Superhuman: The Uncharted Territory of Transhumanism
by Eric Pavlat
"By responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we
shall eventually manage to become posthuman."
-Nick Bostrom
"The moral challenge of transhumanism will transcend those of abortion and
euthanasia. For this reason, the pro-life movement must become the pro-human
movement."
-Nigel M. Cameron
Cryonics. Neural implants. Designer babies. Welcome to the future of
transhumanism. This energetic movement, comprising thousands of adherents,
actively promotes the enhancement of humans via cybernetics, genetics,
medicine, surgery, nanotechnology, and a full panoply of other scientific
advancements. This enhancement would, according to Nick Bostrom's
"Transhumanist Declaration," seek to advocate "the moral right for those who
wish to do so to extend their mental and physical (including reproductive)
capacities and to improve their control over their own lives. [They] seek
personal growth beyond [their] current biological limitations" (see
www.transhumanism.org).
This may sound like science fiction, but the philosophy behind the
movement-improving or extending human life by whatever means possible-has
already taken hold in society. Advances in modern medicine seem to offer us
the very Fountain of Youth, and we seem fully prepared to embrace it. But at
what cost?
The question is not an easy one. Other issues touching on human
life-abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia-have all been
clearly defined by Church teaching. But the questions become more nuanced
when we move from wholesale destruction of the person to varying degrees of
interference with or enhancement of the body. The Church has not
definitively spoken on many areas of the transhumanist agenda, nor have
bioethicists made many public proclamations. "We're not even asking the
right questions yet," admits Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, a bioethicist at
Providence College.
http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/guests/ericpavlat/superhuman.asp
