Transhumanism
Advocating for healthy longevity and a more humane humanity.
Change affects the lives of people throughout the world: disease, global warming, political and economic unrest, wars, and discrimination. What can we do to make the world better?
What is transhumanism? The Original Idea.
Transhumanism is a philosophy that has links to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, which both heralded major changes in culture, art, philosophy, science, and mathematics. The Renaissance sought advances in literature, architecture, humanism, and a world economy. The Enlightenment emphasized scientific methods, industry, rationality, astronomy and advanced mathematics. Transhumanism is also linked to the philosophy of humanism, with emphasis on human needs and seeking rational ways of solving human problems. While humanism is known as a secular philosophy focused on opposing beliefs, practices, and rituals related to divine or supernatural power; alternatively, transhumanism is focused on the nature of reality, existence, and ethics, while understanding that there is room for the unknown as new discoveries are made and challenged. In short, transhumanism is focused on today and the future of humanity, with an emphasis on longevity. The important logic here is that without a healthy environment there cannot be healthy longevity. Humanity exists within a system and all parts of the system are relevant and interrelated.
(1) The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.
(2) The study of the ramifications, promises, and potential dangers of technologies that will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations, and the related study of the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies.
How is the Philosophy Explained?
The Philosophy of Transhumanism
Conceived of and authored in 1989 by Max More, Ph.D., who was awarded a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from St. Anne’s College, Oxford University (1984-87) and later awarded a Dean’s Fellowship in Philosophy in 1987 by the University of Southern California.
Original Documents on Transhumanism.
Written by Natasha Vita-More 1983 and published on the DVD disk by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) onboard the Cassini-Huygens mission. The early Manifesto was revised in 1998 (v.2), 2008 (v.3), and 2020 (v.4), based on the earliest manifesto “Transhuman Statement”, (1983) to address the growing transhumanist movement.
Originally crafted in 1998 by an international group of authors: Doug Baily, Anders Sandberg, Gustavo Alves, Max More, Holger Wagner, Natasha Vita-More, Eugene Leitl, Bernie Staring, David Pearce, Bill Fantegrossi, den Otter, Ralf Fletcher, Tom Morrow, Alexander Chislenko, Lee Daniel Crocker, Darren Reynolds, Keith Elis, Thom Quinn, Mikhail Sverdlov, Arjen Kamphuis, Shane Spaulding, and Nick Bostrom. This Transhumanist Declaration has been modified over the years by several authors and organizations. It was adopted by the Humanity+ Board in March, 2009.
Transhumanism is a philosophy that focuses on the scientific and technological advances changing our lives and their potential effects to transform humanity’s future for the better. The integrity of the philosophy of transhumanism is based on the consistency and coherence of its principles and values. Making inappropriate attributions to transhumanist values and inaccurate reporting about transhumanism are harmful for epistemic reasons: they disrespect the integrity of philosophy by producing false and often poorly justified beliefs. The Transhumanism Affirmation is a collaborative recommendation to correct information on transhumanism.
Developed in the mid-1990s and published in 1998, the Transhumanist FAQ became a formal document through the inspirational work of transhumanists, including Alexander Chislenko, Max More, Anders Sandberg, Natasha Vita-More, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Arjen Kamphius, and many others. Over the years, this FAQ has been updated to provide a substantial account of transhumanism. Humanity+, also known as WTA, adopted the FAQ in 2001 and Nick Bostrom added substantial information about future scenarios. The Transhumanist FAQ 3.0, as revised by the continued efforts of many transhumanists.
Terms: Transhuman and Transhumanism
The terms transhuman and transhumanism have unusual etymologies and their different usages are found within the fields of literature, philosophy, religion, and evolutionary biology, and the arts. According to the attached “Report on The Meaning of Transhuman” (Vita-More 1989), the first use as transhuman is written as … Read more!