The transhumanist movement has claimed rationality as its own, shutting down any questions about the benefits of extending lifespan or enhancing human’s rational capacity. But the movement itself is irrational: it is based on shaky scientific grounds, has no workable concept of post-humanity and conflates cognition and reason argues Susan Levin. Read 'The ethical transhumanist' here.
Bioenhancement is among the hottest topics in bioethics today. The most contentious area of debate here is advocacy of “radical” enhancement (aka transhumanism). Because transhumanists urge us to categorically heighten select capacities, above all, rationality, it would be incorrect to say that the possessors of these abilities were human beings: to signal, unmistakably, the transcendent status of these beings, transhumanists call them “posthuman,” “godlike,” and “divine.” For many, the idea of humanity’s technological self-transcendence has a strong initial appeal; that appeal, intensified by transhumanists’ relentless confidence that radical bioenhancement will occur if only we commit adequate resources to the endeavor, yields a viscerally potent combination. On this of all topics, however, we should not let ourselves be ruled by viscera.
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