The Taxonomy of Transhumanism
Where did the meme of Transhumanism come from anyway? I have sketched a rough taxonomy that I think gives the basic genealogy of this idea (see below).
It all starts with the enormous influence of our common Judeo-Christian heritage and specifically the idea of Providence which is the belief that there is a loving God watching over the world and guiding history. In the 1700s, philosophers starting with Fontanelle and Condorcet secularized Providence by claiming that history follows inevitable progressive trends. Since the 1700s, every modern ideological movement has linked itself to the Idea of Progress: Marxism, Fascism, Positivism, Capitalism and now
Transhumanism.
In America, many religious faiths, such as Mormonism and the Southern Baptists, have been influenced by Gnostic ideas. Broadly speaking, Gnosticism was an ancient religion that professed that we were self-created instead of created by God. However, one day we would all become Gods through knowledge. This is an obvious influence on Transhumanism because a post-human will be a kind of God: immortal, omniscient and all-powerful.
Finally, the empirical observation of Moore's Law coupled with the insight from cognitive science that the mind/brain is like a computer caused the movement to gel around technology in the mid-90s.
Now that growth in computational power is winding down, the movement doesn't have much time left but I'm sure it will be replaced with some other religion.
It all starts with the enormous influence of our common Judeo-Christian heritage and specifically the idea of Providence which is the belief that there is a loving God watching over the world and guiding history. In the 1700s, philosophers starting with Fontanelle and Condorcet secularized Providence by claiming that history follows inevitable progressive trends. Since the 1700s, every modern ideological movement has linked itself to the Idea of Progress: Marxism, Fascism, Positivism, Capitalism and now
Transhumanism.
In America, many religious faiths, such as Mormonism and the Southern Baptists, have been influenced by Gnostic ideas. Broadly speaking, Gnosticism was an ancient religion that professed that we were self-created instead of created by God. However, one day we would all become Gods through knowledge. This is an obvious influence on Transhumanism because a post-human will be a kind of God: immortal, omniscient and all-powerful.
Finally, the empirical observation of Moore's Law coupled with the insight from cognitive science that the mind/brain is like a computer caused the movement to gel around technology in the mid-90s.
Now that growth in computational power is winding down, the movement doesn't have much time left but I'm sure it will be replaced with some other religion.
The suggested taxonomy of transhumanism is inaccurate and misleading.
Transhuman is the idea of a transformative human though technological/scientific/medical enhancement (nano-bio-info-cogno). Transhumanism is a social movement, not a political stance nor a religous belief.
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