Workshop Transhumanism The Proper Guide To A Posthuman Condition Or A Dangerous Idea

This book examines the contributions of the transhumanism approach to technology, in particular the contributed chapters are wary of the implications of this popular idea. The volume is organized into four parts concerning philosophical, military, technological and sociological aspects of transhumanism, but the reader is free to choose various reading patterns. Topics discussed include gene editing, the singularity, ethical machines, metaphors in AI, mind uploading, and the philosophy of art, and some perspectives taken or discussed examine transhumanism within the context of the philosophy of technology, transhumanism as a derailed anthropology, and critical sociological aspects that consider transhumanism in the context of topical concerns such as whiteness, maleness, and masculinity. The book will be of value to researchers engaged with artificial intelligence, and the ethical, societal, and philosophical impacts of science and technology.

The first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and current state of transhumanist thinking The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns. Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature.

The new reader presents an up-to-date collection of seminal texts dedicated to all branches of debates on Posthuman Studies: Transhumanism, Critical Posthumanism and Metahumanism. It includes classical as well as cutting-edge contributions to these debates. The Posthuman Studies Reader is an indispensable resource for studying as well as teaching key concepts, central claims and main arguments of contemporary debates in the field of Posthuman Studies. The reader includes texts by: Neil Badmington, Karen Barad, Nick Bostrom, Rosi Braidotti, Claire Colebrook, Jaime del Val, FM-2030, Francis Fukuyama, Elaine Graham, Donna Haraway, Ihab Habib Hassan, N. Katherine Hayles, James Hughes, Julian Huxley, Brian Massumi, Max More, David Pearce, Anders Sandberg, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Stelarc, Natasha Vita-More and Cary Wolfe. "This Reader is a perfect guide to get into bleeding-edge philosophy."Nicolás Rojas Cortés, Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, University of Chile "The Reader can be used not only as a textbook in higher education, but also by all researchers and students in these fields as reference. [...] I highly recommend it to everyone who is interested in these movements and those works from which excerpts are included in it."Yunus Tuncel, The New School, New York "Since Sorgner, Sampanikou, Stasienko and their colleagues, almost singlehandedly, are crafting and advancing this discipline through its forming stages, when they publish a book with handpicked canonic texts, it should be treated as a landmark."Carmel Vaisman, The Cohn Institute and The Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities, Tel Aviv University "What makes the Posthuman Studies Reader interesting and exciting is the facility to have in one volume the basic ideas and essentials of transhumanism, critical posthumanism and metahumanism. The reader provides in a condensed version an introduction to posthuman studies for both academic and nonacademic audiences."Leo Igwe, Department of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town "The Posthuman Studies Reader serves as a comprehensive guide and/or manual of an evolving and expanding Post/Trans/Meta Humanism discourse. [...] because of the clarity of organization by the editors and the highest scholarship of the writers, the collection was able to drive the interest of readers a notch or two higher."Joseph Reylan B. Viray, Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Transhumanism is widely misunderstood, in part because the media have exaggerated current technologies and branded the movement as dangerous, leading many to believe that hybrid humans may soon walk among us and that immortality, achieved by means of mind-uploading, is imminent. In this essential and clarifying volume, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner debunks widespread myths about transhumanism and tackles the most pressing ethical issues in the debate over technologically assisted human enhancement. On Transhumanism is a vital primer on the subject, written by a world-renowned expert. In this book, Sorgner presents an overview of the movement’s history, capably summarizing the twelve pillars of transhumanist discourse and explaining the great diversity of transhumanist responses to each individual topic. He highlights the urgent ethical challenges related to the latest technological developments, inventions, and innovations and compares the unique cultural standing of transhumanism to other cultural movements, placing it within the broader context of the Enlightenment, modernity, postmodernity, and the philosophical writings of Nietzsche. Engagingly written and translated and featuring an introduction for North American readers, this comprehensive overview of the cultural and philosophical movement of transhumanism will be required reading for students of posthumanist philosophy and for general audiences interested in learning about the transhumanist movement.

What Is Posthumanism The concept of posthumanism, also spelled post-humanism, is a response to the anthropocentrism that is prevalent in 21st-century thought. It can be found in continental philosophy and critical theory. It incorporates a wide range of subfields, including the following:Antihumanism is a school of thought that takes a scathing stance against traditional humanism and the established canon of thought concerning the human condition, life, and agency.Cultural posthumanism is a subfield of cultural theory that is critical of the foundational assumptions of humanism and the legacy that it has left behind. It investigates and questions the historical notions of "human" and "human nature," frequently challenging typical notions of human subjectivity and embodiment, and it seeks to move beyond archaic concepts of "human nature" in order to develop ones that are constantly adapting to contemporary technological and scientific knowledge.Philosophical posthumanism is a philosophical path that draws on cultural posthumanism. The philosophical strand investigates the ethical consequences of broadening the circle of moral concern and extending subjectivities beyond the human species. Philosophical posthumanism is a philosophical direction that draws on cultural posthumanism.The deconstruction of the human condition as carried out by critical thinkers is referred to as the posthuman condition.Posthuman transhumanism is an ideology and movement that aspires to develop and make available technology that permit immortality and vastly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities in order to attain a "posthuman future." This ideology and movement draws from posthumanist philosophy.AI takeover refers to a sub-genre of transhumanism in which the goal is not to augment humans but rather to eventually replace them with artificial intelligences. As a result of a technological singularity, some philosophers and theorists, including Nick Land, advocate for the position that human beings ought to welcome and be at peace with their own impending extinction as a natural consequence of the phenomenon. This is connected to the philosophy known as "cosmism," which advocates for the development of powerful artificial intelligence even if it would result in the extinction of humanity. This is because, in their opinion, "it would be a cosmic tragedy if humanity freezes evolution at the puny human level," which describes the current state of human evolution.Voluntary Human Extinction is an ideology that advocates for a "posthuman future," which in this context refers to a future devoid of human beings. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Posthumanism Chapter 2: Transhumanism Chapter 3: A Cyborg Manifesto Chapter 4: Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Chapter 5: Posthuman Chapter 6: Cyborg anthropology Chapter 7: Directed evolution (transhumanism) Chapter 8: Transhumanist politics Chapter 9: Posthumanization Chapter 10: Antihumanism (II) Answering the public top questions about posthumanism. (III) Real world examples for the usage of posthumanism in many fields. (IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of posthumanism' technologies. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of posthumanism.

Post- and Transhumanism are being introduced with respect to foundational questions, utopian issues, normative and evaluative elements, ontological perspectives and arts. The topics are divided up into five sections with the following titles: Confessions, Lands of Cockaygne, Neo-Socratic Reflections, Ontologies of Becoming and Paragone of the Arts.

This book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy – the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy – Michael Hauskeller explores these narratives and the understanding of human nature that informs them. Particular attention is paid to the theory of transhumanism as a form of utopia, stories of human nature, the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement project into the cultural mainstream, and the drive to upgrade from flesh to machine.