8

The Spiritual Dimension of Human Enhancement: Remarks concerning the Discussion about Immortality

Tatjana Kochetkova

...there is such a thing as perfection...and our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth....Each of us is in truth an unlimited idea of freedom. Everything that limits us we have to put aside. Richard Bach

Introduction

Nobody involved with the evolution of consciousness could possibly remain indifferent to such a recent intellectual trend as . “The world’s most dangerous idea,” in the eyes of its critics, transhumanism is also claimed, in Bailey’s words, to epitomize the most courageous, daring, idealistic and imaginative human aspirations.1 One can define transhumanism as the trend which strives to “assume control over biological evolution” by means of genomics. One still has to add that some transhumanists rely on non- biological technologies as cybernetics, and do not focus on human DNA.2 The two cornerstones of transhumanism are, firstly, that humanity should develop its potential of unlimited perfection, and secondly, that science and technology are the way to attain this goal. This first statement obviously coincides with millennia of the old spiritual

1 Bailey, Ronald, Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea? Why striving to be more than human is human, at http://www.reason.com/rb/rb082504.shtml 2 Bostrom, N., “Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective”: www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/genetic.html 190 Tatjana Kochetkova search, which calls for an analysis of the compatibility between transhumanism and the spiritual quest with respect to the goal of overcoming the limits of the human condition. Let us look at the difference of perspectives from which these two approaches pursue their common goal. Transhumanism, having arisen from the cyberculture of the late 20th century, is new, enthusiastic and appealing. Critics complain about its “nerdy” aura, due to a large intellectual component, but per se, this can hardly be considered a disadvantage: many discoverers and inventors were ridiculed as “nerds.” At its origins one finds Julian Huxley, a brother of Aldous Huxley, and later Fereidoun M. Esfandiary, who used the pseudonym “FM-2030.” Among transhumanism’s constitutive essays is Max More’s “On Becoming Posthuman”, which emphasizes the goals of achieving unlimited existence and enhancing all essential human capacities.3 The transhumanist movement sprang from the work of philosophers and David Pearce, who founded the World Transhumanist Association. Transhumanists consider the current form of humanity a transitional stage towards other, enhanced states. To accomplish this transition, transhumanists rely on Enlightenment rationality as the major means to improve the human condition. The association with the Enlightenment leads to most transhumanists being agnostic or atheistic, although other worldviews are also represented, such as Buddhism, or non-orthodox Christianity. Even though the transhumanists’ critique of religion (see e.g. the essay by Max More mentioned above) misses a crucial point by mostly targeting those aspects of religion that have little to do with true spirituality, their enthusiasm and adventurousness certainly seem to breathe new life into the more attractive sides of the Enlightenment. Transhumanism relies on research in areas as diverse as human genetic modification, , nanotechnology, cybernetics, space colonization and others, arguing that they will eventually lead to the means whereby the human condition can be overcome.4

3 More, Max, “On Becoming Posthuman”, 1994, at http://www.maxmore.com/ becoming.htm 4 The techniques we have mentioned have a potential to variously enhance human capacities, including the achievement of physical immortality. Thus, gene