The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is transhumanism’s ethics think tank. The IEET’s mission is to “become a center for voices arguing for a responsible, constructive approach to emerging human enhancement technologies”. The IEET serves as a welcome counterpoint to such organizations as the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), which “was established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues.” *rolls eyes.* Essentially, the IEET wants us to have the option of becoming smarter, kinder, longer-lived people, whereas the EPPC believes that we are a finished product of divine design and to modify or improve any aspect of our minds or bodies would be blasphemy. Recently I started contributing articles to the IEET in the form of blog posts, which are featured on their front page from time to time.

The coolest thing to come out of the IEET recently is the Cyborg Buddha Project, pioneered by Dr. James Hughes (pictured above from his time as a Buddhist monk), Mike LaTorra (a Zen priest who represents the harmony of transhumanism and spirituality), and George Dvorsky (practicing Buddhist and transhumanist blogger/bioethicist). The description of the project is as follows:

A confluence of factors makes this the perfect time to ask questions about how neurotechnologies that influence behavior, moral cognition and religious experiences should be used in the future. People on the Christian Right are embroiled in a debate about whether to accept scientific evidence for a biological basis for sexual orientation, and if they do, whether parents should “fix” their gay children in utero. Psychologists and economists are researching the genetic, life course and environmental factors that influence well-being, yielding findings such as cosmetic surgery being as strong a contributor to happiness as religious participation. Bioethics have created the subgenre of neuroethics to examine brain fingerprinting, memory modification and other neurotechnologies.

Devices are being tested to measure empathy and vulnerability to temptation. Resistance is growing internationally to the disastrous policies of “warring” on psychoactive drugs, and in the process on cognitive liberty itself. Neurophilosophers are arguing for a thorough grounding of philosophy in neurology and evolutionary psychology. People of faith are increasingly entering into dialogue with human enhancement advocates about the theological significance of the transhumanist project.

So the IEET will be launching the Cyborg Buddha Project to combine our efforts and promote discussion of the impact that neuroscience and emerging neurotechnologies will have on happiness, spirituality, cognitive liberty, moral behavior and the exploration of meditational and ecstatic states of mind.

For some militant atheists, like, say for example, me, mentions of the “theological significance of the transhumanist project” conjures up shades of “umm, excuse you?” However, I trust the motivations and worldviews of James, Mike, and George, and have faith (ha) that their Cyborg Buddha project will probe interesting new ground without contaminating transhumanism with the wishy-washiness of traditional institutionalized religion.

Fact is, it’s the “higher mental states” that really matter in the end, and if such mental states are traditionally associated with some form of spirituality, so be it. I’m tired of people seeing transhumanism as an outgrowth of college-kid Randianism, 80s-era “Me Generation”-ism, or early 00s dot-com WIRED crowd hyper-enthusiasm for “must-have gadgets”. Unlimited food and housing? Fine. Airplanes and spaceships for pennies on the dollar? Okay. Immortal cyborg bodies? Sure. But what really is fascinating about transhumanism is not changing the stuff on the outside, or even our own bodies, but the changes on the inside - smartness, kindness, better self-control, all that good stuff that we so manifestly lack. And I think that this Cyborg Buddha project symbolizes efforts in that direction pretty well. Good luck on it, guys!