TRANSHUMANISM: THE MARRIAGE OF MACHINES AND HUMANS

OLU-OJEGBEJE LOLADE

New innovations and technology are fast taking over the world, as the world is about to be launched into a new era, largely controlled by technology. For a while now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic among tech gurus as well as developed nations. Among the plans for an Artificial Intelligent world is the concept of ‘Transhumanism’.
Transhumanism simply means beyond human. It is an international philosophical movement that advocates for the transformation of humans by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellect and physiology. By this, it is hoped that humans become enhanced, with the ability to think faster, work better, live more healthily and live longer.
The most common transhumanist thesis is that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into different beings with abilities so greatly expanded from their current conditions, as to merit the label of post human beings.
Transhumanism largely seeks to advance the cause of post-humanity. It advocates using science and technology for a reconstruction of the human race, such that it would not be appropriate to call it ‘human’ anymore. These changes will allow humans to conquer disease, eliminate unhappiness, end scarcity and postpone, perhaps indefinitely, death itself.
The philosophy of transhumanism looks great on the surface. You get to live a long time. You get to be happy and completely healthy. Maybe you can even have a virtual reality programmed where you wake up to an ocean view every day. However, the philosophy may bring about several problems.
The implementation of many of these technologies will be expensive. For example, preserving the body through cryonics currently costs several hundred thousand dollars. Huge potential exists to create an even greater divide in society between the rich and the poor. The rich and powerful have the resources to afford these vast life improvements and the rest of society lags even further behind. As the chasm between rich and poor grows in our current culture, future advancements could become disproportionately limited to those with the financial resources to afford them. If life extension technologies becomes feasible, and they are only available to the billionaire class, then we enter a scenario where the rich get richer and live longer, while the poor get poorer and die sooner.
Another scary thing about transhumanism is the ability of the transhumans to read minds. The philosophy posits that the human brain and mind can be uploaded on the computer, such that it is easy to communicate true feelings through the internet. However, the danger in this is that people will now be able to read one another’s mind easily. Imagine a world where the next person can hear what another is thinking.
Overcrowding of the Earth is another major disadvantage. If men get to live longer and maybe have control over their bodies or death itself, imagine how many people will be on earth. Although nature has the power to sustain itself, the high rate of the use of technology may hinder this possibility.
Why Worry?
The scary thing about transhumanism is that it is a major tool that would change the destiny of the world in the next fifty years, yet many are not even aware of it. Some opine that a deliberate effort is being made to conceal information from people as much as possible, such that when it is finally introduced in a subtle way, many will embrace it.
It would not be introduced at once; people will be prepared for it. Some American movies are lately being used to glorify the concept so that people can fantasize about being super humans. Consequently, very many people will easily embrace the technological evolution when it is eventually introduced.
Very many of those that control the biggest tech firms in the world are the greatest fans of transhumanism, investing billions into research. Imagine the control these men have over technology and then imagine how much control they would have over man, having incorporated the same technology into man.
Institutions such as the medical institutions and the society will be tools to propel this evolution. Modifications that permanently alter a function in part of the human body become prolific. Peoples social understanding of aging loses the changes and society begins to treat aging as a disease. Rights discourse would shift from whom to include among humans to a system flexible enough to easily bring in non-humans.
Apparently, the next decade should be ready for a shake. Issues and policies that would alter the Earth significantly have been put in place, while strategic efforts are being made to make them possible.