Humanity: a Failed Experiment? Versions of Trans-humanism

Given the psychological, social and political effects to which it may give rise, the acceleration of scientific and technical developments is as fascinating as it is troubling. A glimpse into how trans-humanism has deployed its scientific arguments to demonstrate the inevitability of the post-human was given some time ago in these pages (issue no. 370). Jean-Michel Besnier goes deeper into the analysis of the trans-humanist “doctrine”, showing its historical origins and presenting the many –at times very disparate– objectives it covers, as well as the future prospects it might enjoy. In “the intellectual prehistory of trans-humanism”, Besnier recalls, among other things, the tendency of scientists like Einstein to mix science and metaphysics; he refers also to more ancient doctrines such as the “hermeticism” of Antiquity or “Christian gnosis”, which argue that knowledge will inevitably make possible an improvement of humanity. He places greatest emphasis, however, on the American counterculture of the 1960s which, though opposed to materialistic society, paradoxically paved the way for an ideology aimed at transforming society through technology and for a new materialism. Besnier then examines the nature of trans-humanism today, observing that, despite some attempts at philosophical legitimation, the concept remains particularly vague and even at times conveys contradictory visions which in many cases amount ultimately to a post-humanism that aims, through technological advances, to transform the human race and move beyond it. Finally, reflecting on the future of this movement (“between ethics and apocalypse”), he stresses that post-humanism and trans-humanism are concerned neither with ethical questions nor sociological thinking, it being their ambition rather to compensate for the shortcomings and failings of the human through technology, in the hope that the species will avoid coming to a sorry end. However, this –already highly contested– “hypermodern” vision will not make much headway, he concludes, unless it develops some solid arguments at the socio-political level.