Humanity is at a turning point, and the question of how we should continue requires us to ask how humans should understand themselves. There’s the posthumanist school of thought, which argues that humans are nothing but upright apes, slowly destroying their own environment through inevitable overpopulation. Then there is the transhumanist school of thought: that humans are exceptional, valuable, and should be privileged.

When did we start thinking of humans as ‘homo sapiens’, and how was this shift a precursor to posthumanism? How was the ancient Greek view of humanity affected by the fact that they did not know about man's relation to apes? Where is the majority of transhumanist research happening, and why is it so important that we’re in the know about what’s going on?

In this IAI Academy course, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick and author of Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller lays out his vision for the future.

By the end of the course, you will have learned:

• How our advanced powers of rationality pose a problem for evolutionary psychology.
• Why transhumanism is an Abrahamic view of humanity.
• Why Darwin would be in support of prenatal screening.
• Why we have a second-order understanding of evolution, and why this gives us a moral burden.
• Why Julian Huxley is considered the first transhumanist.
• What the transhumanist agenda is.

As part of the course, there are in-video quiz questions to consolidate your learning, suggested further readings to stimulate a deeper exploration of the topic, discussion boards to have your say, and an end-of-course assessment set by Steve Fuller.

IAI Academy courses are designed to be challenging but accessible to the interested student. No specialist knowledge is required.

Steve Fuller

Steve Fuller is a philosopher and sociologist, renowned for his critique of elite knowledge-production, his defence of academic freedom, and his creative, hopeful vision of what a post-truth society might look like. He is the author of over 25 books, and is Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick.

Fuller's most recent book, Media and the Power of Knowledge, tells the story of the radical democratization of knowledge brought about by digital media. He argues that truth-telling has become a form of performance art, and that this opens up awesome new possibilities for the development of knowledge.

• Fuller, S., (2013). The Fork On The Road For Homo Futura. Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.
• Fuller, S., (2014). Ninety-degree revolution. Aeon.co. (https://aeon.co/essays/left-and-right-are-over-the-future-is-up-and-down)
• Fuller, S., Lipinska, V., (2014). ‘Transhumanism’. Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective Vol. 3, No. 11, (pg. 25-29) (https://social-epistemology.com/2014/10/08/transhumanism-steve-fuller-and-veronika-lipinska/)