Some believe we can and should extend life indefinitely through technology. Others that this is a hopeless enterprise, and human suffering means we should not have children. Both are based on a delusion, argues Michael Hauskeller. Suffering and setbacks are parts of life of which we want a healthy dose, not the complete elimination. Both ideologies have reached such pessimistic conclusions about human nature not because they are hard-headed realists, Hauskeller argues, but because they don’t understand it.

Transhumanism and antinatalism are two separate contemporary movements with seemingly very different agendas. Transhumanists want to radically enhance human nature to improve human lives, while antinatalists want people to stop reproducing and having babies. However, they both share the same basic conviction that life as it is now is not good enough to be truly worth living. While the cure they propose might differ, the diagnosis and underlying worldview are strikingly similar: Both respond in their own way to what they see as the horrors of our current existence. But are they right to see it that way, and should we follow their lead?

The horrors of existence

It can hardly be denied that horrible things happen in the world all the time. Humanity is plagued by terrible diseases, by famine and droughts, by floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis, and, if that were not enough, we are not shy about making our own fair contribution by inflicting various harms and a generous amount of suffering on one another. Even though for many of us life is pretty good much of the time, for many more life is very bad indeed. Think of the war in Ukraine or what is happening in Gaza right now, which is just the tip of the iceberg of an immense amount of suffering that is caused by us. There is mass migration, people trying to escape from hunger, war, oppression, and terrible living conditions, while others, instead of trying to help them, do everything they can to keep them out.

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Transhumanists want to make the limits disappear that prevent us from getting everything we want and need. They would like to change the world by changing what we are.

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But the misery is not just happening elsewhere. I read in the news this morning that one in three children in the North of England lives in poverty. One in three. But even for those of us who are fortunate enough to live in relative comfort and security, life is at best a mixed bag. We suffer from illness and loss, from fear and anxiety, from powerlessness and the inevitability of death. And let’s not forget all the many small annoyances and disappointments, thwarted ambitions and petty jealousies that also play their part in making us feel bad about ourselves and our lives. As Leonard Cohen once said in one of his songs: “There’s torture and there’s killing, there’s all my bad reviews.”

The current approach: Alleviation