The Radical Enhancement Backwards

The Radical Enhancement Backwards

Sara Wasouf

Department of Communication and Culture, Royal Roads University

Comm 329: Historical and Conceptual Foundations in Digital Communication Gareth Kirkby March 17, 2022

Do You Want to Live Forever?

It is in our most deeply rooted instinct as human beings to live and continue to live. It is a disturbing thought, to acknowledge the death of yourself or your loved ones. One can argue that in a lifeor-death situation, our biological bodies are wired to fight death almost every time. With so many biological limitations, it is therefore natural that we aim for becoming better, stronger, and faster. In this paper, we will be discussing Transhumanism, while citing the work of the advocate of the concept, Professor at the University of Southern California, Mac More. Transhumanism is a prominent and social movement that promotes human enhancement beyond limits that may well propel us into the extension of age, better functioning bodies, and perpetual advancement (Buckland, Humanism and Post-Humanism, slide 7). For some of us, our brains often reach for the thought of the afterlife, which I would argue is the

idea behind the fundamentals of a religion like Christianity that offers radical enhancement as eternal existence in a superior place (Agar, 2010, p. 3). Wanting the better for our species and aiming for it is inevitable. We witness this in our current reality where it is possible to turn the disabled abled, cure diseases, and all other great examples of Transhumanism that have propelled our existence into a more comfortable space. But how far is too far? Where does one draw the line between reasonable enhancements and enhancements so far that we are incapable of recognizing ourselves? Indeed, one cannot deny the advantages of Transhumanism on our current reality. However, one also cannot deny the possibility of unforeseen risks and negative outcomes (Agar, 2010, p. 7). Some levels of transhumanism exceed what it means to be human, reinventing us as a species without meaning, advocating for a selfish outlook on life, and miscalculating and misrepresenting the future in the name of humanistic advancement. Transhumanism poses more of a threat than a benefit on our world. Uploading your

The Radical Enhancement Backwards

consciousness onto a machine may sound like a part in a fun fiction novel, but it is very much possible, (More, 2013, p. 11) and this paper proposes that we ought to stop such movements from extending to a moment in time so far, so large, and so irreversible. While discussing Transhumanism in this paper, various concepts from a critique expressed by philosopher and professor at the University of Wellington in New Zealand, Nicholas Agar will be drawn upon.

What Does it Mean to be Human?

Our story is remarkable. We’ve built empires, advanced through times, and shared millions of the tales passed down millennia. But we’ve also started wars, contributed to climate change, and caused irrevocable damage on humanity. Humans are imperfect, with limits on our capabilities. Our stories are also imperfect, often tainted by the mistakes and the negative outcomes of some of our past decisions as a species. For the purpose of this paper, we view history as a teacher, remembering moments where humanity regarded a decision such as the American alcohol prohibition in 1982 a great and noble one, only for it to be the very cause of an explosion in alcohol-related crime (Burns, 2021). It is only appropriate to consider the precautionary principle in this case, which refuses to take a particular action given the likely possibility of a negative outcome (Agar, 2010, p. 7). While Transhumanism does acknowledge a possible negative consequence, (Buckland, Humanism and Post-Humanism, slide 27), it does not fear it. Considering the harm is not enough, rather, we have the duty to prevent that harm when it is likely to occur (Agar, 2010, p. 7). As an imperfect species, we are prone to error (Agar, 2010, p. 9). The danger of Transhumanism is that it propels us to design our own irreversible future while disregarding evolution. (Agar, 2010, p. 7). As Agar argues, evolution is beyond our intervention, choosing desirable traits at its own time and convenience (Agar, 2010, p. 4). This paper argues that what it means to be

The Radical Enhancement Backwards

human is to accept ourselves, our abilities, and capacities. To intervene with nature’s course and attempt to take over its role moves us away from the very essence of who we truly are.

The Imperfect Perfect

We are able to credit today’s medical advancements that have often been successful at postponing death through the use of pharmaceutical technologies to radical enhancement. However, never Transhumanism been successful at fully omitting death from the human experience and I would argue that it never will. Still, we witness attempts of the reversing of age. One biomedical gerontologist, Aubrey De Grey is set to engineer “negligible senescence”, a human that does not age (Agar, 2010, p. 8). These attempts and confident endeavours fail to consider that in essence, we are a vulnerable species with imminent diminished capabilities, a condition we cannot escape (Buckland, Transhumanism, Instructor Video). While transhumanism does not fear death, it avoids it, attempting to prolong life and fix the flawed biological body. It views us as salvageable creatures, and death as unwelcomed and avoided, diminishing and invalidating the very essence of the human experience. We are able to see the effects and foreshadowing of radical enhancement when we look at celebrities today. The Kardashians are a classic example of a family that relies on Transhumanism. The mother, Kris Jenner is 66 years old with arguably the physical appearance of a 40-year-old. We all want to stay young and beautiful, and this is especially clear amongst those following diets and staying active to stay healthy (Agar, 2010, p. 5), some with the aims of looking better and younger. However, when this is achieved through extreme socially accepted and pressured radical enhancement new technologies such as plastic surgery, it becomes the unrealistic new standard. It may turn us into something we cannot recognize anymore, and not through the natural

The Radical Enhancement Backwards

advancement and gradual unfolding of evolution, rather through quick and sudden changes.

Transhumanism is a movement that is never content and stands against the original human and the very laws of nature. It views the human as a creature that ought to be overcome and defeated out of what the view considers, undesirable traits.

Transhumanism: The Selfish, Greedy, and Overconfident

While the Transhumanistic perpetual improvement of the human experience is responsible for much of our privileges today, it is an overconfident view when extended too far. Agar argues that the development of certain technologies such as genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics may possibly extend so far to the point of loss of control (2010, p. 6). The loss of control may very well be the classic example of a robot taking over, but the more threatening and worrying idea is the loss of control on ourselves, pushing technologies so far that our limited capacity of a mind struggles to contain it or reverse its negative effects. Transhumanism aims to improve humanity, but what happens when the technology advances at a rate faster than our own cognitive abilities? This paper argues that this is a very possible outcome of Transhumanism. Transhumanism that points towards an infinite, post humanistic world is a greedy view. This view acknowledges the possibility of another “posthuman species”, which creates a divide between classes, abilities, categories, and groups (Agar, 2010, p. 4). To encourage the creation of posthumans is to create a divide that pulls apart two distinct groups that now have no humanistic features in common, failing to find the art of relatability (Agar, 2010, p. 4). To push for such a divide, even if it means the considerate improvement of one species, is selfish, disregarding another group and leaving them vulnerable to various new threats and political challenges.

The Beauty of the Finite

The Radical Enhancement Backwards

While the thought of having your consciousness uploaded onto a machine that lives well beyond the human average age is intriguing, we ought to consider the many mentioned challenges and issues that come along with such ideas. Transhumanism in its essence has been credited for many of today’s advancements, is an ideology that extends us into major improvements, and aligns with the strong human desire for expansion. When Transhumanism is moving in the direction of posthumanism, however, we begin to foreshadow and predict possible utopian outcomes, negative to the human experience. It points to an infinite life, and to live forever is to go against nature. Knowing our time here is finite is the very basic motivator for what we do in our lives (Buckland, Transhumanism, Instructor Video). Being aware of the inescapable end propels us into a life of meaning and value.

The Radical Enhancement Backwards

References

Kirkby, G. (2022). COMM329 - week 9b Transhumanism– From Humanism to Post-Humanism. [Powerpoint]. Moodle. https://moodle.royalroads.ca/moodle

Kirkby, G. (March 2, 2022). COMM 329 week 9b tutorial. https://moodle.royalroads.ca

Buckland, A. (2022). COMM 329 – Instructor Video Production. Moodle. https://moodle.royalroads.ca/

Ken, Burns. (2021, May 21). Unintended Consequences. Prohibition. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/

More, M. (2013). Chapter 1: The philosophy of transhumanism. In The transhumanist reader: Classical and contemporary essays on the science, technology and philosophy of the human future (pp. 3–17). New York: John Wiley Publishing. [Retrieved from Ebook Central database]

Agar, N. (2010). Chapter 1: What is radical enhancement? In Humanity’s find: Why we should reject radical enhancement (pp. 1–16). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [Retrieved from Ebook Central database*]

The Radical Enhancement Backwards