Talk:Transhumanism

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Former featured articleTranshumanism is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on June 2, 2006.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
March 22, 2006Featured article candidateNot promoted
April 3, 2006Good article nomineeListed
April 12, 2006Peer reviewReviewed
May 14, 2006Featured article candidatePromoted
May 29, 2012Featured article reviewDemoted
Current status: Former featured article

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment[edit]

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 January 2021 and 16 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Paul Gambone.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:39, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Content/citation dump from cleaned debate section[edit]

Giuseppe Vattino, a supporter of transhumanism elected as a member of Parliament in Italy, believes that, although transhumanism may make us less human, there are both positive and negative consequences. He believes that transhumanism will make people “less subject to the whims of nature, such as illness or climate extremes”.[1]

Fukuyama points out that, while the concept of being able to do away with negative emotions is appealing in theory, if we did not have the emotion of aggression then "we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves".[2]

Struck by a passage from Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's anarcho-primitivist manifesto (quoted in Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines[3]), computer scientist Bill Joy became a notable critic of emerging technologies. Joy's warning was seized upon by appropriate technology organizations such as the ETC Group. Related notions were also voiced by self-described neo-luddite Kalle Lasn, a culture jammer who co-authored a 2001 spoof of Donna Haraway's 1985 Cyborg Manifesto as a critique of the techno-utopianism he interpreted it as promoting.[4] Lasn argues that high technology development should be completely relinquished since it inevitably serves corporate interests with devastating consequences on society and the environment.[5] (looks to have been improperly classified as existential risk)

Some also argue that strong advocacy of a transhumanist approach to improving the human condition might divert attention and resources from social solutions.[6] Sometimes, however, there are strong disagreements about the very principles involved, with divergent views on humanity, human nature and the morality of transhumanist aspirations.[6]

[7]

Transhumanists, therefore, argue that parents have a moral responsibility called procreative beneficence to make use of these methods, if and when they are shown to be reasonably safe and effective, to have the healthiest children possible. They add that this responsibility is a moral judgment best left to individual conscience, rather than imposed by law, in all but extreme cases. In this context, the emphasis on freedom of choice is called procreative liberty.[6]

Artist and filmmaker Tim Holmes sees a similar but subtler danger in the devaluation of the body by the progress of civilization itself, which he says encourages mechanical values of expediency, rather than body values of quality of life, leading us to ever more mechanical, anti-flesh solutions. In his TEDx talk "The Erotic Crisis", he warns against abandoning the hidden wisdom of the flesh, which cannot be digitally comprehended.[8]

References

  1. ^ Cartlidge, Edwin. "One Minute with... Giuseppe Vatinno." New Scientist 215.2882 (2012): 25-. Web.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tucker, Abigail 2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kurzweil 1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Walker, Ian (2001). "Cyborg Dreams: Beyond Human". Retrieved January 17, 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Hughes, James (2005). "Tech for People, not for Corporate Control: Interview with Kalle Lasn, founder of AdBusters". Retrieved June 12, 2006.
  6. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Hughes 2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Clark, Amanda C. R. (March 12, 2010). "Transhumanism and Posthumanism: Lifting Man Up or Pulling Him Down?". Ignatius Insight. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
  8. ^ "Erotic crisis: Tim Holmes at TEDxWhitefish". youtube.com. 2014-04-06. Retrieved 2016-06-23.

Add this to the series on dystopia as well[edit]

One man's utopia is another's dystopia — Preceding unsigned comment added by UnDoxa (talkcontribs) 15:30, 24 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]


See Also "Body Hacking" link not working[edit]

May someone please advise why the link to Body Hacking which is from this Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_hacking isn't working in the See also section please? If someone could teach me what the issue was I will learn for the future thanks. SumeetJi (talk) 13:03, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Olaf Stapledon[edit]

Last and First Men (and Starmaker, for that matter), while fictitious and androcentric, may be a relevant work to mention here, as the entirety of it is concerned with transhumanism and posthumanism (albeit from the perspective of a man in the 1930s). It also is a somewhat less disturbing and semi-psychopathic work that many others in the field, owing partially to it's (unusal for the genre) disregard for the pursuit of personal immortality.

How do you go about looking for a better source?[edit]

I ask because it says the following line on the main article needs a better source: "Another topic of transhumanist research is how to protect humanity against existential risks, such as nuclear war or asteroid collision."

Why is this source not adequate: Kirsch, Adam (June 20, 2020). "Looking Forward to the End of Humanity". Wall Street Journal. And how should a user look for a better one? FireInMe (talk) 21:14, 11 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

[edit]

Why was the "Humanity Plus" logo changed? SWeinblatt (talk) 00:47, 26 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]