Blog #8

 Transhumanism. That's a term you would probably hear in a Sci-Fi film more than you would in actual real life. In fact, you probably wouldn't even believe me if I told you that there was in fact a real-life movement called "Transhumanism." So, what is transhumanism? Well, transhumanism is a movement that prioritizes prolonging and improving upon human livelihood using "sophisticated" technologies. Transhuman thinkers study the "potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human deficiencies, as well as the ethics of using such technologies. 

While transhumanism hasn't been around forever, the idea that sparked it has. There has always been the question of whether humans could achieve immortality. And transhumanism itself is a movement that may in fact be looking to solve that. Going back to 1923, JBS Haldane, a British geneticist, predicted in an essay that "great" benefits would come to humans if they were to introduce advanced scientific technology to their bodies. 

To quote the man who popularized the term, "Up till now human life has generally been, as Hobbes described it, "nasty, brutish and short"; the great majority of human beings (if they have not already died young) have been afflicted with misery… we can justifiably hold the belief that these lands of possibility exist, and that the present limitations and miserable frustrations of our existence could be in large measure surmounted… The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself—not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity."

The benefits of transhumanism would be that you could improve the livelihood of

of those who decide to take part in it. You could also have significant medical 

improvements, as well as improvements for those who are physically disabled.

You could also make a whole lot of cash. Outside of that, the benefits are 

slim in comparision to the potential issues that could come with transhumanism. 

For example, the biggest fear would be that people become too reliant on technology.

What if that technology what days fails to work? What if that technology isn't durable?

And let's not even bring up all of the what if sci movie scenarios. 

If there is anyone who is at risk, or is more likely to benefit from transhumanism, it 

would be the younger generations. That being because the younger generation is 

more likely to be impressionable, while the older generations are more set in their

ways.