Revisiting Transhumanism

 I recently came across Grayson Quay's book on transhumanism written from an orthodox Catholic perspective, and to be honest it was refreshing to see one from a Catholic source this time.  The huge misconception that exists is that Catholics are somehow friendly toward transhumanism based on some flawed and deeply heretical writings of Teilhard de Chardin, who was one of its earliest proponents.  In reality though, Teilhard de Chardin never represented the traditional Catholic view on this topic because he was in essence heretical and possibly demonically influenced - John Wynne notes that experience in his book exposing the Teilhardian/Cartesian heresy and it is a bit unsettling.  Monday in the mail I also received a copy of Francis Fukuyama's book Our Posthuman Future (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2002) that I replaced since my original copy was lost a couple of years ago.  This copy is a hardcover edition, which is a bonus, and also is a newer edition of the original as well - Fukuyama is a political economist who also is well-versed in technological science, and he has been one of the voices most critical of AI technologies as well as the dangers of transhumanism.  So, to revisit this, what is transhumanism?  Let's give a basic definition.

Transhumanism is considered to be an upgrade of the old eugenics movement, but it seeks to speed up human evolution by incorporating GRIN technologies (genetic engineering, robotics, AI, and nanotechnology) with biological components to in essence create the Nietzschean Ubermensch.  This presents some ethical challenges, including what defines a person, and fundamentally challenges even what it is to be human.  For the Catholic, the issue is dignity of personhood - can a Catholic in good conscience support alterations to the creation of the human person without diminishing personhood itself?  This fundamental issue is what also makes people like Teilhard de Chardin problematic, and why also it calls into question Darwinian evolution, which is often used as the basis for transhumanist ideology.  It also begs a very serious question as well - if the Nazis would have had access to transhumanist technological means, what consequences would that have had?  There are neo-Nazis today who embrace this stuff, and thankfully they are a fringe group with no real leverage.  However, this interest is not just limited to radical fringes - there are billionaires with money to blow who are messing with the theory as well.  The influence of the elites, who believe themselves to be "superior" to the masses, would encourage something like transhumanism as they could utilize it as a key to fulfilling their own utopian fantasies - genetically engineering others to serve them.  Getting rid of that pesky idea of "human dignity" would be their first major goal, and once that distinction is jettisoned, then the sky would be the limit as to what they could potentially do.  This was also the same ideas that drove Sir Francis Galton's early eugenics ideology.  Selective breeding, synthetic robotic/biotic components, etc., would be the stuff of their utopian fantasies and most others' dystopian nightmares.  Therein is the basic issue then. 

For an orthodox Catholic, transhumanism is something that should not be embraced, and its foundational ideologies - including theistic evolution - should likewise be rejected as well.  The Catholic - and Biblical - belief for human origins is that man was created uniquely in God's image.  Being created in God's image does not mean we are clones of the Almighty - rather, it means he envisioned us as we should be and by his supernatural will he brought humanity into existence.  Because of that, human dignity is fundamental to the Gospel in that it means we all come from the same place, from the same two people whom God created, and that we have the dignity as a full person, not a mere part or a mere means to an end.  Transhumanism diminishes that by reducing the person to a commodity, and thus it violates the basic dignity of personhood by encouraging the subjugation of elitists over everyone else.  Therefore, as Catholics we should oppose transhumanism like we oppose racism, because they are the same thing ultimately.  Anything that diminishes human dignity is not compatible with Church teaching, and thus it should be condemned and rejected.  This includes racism, eugenics, and transhumanism, as well as any ideology from which they are derived (social Darwinism in particular, and Darwinian evolution in general).  

Those are some preliminary thoughts on the topic of transhumanism, although much more could be said about it.  I have already published things on this topic already that contain more detail, and those are available with a cursory search, as one has been published.  Thanks again for allowing me to share, and will see you next time.