It is already good form to recall what transhumanism is. This multidisciplinary approach pushes us to understand and evaluate all the ways and paths that will allow us to go beyond our physical and biological limits. All this so that people live longer and healthier lives, with the will to increase their intellectual, physical and emotional capacities as well. This current of thought was born in the 1960s from the new left, the civil rights movement and the beatnik counterculture. Victory over death is the ultimate goal sought by the most extreme of the in-betweens. The field of interest of the transhumanists is broad and complex, as the science specialist and writer Jean-Jacques Perrut points out. Modern technologies such as engineering, information technology, pharmaceutical medicine with the anticipation of future capabilities including nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, downloading data from the brain into a computer or grafting subcutaneous maps, perpetual bliss through chemical modification and finally the colonization of space. Subjects that are sometimes thought to have come straight out of science fiction, yet which are in full development in our present time.
A Philosophical Approach:
It is worth noting that a new paradigm of reflection has emerged over the years a paradigm of reflection on the future of humanity and the human being. A race towards immortality has been launched on the principle that the human condition is a basic “constant” and that it is possible to go beyond our natural limits. From all times and with all the technologies that man has developed since his appearance on earth (the invention of language, writing, agriculture, printing, industrialization, medicine and modern medicine, computers), he has changed his way of life and his way of being with a not inconsiderable impact. The fantasy of the modified or improved man is not a new idea. All religions have had the pretension of depicting supernatural beings that brought man back to his inferior condition. They thought that this was a utopian goal to achieve. If we draw a parallel with what is likely to happen in the decades to come, this change of state or improvement of the human being has been gradual and gentle. The proposal(s) of the orthodox of transhumanism are more radical and offend against the deep nature and foundations of what has made humanity for centuries. From a purely philosophical point of view, a total change of physical and psychic state is taking place because man will want as usual to approach the “divine” to thus surpass his mortal condition. The hidden or hidden purpose of the movement is to touch man’s eternal fantasy immortality.
The point of view of a Biologist, Mr Jean Jacques PERRUT:
But what can be considered as Transhumanism? If the increase or improvement of the human state or its physical or psychic modification is considered as the beginning of transhumanization, then many techniques of medicine can be induced to its expansion and increase. As Mr. Jean-Jacques PERRUT points out in an essay he wrote, if the will to repair man is a noble purpose that can only be encouraged; where does this repair stop? How far can we increase man while remaining man? This reparation must be made with the help of ethically recognized tools and means. Mr PERRUT puts forward a major argument which is cosmetic surgery. First invented and developed during the First World War in order to help the “broken mouths” to find a human face, from now on we can redo all the parts of our body that we do not judge to our taste. A way of erasing the work that nature has done and that we do not accept. All the technological advances allow us to have a direct action on our physics. An inequality is created because this method and practice of medicine remains quite expensive and only the wealthy people. Jean-Jacques PERRUT also explains to us that transhumanism can be present in everyday objects such as watches or connected glasses, subcutaneous cards to pay or to keep in memory all our personal data, GPS, intelligent textiles…everyday objects accessible to everyone that can be coupled with much more pointed things such as earpieces for hearing, hearts or other artificial organs, plastic or steel limbs (exoskeleton among others). The phenomenon affects and is present in our daily lives and we accept it unconsciously.
Technical questions :
The discourse of transhumanists can be seductive but also frightening. Since all the time, man has wanted to improve his living conditions and for this he has used different techniques and in particular medical techniques. It is an answer to a natural need to be able to feel better in his environment, in his human summer. Transhumanism crosses this frontier because it no longer aims simply at improving the conditions of human life, but at the pure and simple modification of the nature of one’s being by aiming at an artificial increase of one’s physical or psychic capacities. There is a rather fine line between things that are a matter of care and things that are a matter of artificial improvement. All new methods of repair or operation can be questioned. Is it considered transhumanism to give implants to a deaf person who can hear noises that no one else can hear? Can a person undergoing laser eye surgery and gaining several tenths of a point of view, giving him or her the opportunity to see better than a person who does not need glasses, be taken for artificial human enhancement or a simple gesture of comfort? The same applies to chemicals. Athletes who are sometimes referred to as “superman” cannot use doping products to improve their physical performance; while at other times, scientists are encouraged to take products that enhance their thinking and stimulate their intelligence. A two-speed transhumanism that limits the access of some for whom we want to keep an image of an unmodified human being and, on the other hand, of a gifted being who favours and works tirelessly on surpassing human limits.
The vision of the Superhero:
Stronger and happier, these are the two proven goals of transhumanism… This concept mixes two heterogeneous dimensions which are the end and the means. The dream avowed in half words by the human is to rise above his natural condition and to be able to assuage his disease of control. But are we looking for the superhero’s strength or his benevolence? Is physical or mental improvement the best way to happiness? Our society is a society based on money and economics. The person who can afford piano will not be able to afford virtuosity. Therefore, the monetary magne only gives access to the means and not to the end of knowing how to play the instrument perfectly. Shouldn’t this vision of the over-dominant and ultra-performing being be questioned and that everyone should say to themselves that one must advance at their own pace, with their capacities and develop them in a natural way? A superhero artificially improved is ultimately a meaningless being who did not know or did not experience the work to achieve it. This feeling and desire comes from the ideal of mastery that our society wishes to put in place. If we dominate the illnesses and hazards generated by nature, it is therefore possible for us to control our very nature as humans and to rise in the natural hierarchy. Again, there is a fine line between improving human comfort and increasing human nature. We can cure many diseases and repair many limbs or organs. All this is the result of high-performance technical means with a precise end, to allow a better. If the end is to transform a “healthy” human being, then the goal is totally corrupt. The superhero is no longer a benevolent being but an artificial being who knows no limits.
Transhumanism is on the march and will be part of our future. We are living in a crucial moment which is the turning point that this movement must take. We must ask ourselves what goals we want to set for future generations. The ends rather than the means are in question because the means will always be there and will develop rapidly. The man of tomorrow is in the midst of birth and it is up to us to know what virtues we want to give him and what life we want to offer him. What makes man is his ability to invent, but also his ability to hold back and suspend his power. The human being of today was not born yesterday. Tomorrow’s human can wait.
