Perfecting Human Futures: Transhuman Visions and by J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

By J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

Humans have constantly imagined larger futures. From the need to beat loss of life to the aspiration to dominion over the realm, imaginations of the technological destiny demonstrate the commitments, values, and norms of these who build them. this day, the human destiny is thrown into query by way of rising applied sciences that promise radical keep watch over over human lifestyles and elicit corollary imaginations of human perfectibility. This interdisciplinary quantity assembles students of technology and expertise experiences, sociology, philosophy, theology, ethics, and background to envision imaginations of technological growth that gives you to go beyond the limitations of human physique and being. Attending specifically to transhumanist and posthumanist visions, the quantity breaks new flooring through exploring their utopian and eschatological dimensions and situating them inside a broader context of rules, associations, and practices of innovation. the quantity invitations experts and normal readers to discover the stakes of up to date imaginations of technological innovation as a resource of development, a strength of social and old transformation, and because the defining essence of human life.

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Das Prinzip Hoffnung. Frankfurt, Germany: Suhrkamp. In English: Principle of hope. (N. Plaice, S Plaice, & P. ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986. Bloch, E. (2000 [1923]). The spirit of utopia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Bostrom, N. (2005). A history of transhumanist thought. Journal of Evolution and Technology, 14 (1), 1–25. Braidotti, R. (2013). The posthuman. Cambridge, England: Polity. , Brock, D. , & Daniels, N. (2000). From chance to choice: Genetics and justice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

The logics of technological change, and the social, political and ethical postures they demand, are wholly consonant with the narrative of the Singularity. As such, the eschatological trappings of the transhumanist imagination are present in a subtle form: as an ethical posture that privileges technological innovation (and innovators) Introduction: Technology, Utopianism and Eschatology 23 as agents of historical transformation, without explicitly invoking an eschatological endpoint. This ethical posture also entails a particular approach to social institutions, collective moral imaginations, and visions of governance.

In R. Ranisch & S. L. ), Post- and transhumanism: An introduction (pp. 49-71). Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. Tirosh-Samuelson, H. (2014b). ” In C. Mercer & T. J. ), Religion and transhumanism: The unknown future of human enhancement (pp. 161–180). New York, NY: Praeger. , & Mossman, K. ) (2012). Building better humans? Refocusing the debate on transhumanism. Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang. Transhumanism. (2012). Special issue of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 47 (5), 659–795.

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