Transhumanism: The Merge of Man & Machine
➤Transhumanists say they want to “upgrade” humans. Is changing our DNA or merging with machines a good idea?
It’s a popular buzzword, but what exactly is transhumanism? Get ready for a lot of ‘80s movies and futuristic TV shows references because what we once thought of as “fiction” is becoming more and more of a reality.
What Is Transhumanism?
Transhumanists want to “transcend humanism,” or go beyond being human. To them, that means “upgrading” the human body.
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- One way transhumanists want to do that is by using technology.
(Yes, The Terminator, Robocop, and Iron Man should be coming to mind here.) - Another way to “transcend humanism” is by making internal changes.
That’s things like altering DNA and genetic engineering, anti-aging methods, brain manipulation, improving skills and memory with drugs, ect.
- One way transhumanists want to do that is by using technology.
Improving ourselves is a good thing, but transhumanism today has gone way beyond self improvement. It’s turned into a forced kind of evolution where some dangerous repercussions are being totally ignored. For instance, some transhumanists want to make The Terminator a reality!
➤Maybe if some of these people watched Edge of Wonder’s Wired Up: The Gaming Industrial Complex [Part 2] about a possible real-life robot apocalypse, they would be less interested.
Transhumanism Today
There are a lot of beliefs about our future, but one of the people at the forefront of futuristic technology is Elon Musk. He thinks humans must merge with A.I., creating a “symbiosis” between people so that all of humanity’s will is taken into account. He says he doesn’t want intelligence to be monopolized by governments and corporations.
But why does Elon Musk think transhumanism is the answer?
Elon wants to usher in an age of “superhuman cognition” to combat A.I. so powerful, he says it could destroy the human race. So how is Elon planning on creating these super smart, engineered humans? He says he wants to implant a chip into our heads with a bunch of tiny wires with the goal of creating a hard drive for people’s brains.
Are the Borg from Star Trek coming to mind? The character Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager had permanent implants on her face and head after being assimilated by the Borg.
What most people don’t know is that Elon’s company, Neuralink, has already implanted test chips thinner than a strand of hair in the brains of three little pigs: Gertrude, Dorothy, and Joyce. A computer tracked their brains’ neural activity.
Is this setting off any alarm bells? Maybe Elon should rewatch The Matrix or reread Frankenstein. At one point in the Frankenstein novel, the monster realizes he is stronger than his creator and doesn’t need to obey.
“Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;—obey!”
—Frankenstein’s monster
➤Want to know about Elon’s plans for the future? Watch Metaphysical to learn about the billionaire’s possible real reason for wanting to go to Mars.
Cyborgs & Humanity
Humanity+ is one transhumanist group trying to influence society. Their company goal is to “deeply influence a new generation of thinkers who dare to envision humanity’s next steps.” The nonprofit says they want to use technology ethically. They’re researching a ton of stuff—like elimination of aging, computer-brain integration, bionics, memory transfer tech, whole-body prosthetics, mind uploading tech, brain simulations, and the singularity. This, of course, includes robots.
Speaking of transhumanism and robots, there’s now a child robot in Japan that may be used to replace real children. And if you thought cyborgs were just in movies, think again! Ever wondered, “What are cyborgs?” or “Could The Terminator really happen?” Considered the world’s first cyborg human, Kevin Warwick has an implant that lets him control a robotic arm with his brain and even feel sensations across the Atlantic Ocean.
In addition to high-tech transhumanism like robot arms powered by the brain, there’s also low-tech transhumanism: Regular people are buying at-home cyborg implant kits. People can already buy microchips for tracking dogs so if they get lost, they can be returned. Now, some companies are working on tracking devices for kids, although they’re currently just on external devices. (Kids are not chipped like animals … yet.)
Fictional shows like Black Mirror took the idea of chipping children to its horrific extreme possibility, though, where devices don’t just track kids, but also make it so that even the things people interact with can be filtered or censored. The mother in one episode had a tablet that could censor things from her daughter’s eyes. And (spoiler alert!) as the kid grew up, her mother censored more and more things until the daughter couldn’t have a normal life. (But this kind of forced censorship could never really happen, right?)
Some people aren’t worried about the repercussions of integrating technology into their bodies. As of January, 2021, 6,000 people in Sweden have had microchips implanted in them—on purpose—to make payments and interact with smartphones. There’s even talk of using the microchips instead of train tickets there in the future.
Sweden isn’t the only country looking to use A.I. to its advantage. Did you know that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a data security law that gives them complete access to data held by all companies in China, including foreign-owned companies? The CCP even attacked Microsoft Exchange servers, harvested the information, and then trained their own A.I. systems. Let’s just hope The Matrix movie is as popular in China as it is in America!
➤Want to know more about real-life transhumanism? Check out Transhumanism: The Merge of Man & Machine, to find out about Stalin’s mutant ape army.
➤Watch all of Edge of Wonder’s Transhumanism series to learn about the weaponization of Darwinism, the transhumanist eugenics of the Nazis and Jeffrey Epstein, and even some modern-day culture changes like transhumanist art and music. How close ARE we to transhumanism?