Transhumanism
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From the SL4 Lexicon:
transhumanism:
The philosophy of transhumanists.
From the Less Wrong Wiki:
Transhumanism is the stance that it is ethical to radically improve the human condition by means of technology.
Some one-line definitions of Transhumanism, by Peer Infinity:
"Basically, transhumanism is about not placing on arbitrary restrictions on how you're allowed to use technology to help people, even if that changes what it means to be human."
"Basically, a transhumanist is someone who is generally in favor of using technology to go beyond the current limitations of human biology"
"A transhumanist is basically a humanist who also takes into account the possibility that humanity will continue to evolve"
"To me, transhumanism is basically being aware of the changes that are about to happen, and being able to think about them rationally, rather than choosing not to think about them at all just because they sound scary at first"
Another interesting definition I've heard is "transhumanism is common sense, carried to its logical conclusion"
Giulio Prisco's favorite definition of transhumanism:
The basic tenet of classical Humanist thinking is that concrete thinking and feeling persons are more important than abstract, "artificial" ethical constructs.
Extrapolating from current scientific and technological trends, we can see that our species may soon develop the capability to control its own evolution, including modifying itself in fundamental ways.
Such modifications may range from life extension and cognitive enhancement (mid term), to becoming non-mortal radically enhanced software entities (long term).
Transhumanists will welcome such changes as long as they result in a better life for all persons directly concerned, where "person" is defined as "thinking and feeling entity".
That's it. Not the will of --insert your favorite supreme being here-- ? Against --insert your favorite abstract principle here-- ? Too bad. Concrete thinking and feeling persons are more important than abstract, "artificial" ethical constructs.
See also Seven Definitions of Transhumanism by Michael Anissimov.
[edit] References
- Transhumanism as Simplified Humanism by Eliezer Yudkowsky
- The Transhumanist FAQ (PDF) by Nick Bostrom
- Transhumanist Values by Nick Bostrom
- A History of Transhumanist Thought (PDF) by Nick Bostrom
