{"id":2040,"date":"2023-09-24T12:50:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T12:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/24\/what-is-the-christian-perspective-on-transhumanism\/"},"modified":"2023-09-24T12:50:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T12:50:13","slug":"what-is-the-christian-perspective-on-transhumanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/24\/what-is-the-christian-perspective-on-transhumanism\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Christian perspective on transhumanism?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By James Spencer<\/span><\/a><\/span>, CP Op-Ed Contributor
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Unsplash\/Possessed Photography <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before Keanu Reeves was Neo, he was Johnny.\u00a0 The film \u201cThe Matrix\u201d (1999) focused on humanity\u2019s subjugation by artificial intelligence (AI).\u00a0 The movie Johnny Mnemonic\u00a0<\/em>(1995) portrays a society in which humans voluntarily opt in to \u201cbiotech\u201d enhancements. While AI is far from approximating the sort of embodied sentience necessary to enslave humanity, we are currently adopting \u201cbiotech\u201d enhancements \u201cto improve the human condition<\/a>\u201d by \u201covercoming human vulnerabilities and injustices.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Transhumanism is not simply about humans integrating devices into our bodies, though there is a growing subculture experimenting with\u00a0biohacking<\/a>\u00a0by embedding magnets, RFID chips, or LED lights underneath their skin. According to \u201cThe Transhumanist Manifesto,<\/a>\u201d \u201cthe transhuman is a continuous human evolution\u201d which involves \u201ca confluence of organic human, technological advances in AI, nanomedicine, and gene therapies that mitigate disease, the devices and prosthetics and enhance biology that appends biology, and an awareness of personal identity, as a transformative, telematic, and expanded agency that expand through new tech-communication systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philosopher\u00a0Nick Bostrom<\/a>\u00a0notes that transhumanism is \u201cmore than just an abstract belief that we are about to transcend our biological limitations by means of technology; it is also an attempt to re-evaluate the entire human predicament as traditionally conceived.\u201d Bostrom goes on to note, \u201cWe must emphasize that what we should strive for is not technology\u00a0instead<\/em>\u00a0of humanity, but technology\u00a0for<\/em>\u00a0humanity.\u201d While I appreciate Bostrom\u2019s sentiment that technology be \u201cfor\u201d rather than \u201cinstead of\u201d humanity, it does raise questions about the human ends these means are intended to achieve. Without a clear vision of what it means to be human in the first place, it is difficult to believe we will arrive at a desirable end no matter what means we employ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The question of ends was implicit in a\u00a0debate on transhumanism<\/a> held earlier this year. During the debate, columnist Mary Harrington suggests that \u201ctrying to re-engineer our physiology \u2014 our nature, if you will \u2014 in the interest of freedom, progress, or whatever\u201d may result in a utopia that \u201carrives asymmetrically, depending on where you sit in the socioeconomic hierarchy.\u201d\u00a0 If the end is some ambiguous utopia, it will be more utopian for some than for others. To some degree, the gap in experience, according to Harrington, will involve the commoditization of human beings because \u201cyou can\u2019t have transhumanism without throwing out humanism.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The asymmetrical utopian end won\u2019t change simply because we have new technology. There will still be a drive to use one\u2019s God-given gifts to one\u2019s own advantage in a transhumanist utopia. Yet, it is unfair to judge transhumanism by postulating the ongoing presence of problems and bad actors.<\/p>\n

So, how should Christians think about transhumanism? Setting aside speculation about some technological mark of the beast or about the various ways integrating technological devices with our bodies could be detrimental, it seems to me that the more basic concern is related to the tenets of the philosophy itself. For instance, in The Philosophy of Transhumanism<\/em>,<\/a>\u00a0philosopher and transhumanist Max More suggests, \u201cBy thoughtfully, carefully, and yet boldly applying technology to ourselves, we can become something no longer accurately described as human \u2014 we can become posthuman \u2026 Posthuman beings would no longer suffer from disease, aging, and inevitable death (but they are likely to face other challenges).\u201d<\/p>\n

From a Christian perspective, such a statement is obviously problematic because \u201cthe wages of sin is death\u201d (Rom 6:23). Technology can\u2019t solve our sin problem even when construed \u201cbroadly to include the design of organizations, economies, polities, and the use of psychological method and tools.\u201d Human intervention may be capable of postponing the inevitable, but overcoming sin and, by extension, death was accomplished by Christ.\u00a0Human participation with Christ through faith is the means by which we also with conquer death (Rom 6:4-5).<\/p>\n

In addition, More notes, \u201cTranshumanists typically look to expand the range of possible future environments for posthuman life, including space colonization and the creation of rich virtual worlds.\u201d The Bible portrays a relatively simple relationship between God, humanity, and the earth, which, as Old Testament scholar\u00a0Christopher J. H. Wright<\/a>\u00a0has observed, remains intelligible through God\u2019s program with Israel (God, Israel, and the Land) and the ultimate restoration of all things (God, in-Christ humanity, and the new creation). Humanity cannot be separated from the earth. Our relationship with the earth is intrinsic to who we are, tragic due to the fall and subsequent curse, and inevitable as redeemed humanity will live in God\u2019s presence as part of the new creation. Space colonization may be possible, but, like the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9), attempts to build a community in this fashion are, at best, ill-advised. Virtual worlds are similarly problematic, though for reasons I\u2019ve noted\u00a0elsewhere<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christians should be appropriately wary of technology for a host of\u00a0reasons<\/a>. Transhumanism, however, is not problematic because of its interest in technology. It is problematic because it is pursuing aims (some of which may be attainable) uninformed by God\u2019s Word. As a movement, it is focused on overcoming human limitations with technologies \u201cmade with human hands\u201d rather than recognizing that human limitations require us to look beyond ourselves for solutions.<\/p>\n

The answer to the problem of human frailty will not be found in a new technology but in life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Dr. James Spencer currently serves as President of the\u00a0D. L. Moody Center<\/a>, an independent non-profit organization inspired by the life and ministry of Dwight Moody and dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel and challenging God\u2019s children to follow Jesus. He also hosts a weekly radio program and podcast titled \u201cUseful to God\u201d on KLTT in Colorado.\u00a0 His book titled \u201cChristian Resistance: Learning to Defy the World and Follow Jesus\u201d is available on amazon.com. He previously published \u201cUseful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D. L. Moody,\u201d \u201cThinking Christian: Essays on Testimony, Accountability, and the Christian Mind,\u201d as well as co-authoring \u201cTrajectories: A Gospel-Centered Introduction to Old Testament Theology.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By James Spencer, CP Op-Ed Contributor | Sunday, September 24, 2023 Unsplash\/Possessed Photography Before Keanu Reeves was Neo, he was Johnny.\u00a0 The film \u201cThe Matrix\u201d (1999) focused on humanity\u2019s subjugation by artificial intelligence (AI).\u00a0 The movie Johnny Mnemonic\u00a0(1995) portrays a society in which humans voluntarily opt in to \u201cbiotech\u201d enhancements. While AI is far from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}