapy: A patient receives a wooden peg leg to allow them to walk after an accident. 2. Advanced Therapy: A patient receives a carbon-fiber 'blade' that allows them to run at speeds similar to an average human. 3. Enhancement: A professional athlete chooses to replace healthy legs with robotic limbs that allow them to run at mph, far exceeding any biological human limit.
Quick Check
If a student takes a drug to treat ADHD, is that therapy or enhancement? What if a student without ADHD takes the same drug to get an 'edge' on an exam?
Answer
The first is therapy (restoring function); the second is enhancement (improving function beyond the baseline).
The most significant ethical concern regarding transhumanism is social inequality. If life-extending or intelligence-boosting technologies are expensive, they may only be available to the wealthy. This could create a permanent biological underclass. Unlike current wealth gaps, where a poor person is biologically the same as a rich person, transhumanism could lead to a 'speciation' event where the rich become a different, superior species. Furthermore, the concept of designer humans—children whose traits are selected by parents—raises questions about autonomy. Does a child have the 'right to an open future' if their personality and abilities were pre-programmed in a lab?
Imagine a society where the Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality) is applied to IQ. 1. In a natural society, IQ follows a standard distribution: . 2. In a transhumanist society, the wealthy can purchase a point boost for their children. 3. This creates a bimodal distribution where the 'enhanced' class has a mean IQ of , while the 'naturals' remain at . Over generations, the enhanced class occupies all positions of power, making social mobility mathematically impossible for the naturals.
Which term describes the goal of extending the human lifespan indefinitely?
What is the primary difference between therapy and enhancement?
Critics of transhumanism argue that it could lead to a permanent biological class system.
Review Tomorrow
In 24 hours, try to explain the difference between 'therapy' and 'enhancement' to someone else using the prosthetic leg example.
Practice Activity
Research the 'Proactionary Principle' vs. the 'Precautionary Principle' and decide which one should guide our use of gene-editing technology.