Since my last entry here on transhumanism sparked a great discussion, I thought I would share the latest on the transhumanism front.
Actually, it is environmentalism and transhumanism combined in a bizarre discussion on how to engineer humans to combat “climate change.”
Some of the approaches discussed by S. Matthew Liao, a professor of philosophy and bioethics at New York University, in a recent paper published in Ethics, Policy and Environment, include selecting smaller children using IVF and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or stunting their growth with genetic manipulation or chemicals. The rationale? Smaller people use less resources and drive smaller cars.
Also discussed, engineering human eyes to be like cat eyes, able to see in the dark so our species won’t need lights at night. And there is where transhumanism and environmentalism meet.
March 13, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Transhumanism,eco-worship = paganism
March 13, 2012 at 11:24 pm
"Save the planet from climate change" = total ignorance of the fact that the earth has never been stable, climates always change, and lotsa luck on that one. Why don't you stop the poles from wobbling and the magnetic fields from reversing while you are at it?
March 14, 2012 at 12:50 am
So, it's not ok to genetically engineer our food but it's ok to genetically engineer our children. That makes a lot of sense.
March 14, 2012 at 12:59 am
I think comparing this to paganism is an insult to paganism….this is much much worse.
March 14, 2012 at 1:21 am
No more tall, dark and handsome…
I read this the other day and it gave me the willies.
The only question left is, will the economic bottom fall out before the culture collapses?
March 14, 2012 at 1:45 am
Kim F. should get an award for the most concise and brutal highlighting of liberal hypocrisy I have seen in a while — kudos
March 14, 2012 at 3:03 am
Transhumanism is not good. But (and not to make light of a serious topic) what everyone is missing here is the good news: being short is finally cool. I was concerned that my 'future children' might have to deal with a world that seems to be getting taller and taller, but now it seems that they'll be 'ecowarriors' saving the Earth with the same short stature and frame as their father (without all the artificial manipulation of their peers).
March 14, 2012 at 11:49 am
Kim F, such people have no problem holding two contrary views as truths. Another example: don't want chemicals sprayed on foods (they'll eat it!) but dose themselves with high levels of chemicals to cause infertility.
March 14, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Both are predicated on ignorance of science. Many Transhumanists believe humans will one day abolish economic scarcity and "involuntary death". Global warming ignores just how big a thing an atmosphere is—5 quadrillion tons, specifically. If we output a billion tons of greenhouse gas a year, it would still take 50,000 years to equal 1% of the atmosphere.
Both fail to grasp the actual scale of energies required for the things they talk about, and also appear unacquainted with a little thing called "the second law of thermodynamics".
March 14, 2012 at 1:38 pm
Thank you Sophia's Favorite.
March 14, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Kim F – astute indeed. The same applies with cloning. They won't eat milk or meat from a cloned cow but will fight tooth and nail to inject themselves with the stem cells from their dead embryonic clone.
Jennifer M – another astute observation. Will we collapse under the weight of our spending before these technologies are realized? Good question. Sometimes I wonder if it will preventing the horrors of the transhumanist "utopia."