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Essays on the cons of transhumanism
Transhumanism essays
Arguments against transhumanism
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Transhumanism is the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology. (CITE?)
Transhumanism does not have a place in this world. There are many people supporting the movement, saying it is a good thing for society and it will help the human race to move forward. Transhumanism needs close surveillance because without regulation, it could take over the world. If transhumanism proceeds, robots will actually take over the world. Equality, human feeling, and humanity as a whole will be lost if transhumanism continues to grow.
“The first victim of transhumanism might be equality.” (CITE) Equality is one of the most important founding principals
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In his essay, American Philosopher, Francis Fukuyama says, “our good characteristics are intimately connected to our bas ones: if we weren’t violent and aggressive, we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves; if we didn’t have feelings of exclusivity, we wouldn’t be loyal to those close to us; if we never felt jealousy, we would also never feel love.” (CITE) Feeling is an essential ingredient in making humans who they are. Transhumans, or metahumans would not be able to feel all of the things humans can. While it would probably be possible to still have good feelings, it would be impossible to feel them on the same level we do now. Without feeling, metahumans will be able to take over the world easier than if they did have feelings. It is much easier to commit crimes, and do immoral things when there is a lack of …show more content…
Transhumanism is going to start out small with slight enhancements to help athletes, special needs people, etc.; but like most things, that will get old. Once the wonder is lost, scientists will need to continue to do more and more to keep people interested. Eventually, people will be pieced together in labs. Parents will be able to go to the doctor and decide what genes they want their baby to have. What will happen when humans start to play God? The world will be in for a lot of trouble. Who is going to decide when it stops? Who is going to decide which humans are good enough to live? At what point will people wake up and realize what they have done? Ronald Bailey is a science correspondent for Reason magazine, and the author of “Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea? Why Striving to Be More than Human Is Human.” In his essay, Bailey says, “Human liberation from our biological constraints began when an ancestor first sharpened a stick…followed with fire, the wheel, domesticating animals…transplants and contraception.” (CITE) This argument would make sense if Bailey were talking about how humans have altered the world around them to create better living conditions, but he is not. Bailey is trying to use this evidence to support the altering of humans. Altering the world in which you live is much different than altering the people that live in the world. Metahumans are obviously going to be superior to
Transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism and romanticism. This philosophy taught that all people have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel. To achieve this one must transcend and go beyond everyday human experiences in the physical world. Transcendentalism dwells on the importance of emotion, individualism, and nature, and these beliefs are still used today in pop culture. In the Disney Pixar movie Finding Nemo, aspects of transcendentalism are depicted.
What is transcendentalism? Webster says transcendentalism is a philosophy that says that thought and spiritual things are more real than ordinary human experience and material things. The more simplified definition of it is the idea that our spirits have deep connection with. We are more "in tune" with nature and our mood is depicted by nature. So people can come to the conclusion that the “going green” movement and being “eco-friendly” is all a part of transcendentalism, and people who support these movements are transcendentalists. Leonardo DiCaprio, a multi millionaire, lives his life eco-friendly, and donates millions of dollars to protect our environment. By doing this, he is showing that he values the environment and nature more than he values material items, which is part of being a transcendentalist. DiCaprio is also an advocate for the gay rights movement. The other part of being a transcendentalist is the independence of the individual; and in today’s society the gay rights movement has become a great deal and the supporters of gay rights can be considered transcendentalists because homosexuality is interlinked with independence of the individual, which is stressed by transcendentalism.
Smith, Wesley J. "The Trouble with Transhumanism." The Center for Bioethics and Culture RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
What is posthumanism? As the name might imply the concept of posthumanism is essentially the next step, so to speak, in the human nature. A transcendence, of shorts, of mankind. This could take various forms, be it from feasible and current ways such as genetically engineered food, prosthetics due to injury to far-off and futuristic concepts such as cyborg technologies (prosthetics for the purpose of body or mind enhancement rather than appliance to amputees), digital preservation of our conscience (even after death) and even the achievement of parapsychology concepts such as telekinesis, mind reading etc.
Using science to modify humans, and better ourselves is becoming more of a reality every year. The term transhumanism can be defined as, a method to increase human’s physical and mental capacities using science (Koch, pg 686). It’s an idea that has been around for as long as humans. Humans will always strive to better themselves, and with new advances in technology and bioengineering this becomes more of a reality. The best examples are simple technologies like pacemakers, or prosthetics. They help people to live better. There are certainly more transhumanist technologies that will be developed to help the human race. However, there are many ethical issues related to transhumanism as well. Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment is a piece of literature written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It
The evolution of technology has been hand in hand with the human subjugation of the earth, but the question persists, when does the use of technology go too far? Advances in medical science have increased the average human lifespan and improved the quality of life for individuals. Medical science and biology are steadily arriving at new ways to alter humans through the use of advanced genetic alteration. This technology gives rise to the question of how this new technology ought to be used, if at all. The idea of human enhancement is a very general topic, since humans are constantly “enhancing” themselves through the use of tools.
In 1776, five members assembled to draw up the Declaration of Independence, a document that clearly stated independence from Britain, and listed the colonists’ grievances and natural rights. One of the most controversial components was the following statement: “We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The concept of equality debated and understood in a variety of ways throughout American history. Equality, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, can be defined as “the quality or state of having the same rights, social status, etc.” Consequently, changes have been sought to obtain rights that were not easily granted. Marginalized members of society have fought to acquire rights, whether human or civil, since they believe that, as citizens, they deserve equality. The trend of change in the name of equality has brought about numerous fundamental and eternal transformations in American society.
Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland, eds., Equality: Selected Readings (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997), 30.
Explaining how to challenge the discriminatory attitudes that remain rampant throughout the world, Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a recent article, quotes the incisive words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "We are all of equal worth, born equal in dignity and born free and for this reason deserving respect. . . . We belong in a world whose very structure, whose essence, is diversity almost bewildering in extent, and it is to live in a fool's paradise to ignore this basic fact."
...equality strains the bonds that hold us together as a society, and until we can find a solution, we will continue down this beaten path of destruction.
One of the greatest sensitivities discernible in the contemporary society concerns race and gender. Such sensitivities are defensibly results of the historical struggles for equality in suffrage, work, education, employment, and many other civil rights. It is clear that although the civil struggles are now gone, the issues have not waned with time. In the case of gender equality, it seems the pendulum swung so hard that the problem has changed from one extreme to the other, which has become unhealthy for the society. When it comes to race, however, it seems much has changed in terms of laws protecting minority races, condemnation of pejorative language, and other visible prejudices, while the economic inequality of the races is still conspicuous. The church’s understanding of the doctrine of humanity should determine how these issues are viewed, evaluated, and confronted.
Imagine that you are able to teleport to the not too distant future. In this world you discover that disease and poverty are no longer causes for human suffering, world hunger has become eliminated from society, and space travel is as easy as snapping your fingers. Cryonics, nanotechnology, cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence, and brain chips are all common technologies at a doctor’s office. You gasp as a friendly sounding electronic voice cries out, “Welcome to the future Natural!” You are unsure of whether being called a Natural is an insult or not, so you feign a half-hearted hello at the posthuman in front of you. Getting over the initial shock you ask the posthuman, “Who are you?” The posthuman gives an electronic sounding chuckle and shakes his head. He replies, “I am a Posthuman, and you Natural, are in Utopia. Welcome.”
The two controversial topics discussed below share a single goal: to enhance the quality of life of a human individual. The first topic, transhumanism, is a largely theoretical movement that involves the advancement of the human body through scientific augmentations of existing human systems. This includes a wide variety of applications, such as neuropharmacology to enhance the function of the human brain, biomechanical interfaces to allow the human muscles to vastly out-perform their unmodified colleagues, and numerous attempts to greatly extend, perhaps indefinitely, the human lifespan. While transhumanist discussion is predominantly a thinking exercise, it brings up many important ethical dilemmas that may face human society much sooner than the advancements transhumanism desires to bring into reality. The second topic, elective removal of healthy limbs at the request of the patient, carries much more immediate gravity. Sufferers of a mental condition known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder seek to put to rest the disturbing disconnect between their internal body image and their external body composition. This issue is often clouded by sensationalism and controversy in the media, and is therefore rarely discussed in a productive manner (Bridy). This lack of discussion halts progress and potentially limits citizens' rights, as legislation is enacted without sufficient research. The primary arguments against each topic are surprisingly similar; an expansion on both transhumanism and elective amputation follows, along with a discussion of the merit of those arguments. The reader will see how limits placed on both transhumanism and elective amputation cause more harm to whole of human society than good.
Transhumanist claim the individual can plan their own life. Transhumanist value autonomy: “Transhumanist place a high value on autonomy, the ability and right of individual to plan and choose their lives”(World Transhumanist Association). The right for an individual to “plan” their own life through genetic engineering is terrifying. Ethical people should not have the power to genetically enhance or themselves or others. Genetic enthusiasts may not use genetic engineering right. People genetically enhance themselves without any cause. Planning every single commodity in any person's life creates too much power. Great power corrupts the individual. Genetic engineering yields power that any person should not
Privacy is not just a fundamental right, it is also important to maintain a truly democratic society where all citizens are able to exist with relative comfort. Therefore, “[Monitoring citizens without their knowledge] is a major threat to democracies all around the world.” (William Binney.) This is a logical opinion because without freedom of expression and privacy, every dictatorship in history has implemented some form of surveillance upon its citizens as a method of control.