Download or read book Transhumanism as a New Social Movement written by James Michael MacFarlane and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-05-19 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores Technological Human Enhancement Advocacy through ethnographically inspired participant observation across a range of sites. James Michael MacFarlane argues that such advocacy is characterized by ‘Techno-centrism,' a belief grounded in today’s world while being also future-oriented and drawn from the imagination. This blurring of ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ futures borrows from the materialist grounding of the scientific worldview, while granting extended license to visions for technology as an enabler of forward-facing action, which include reviving humanist ideals associated with the modernization project. While Techno-centrism is arguably most pronounced in transhumanism—where it is acted-out in extreme, almost hyperbolic ways—it reflects more generally held, deep-seeded concerns around the future of science, technology and human self-identity in the new millennium. Far from being new, these emerging social forms capture unresolved ambivalences which have long cast a shadow over late-modern society and culture.
Download or read book The Transhumanist Movement written by Francesco Paolo Adorno and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is published as part of the "PRIN 2017 The Dark side of the Law". This volume analyzes the theoretical underpinnings of the academic transhumanism movement, beginning with the relationship between anthropology and technique. The author focuses on the question of immortality, which can be considered the core of transhumanism. The true depth of immortality will be discussed, through which and how many transformations could be produced in order to change our society, which is basically shaped by and for human mortal beings, in a society composed by immortal persons. Some writers have written about what a future populated with immortals might look like, which is far removed from both the bright future painted by transhumanists and from the disappearance of humanity feared by bioconservatives.
Download or read book Transhumanism written by Jennifer Huberman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-17 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a detailed exploration of the study of transhumanism, this book introduces students to the discipline of cultural anthropology.
Download or read book The Transhumanist Reader written by Max More and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and current state of transhumanist thinking The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns. Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature.
Download or read book Transhumanism and Society written by Stephen Lilley and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an introductory overview to the social debate over enhancement technologies with an overview of the transhumanists' call to bypass human nature and conservationists' argument in defense of it. The author present this controversy as it unfolds in the contest between transhumanists proponents and conservationists, who push back with an argument to conserve human nature and to ban enhancement technologies. This book provides an overview of the key contested points and present the debate in an orderly, constructive fashion. Readers are informed about the discussion over humanism, the tension between science and religion, and the interpretation of socio-technological revolutions; and are invited to make up their own mind about one of the most challenging topics concerning the social and ethical implications of technological advancements.
Download or read book Handbook of Research on Learning in the Age of Transhumanism written by Sisman-Ugur, Serap and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2019-05-03 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a movement, transhumanism aims to upgrade the human body through science, constantly pushing back the limits of a person by using cutting-edge technologies to fix the human body and upgrade it beyond its natural abilities. Transhumanism can not only change human habits, but it can also change learning practices. By improving human learning, it improves the human organism beyond natural and biological limits. The Handbook of Research on Learning in the Age of Transhumanism is an essential research publication that discusses global values, norms, and ethics that relate to the diverse needs of learners in the digital world and addresses future priorities and needs for transhumanism. The book will identify and scrutinize the needs of learners in the age of transhumanism and examine best practices for transhumanist leaders in learning. Featuring topics such as cybernetics, pedagogy, and sociology, this book is ideal for educators, trainers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, professionals, researchers, academicians, policymakers, and librarians.
Download or read book Death is Wrong written by Gennady Stolyarov II and published by Rational Argumentator Press. This book was released on 2013-12-11 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you have ever asked, “Why do people have to die?” then this book is for you. The answer is that no, death is not necessary, inevitable, or good. In fact, death is wrong. Death is the enemy of us all, to be fought with medicine, science, and technology. This book introduces you to the greatest, most challenging, most revolutionary movement to radically extend human lifespans so that you might not have to die at all. You will learn about some amazingly long-lived plants and animals, recent scientific discoveries that point the way toward lengthening lifespans in humans, and simple, powerful arguments that can overcome the common excuses for death. If you have ever thought that death is unjust and should be defeated, you are not alone. Read this book, and become part of the most important quest in human history. This book was written by the philosopher and futurist Gennady Stolyarov II and illustrated by the artist Wendy Stolyarov. It is here to show you that, no matter who you are and what you can do, there is always a way for you to help in humanity’s struggle against death. "I thought the book was fun to read and important in what it tries to accomplish." - Zoltan Istvan, Psychology Today
Download or read book Transhumanism and the Image of God written by Jacob Shatzer and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-04-09 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the transhumanist movement, biblical ethicist Jacob Shatzer grapples with the potential for technology to transform the way we think about what it means to be human. Exploring the doctrine of incarnation and topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics, medical technology, and communications tools, he guides us into careful consideration of the future of Christian discipleship in a disruptive technological environment.
Download or read book On Transhumanism written by Stefan Lorenz Sorgner and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2020-12-08 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transhumanism is widely misunderstood, in part because the media have exaggerated current technologies and branded the movement as dangerous, leading many to believe that hybrid humans may soon walk among us and that immortality, achieved by means of mind-uploading, is imminent. In this essential and clarifying volume, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner debunks widespread myths about transhumanism and tackles the most pressing ethical issues in the debate over technologically assisted human enhancement. On Transhumanism is a vital primer on the subject, written by a world-renowned expert. In this book, Sorgner presents an overview of the movement’s history, capably summarizing the twelve pillars of transhumanist discourse and explaining the great diversity of transhumanist responses to each individual topic. He highlights the urgent ethical challenges related to the latest technological developments, inventions, and innovations and compares the unique cultural standing of transhumanism to other cultural movements, placing it within the broader context of the Enlightenment, modernity, postmodernity, and the philosophical writings of Nietzsche. Engagingly written and translated and featuring an introduction for North American readers, this comprehensive overview of the cultural and philosophical movement of transhumanism will be required reading for students of posthumanist philosophy and for general audiences interested in learning about the transhumanist movement.
Download or read book To Be a Machine written by Mark O'Connell and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This gonzo-journalistic exploration of the Silicon Valley techno-utopians’ pursuit of escaping mortality is a breezy romp full of colorful characters.” —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) Transhumanism is a movement pushing the limits of our bodies—our capabilities, intelligence, and lifespans—in the hopes that, through technology, we can become something better than ourselves. It has found support among Silicon Valley billionaires and some of the world’s biggest businesses. In To Be a Machine, journalist Mark O'Connell explores the staggering possibilities and moral quandaries that present themselves when you of think of your body as a device. He visits the world's foremost cryonics facility to witness how some have chosen to forestall death. He discovers an underground collective of biohackers, implanting electronics under their skin to enhance their senses. He meets a team of scientists urgently investigating how to protect mankind from artificial superintelligence. Where is our obsession with technology leading us? What does the rise of AI mean not just for our offices and homes, but for our humanity? Could the technologies we create to help us eventually bring us to harm? Addressing these questions, O'Connell presents a profound, provocative, often laugh-out-loud-funny look at an influential movement. In investigating what it means to be a machine, he offers a surprising meditation on what it means to be human.
Download or read book We Have Always Been Cyborgs written by Stefan Lorenz Sorgner and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2021-11-04 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This visionary new book explores the critical issues that link transhumanism with digitalisation, gene technologies and ethics. It examines the history and meaning of transhumanism, offering insightful reflections on values, norms and utopia.
Download or read book Transhumanism written by Andrew Pilsch and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transhumanism posits that humanity is on the verge of rapid evolutionary change as a result of emerging technologies and increased global consciousness. However, this insight is dismissed as a naive and controversial reframing of posthumanist thought, having also been vilified as “the most dangerous idea in the world” by Francis Fukuyama. In this book, Andrew Pilsch counters these critiques, arguing instead that transhumanism’s utopian rhetoric actively imagines radical new futures for the species and its habitat. Pilsch situates contemporary transhumanism within the longer history of a rhetorical mode he calls “evolutionary futurism” that unifies diverse texts, philosophies, and theories of science and technology that anticipate a radical explosion in humanity’s cognitive, physical, and cultural potentialities. By conceptualizing transhumanism as a rhetoric, as opposed to an obscure group of fringe figures, he explores the intersection of three major paradigms shaping contemporary Western intellectual life: cybernetics, evolutionary biology, and spiritualism. In analyzing this collision, his work traces the belief in a digital, evolutionary, and collective future through a broad range of texts written by theologians and mystics, biologists and computer scientists, political philosophers and economic thinkers, conceptual artists and Golden Age science fiction writers. Unearthing the long history of evolutionary futurism, Pilsch concludes, allows us to more clearly see the novel contributions that transhumanism offers for escaping our current geopolitical bind by inspiring radical utopian thought.
Download or read book The Transhumanism Handbook written by Newton Lee and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-07-03 with total page 863 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern humanity with some 5,000 years of recorded history has been experiencing growing pains, with no end in sight. It is high time for humanity to grow up and to transcend itself by embracing transhumanism. Transhumanism offers the most inclusive ideology for all ethnicities and races, the religious and the atheists, conservatives and liberals, the young and the old regardless of socioeconomic status, gender identity, or any other individual qualities. This book expounds on contemporary views and practical advice from more than 70 transhumanists. Astronaut Neil Armstrong said on the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Transhumanism is the next logical step in the evolution of humankind, and it is the existential solution to the long-term survival of the human race.
Download or read book Religion and the Technological Future written by Calvin Mercer and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in an age of rapid technological advancement. Never before has humankind wielded so much power over our own biology. Biohacking, the attempt at human enhancement of physical, cognitive, affective, moral, and spiritual traits, has become a global phenomenon. This textbook introduces religious and ethical implications of biohacking, artificial intelligence, and other technological changes, offering perspectives from monotheistic and karmic religions and applied ethics. These technological breakthroughs are transforming our societies and ourselves fundamentally via genetic modification, tissue engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, the merging of computer technology with human biology, extended reality, brain stimulation, and nanotechnology. The book also considers the extreme possibilities of mind uploading, cryonics, and superintelligence. Chapters explore some of the political, economic, sociological, and psychological dimensions of these advances, with bibliographies for further study and questions for discussion. The technological future is here – and it is up to us to decide its moral and religious shape.
Download or read book Transhumanism and the Body written by C. Mercer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-09-17 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of original articles, a sequel of sorts to the 2009 Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension (Palgrave Macmillan), is the first sustained reflection, by scholars with expertise in the faith traditions, on how the transhumanist agenda might impact the body.
Download or read book Transhumanism and Transcendence written by Ronald Cole-Turner and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-29 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The timeless human desire to be more beautiful, intelligent, healthy, athletic, or young has given rise in our time to technologies of human enhancement. Athletes use drugs to increase their strength or stamina; cosmetic surgery is widely used to improve physical appearance; millions of men take drugs like Viagra to enhance sexual performance. And today researchers are exploring technologies such as cell regeneration and implantable devices that interact directly with the brain. Some condemn these developments as a new kind of cheating—not just in sports but in life itself—promising rewards without effort and depriving us most of all of what it means to be authentic human beings. “Transhumanists,” on the other hand, reject what they see as a rationalizing of human limits, as if being human means being content forever with underachieving bodies and brains. To be human, they insist, is to be restless with possibilities, always eager to transcend biological limits. As the debate grows in urgency, how should theology respond? Christian theologians recognize truth on both sides of the argument, pointing out how the yearnings of the transhumanists—if not their technological methods—find deep affinities in Christian belief. In this volume, Ronald Cole-Turner has joined seasoned scholars and younger, emerging voices together to bring fresh insight into the technologies that are already reshaping the future of Christian life and hope.
Download or read book Mediality on Trial written by Ehler Voss and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-09-21 with total page 668 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume addresses controversies connected to the testing of the capacities and potentials of mediums. Today we commonly associate the term "medium" with the technical communication between transmitters and receivers. Yet this term likewise applies to those who cooperate with agencies that exceed the presumed domain of the material world. Insofar as one presumes a division between distinctly opposed categories of religion and the secular, technical media tend to be associated with the secular and human (trance) mediums tend to be associated with religion after 1900. This volume concerns the ways in which the term medium still marks an overlapping of – and thus problematizes – the aforementioned division between religion and the secular, the personal and the technological. The term medium carries with it a seed of doubt that is itself inseparable from investment in the medium's power: insofar as they communicate with an "other" realm, mediums offer the hope and promise of new possibilities and improved efficiency, and thus of a better life; yet they have simultaneously been under suspicion of altering (or even inventing) the messages they communicate. It is due to this combination of promise and suspicion that "mediumism" has tended to evoke scientific, religious, and moral controversies. Thus, we can speak of a "mediumistic trial" – that is, a process in which a medium is put to the test concerning its potentials and trustworthiness. Around 1800, experts were asked if a modern secular institution would be capable of inspiring, domesticating or excluding trance mediumship. This question has stayed with us ever since, and the answers have remained inconclusive. That is why the past and present of mediumship may be asked to elucidate each other.
