Transhumanists as Nihilists, Continued

Posted by Jesse Reynolds September 2, 2009
Biopolitical Times
Transhumanism is a fringe school of thought, one that often amounts to simplistic and utopian blind faith in the ability of technology to cure all that ails us, with negligible social consequences. It often includes a promise that human genetic engineering will make us not just "better than well" but "more than human."

But a couple years ago, the then-named World Transhumanist Association took a wide poll of its members, and found a surprising viewpoint among them. Calling it nihilistic, at the time I wrote:
[O]nly 46% agree that "believe humans and posthumans will be able to coexist in one society and polity," implying that a majority foresee that the path they advocate will lead to significant social conflict among the enhanced and "naturals."

Now, a non-scientific online poll at the website of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, which is a transhumanist think-tank network, asked which science fiction movie “portrays the future most believably.” The site's readers, who are likely techno-enthusiasts, chose by a wide margin GATTACA, a 1997 movie which offers dystopian vision of genetic castes--an image that we often cite (1, 2, 3) as a warning of the potential consequences of unbridled human reprogenetic technologies. Moreover, the the sum of results for the several generally negative portrayals of the future (Blade Runner, Children of Men) overwhelms that that of the generally positive ones (Star Trek).

To the extent these polls are accurately revealing, it is perplexing why transhumanists would advocate for technologies and policies that even they apparently admit will likely lead to such a dark future.

Previously on Biopolitical Times: