Transhumanism

Abstract

Our research will be focused on the idea and belief of Transhumanism. Our project looks to examine these aspects of transhumanism both individually and as a whole, with the goal of gaining a more precise understanding of its many facets and how it fits into modern culture. More specifically, our project will focus on how this concept/belief applies to human identity, and both the positive and negative consequences of its increasing prominence. We look to achieve this through examining both items in popular culture, scientific publications, and literature from the growing transhumanist community.

We hope to gain a better understanding of what it means to be “human”. By looking at the definitions of “human” based on technological/physical and cultural/ psychological perspectives, we hope to start defining what it truly means to be “human.” By comparing these perspectives to modern science fiction we can determine the influence media has played on the rise of interest in transhumanism.

We hope to reveal through our study whether true transhumanism, particularly in its extreme cases, places little or no value on human identity, reduces mankind to an expendable, manipulable machine, and embraces the “inevitable” extinction of the human race for the good of the universe; in addition, we hope to investigate whether, through science fiction films, books, and gaming, pop culture leads society to believe that much artificial intelligence is simply the product of scientists’ creations gone out of control.