Transhumanism and Its Critics

Author(s):  
Keith A. Bauer

Transhumanism is a social, technological, political, and philosophical movement that advocates the transformation of human nature by means of pharmacology, genetic manipulation, cybernetic modification, nanotechnology, and a host of other technologies. The aim of this movement is to increase physical and sensory abilities, augment intelligence and memory, and extend lifespan. After providing some background on transhumanism, its philosophical heritage, and its goals, the author looks at three arguments against transhumanism, arguing that they are unpersuasive and should be rejected. This paper presents two arguments against transhumanism that have merit. The first argument is an argument from justice that addresses the distribution of benefits and burdens for funding, developing, and employing enhancement technology. The second argument examines a significant assumption held by many transhumanists, namely, that there is an essential “human nature” that can be transcended.

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Keith A. Bauer

Transhumanism is a social, technological, political, and philosophical movement that advocates the transformation of human nature by means of pharmacology, genetic manipulation, cybernetic modification, nanotechnology, and a host of other technologies. The aim of this movement is to increase physical and sensory abilities, augment intelligence and memory, and extend lifespan. After providing some background on transhumanism, its philosophical heritage, and its goals, the author looks at three arguments against transhumanism, arguing that they are unpersuasive and should be rejected. This paper presents two arguments against transhumanism that have merit. The first argument is an argument from justice that addresses the distribution of benefits and burdens for funding, developing, and employing enhancement technology. The second argument examines a significant assumption held by many transhumanists, namely, that there is an essential “human nature” that can be transcended.


Author(s):  
Edward Gribkov ◽  
Tatiana Minchenko

Modern biomedical technologies pose bioethical dilemmas for humanity. On the one hand, medical advances can make life much easier for people, but, on the other hand, the problem of interference in human nature actualizes the most fundamental questions regarding his ontology, the boundaries of permissible transformations, the responsibility of a scientist and a specialist who applies the latest technologies, for remote and unpredictable consequences, due to the integrity and interconnectedness of various aspects of human nature. In the scientific literature, there is a lot of information about the attitude of various denominations to genetic manipulation. This paper presents the experience of generalizing and systematizing the attitude of the main Christian confessions to the problem of editing the human embryo genome. The assessment of modern biomedical technologies from the standpoint of the Christian worldview differs, on the one hand, in the moral depth due to spiritual experience in relation to the higher divine principle, and, on the other hand, if we bear in mind the specificity of the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant views on the problem of genetic manipulations, it is diversity interpretations in connection with historically arisen and existing to this day confessional and doctrinal differences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Wendy Wendy ◽  
◽  
David Alinurdin ◽  

Transhumanisme adalah sebuah pergerakan budaya dan filsafat yang melihat manusia memiliki hak dan kebebasan morfologis untuk berevolusi mencapai kondisi pascahuman dengan memodifikasi dan meningkatkan natur serta kapasitas manusia secara radikal menggunakan teknologi terkini seperti rekayasa genetika, robotika, kecerdasan buatan dan nanoteknologi. Pascahuman yang didambakan transhumanisme adalah kondisi manusia yang tidak dapat mengalami kemerosotan, penyakit, dan bahkan kematian. Tujuan akhirnya adalah hidup lebih panjang atau bahkan abadi untuk menikmati kebahagiaan yang tidak terbatas. Dengan mencermati perkembangan agenda transhumanis, muncul keprihatinan dari para sarjana bidang interdisipliner sains, teknologi dan teologi bahwa umat manusia akan diubahkan oleh teknologi atau bahkan malah menjadi tersingkir dan punah. Artikel ini bertujuan mengkaji transhumanisme dari perspektif antropologi Kristen, yang meliputi tiga aspek, yaitu asal-usul dan natur manusia, realitas kehidupan manusia serta solusi bagi masalah manusia. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa janji transhumanisme mengenai evolusi manusia dengan kebebasan morfologis dan determinasi dirinya sendiri dapat mengupayakan perkembangan menuju kondisi pascahuman adalah hal yang tidak menjanjikan untuk tercapai karena natur manusia yang telah jatuh ke dalam dosa cenderung merusak atau menggantikan yang baik menjadi jahat. Agenda dan optimisme transhumanisme untuk menyingkirkan kemerosotan, penyakit dan kematian sepenuhnya dari kehidupan manusia dengan menggunakan teknologi terkini mustahil direalisasikan karena semua realitas tersebut adalah dampak dari kejatuhan manusia ke dalam dosa yang hanya bisa diatasi dengan cara ilahi melalui karya penebusan Kristus yang mengerjakan transformasi jiwa raga secara holistik. Transhumanism is a cultural and philosophical movement that sees humans as having the right and morphological freedom to evolve towards a posthuman state by radically modifying and enhancing human nature and capacity using the latest technologies such as genetic engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology. The posthuman that transhumanism craves is the human condition impervious to degeneration, disease, and even death. The end goal is to live longer or even immortal to enjoy unlimited happiness. By observing the development of the transhumanist agenda, there are concerns from scholars in the interdisciplinary fields of science, technology, and theology that humanity will be transformed by technology or even become marginalized and extinct. This article aims to examine transhumanism from Christian anthropology, which includes three aspects: the origin and nature of man, the reality of human life, and solutions to human problems. The results of the study show that the promise of transhumanism regarding human evolution with morphological freedom and self-determination to strive for progress towards a posthuman state is unpromising to achieve because human nature, which has fallen into sin, tends to destroy or exchange good for evil. The agenda and optimism of transhumanism to completely remove degeneration, disease, and death from human life by using the latest technology is impossible to realize because all these realities are the impact of the fall of man into sin, which can only be overcome by divine means through redemptive work of Christ which carries out the transformation of soul and body holistically.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiong Wang ◽  
Michael J. Betenbaugh

As a complex and common post-translational modification, N-linked glycosylation affects a recombinant glycoprotein's biological activity and efficacy. For example, the α1,6-fucosylation significantly affects antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and α2,6-sialylation is critical for antibody anti-inflammatory activity. Terminal sialylation is important for a glycoprotein's circulatory half-life. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are currently the predominant recombinant protein production platform, and, in this review, the characteristics of CHO glycosylation are summarized. Moreover, recent and current metabolic engineering strategies for tailoring glycoprotein fucosylation and sialylation in CHO cells, intensely investigated in the past decades, are described. One approach for reducing α1,6-fucosylation is through inhibiting fucosyltransferase (FUT8) expression by knockdown and knockout methods. Another approach to modulate fucosylation is through inhibition of multiple genes in the fucosylation biosynthesis pathway or through chemical inhibitors. To modulate antibody sialylation of the fragment crystallizable region, expressions of sialyltransferase and galactotransferase individually or together with amino acid mutations can affect antibody glycoforms and further influence antibody effector functions. The inhibition of sialidase expression and chemical supplementations are also effective and complementary approaches to improve the sialylation levels on recombinant glycoproteins. The engineering of CHO cells or protein sequence to control glycoforms to produce more homogenous glycans is an emerging topic. For modulating the glycosylation metabolic pathways, the interplay of multiple glyco-gene knockouts and knockins and the combination of multiple approaches, including genetic manipulation, protein engineering and chemical supplementation, are detailed in order to achieve specific glycan profiles on recombinant glycoproteins for superior biological function and effectiveness.


2006 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Reber
Keyword(s):  

1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 525-526
Author(s):  
Jack Martin
Keyword(s):  

1956 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 90-90
Author(s):  
Albert S. Thompson
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document