Transhumanism is an emerging philosophical and social movement that aims, through technology, to extend human life and radically expand intellectual, physical, and psychological capabilities. Many of transhumanism's goals overlap the eschatological hopes of Christians, such as the elimination of sickness and death. Yet observers who see transhumanism and Christianity in monolithic terms often portray them as adversaries. Against this view, I argue that within each community are factions that have comparable, but contested, views on God, the divine attributes, and human origins, responsibility, and destiny. As a result, an emerging dialog between particular transhumanists and Christians seeks to shape the future of humanity by integrating the basic commitments of transhumanism and Christianity.
Bruno Latour's concept of modes of existence offers a framework for both developing and analyzing diplomacy between and within Christian and transhumanist communities. Specifically, Latour's work allows for the identification of category mistakes that set the terms of intermodal conflicts and dialog. Some transhumanists and most Christians hold beliefs about the nature and meaning of God. Christians believe in a Trinitarian God that is the preexistent, eternal, and personal creator of the universe. By contrast, elements of the transhumanist movement believe that in the future an artificial God will inevitably emerge as an omniscient and omnipotent supercomputer. The attributes, concepts and purposes of God and, by extension, nature lend a basis for developing diplomatic relationships between factions of transhumanism and Christianity.
Diplomacy between transhumanism and Christianity exists via social media and virtual meeting places. At the forefront of this movement is a new Christian Transhumanist Association that I analyze in some depth. It is only a couple of years old, but its leaders have already attracted international attention. Their strategy of theological minimalism seeks to reduce friction among stakeholders. I show that this strategy sacrifices the insights that Christian theology and philosophy could bring to the development of transhumanism. I conclude that in order to affect transhumanism Christians must find ways to apply their insights into personal creator-creature relationships to the challenges of safely developing artificial superintelligence. / Ph. D. / Progress in science and technology raises the possibility that essential elements of human life could be transformed and enhanced by applications of science and technology. <i>Transhumanism</i> is a philosophical and social movement that believes that such transformations are both possible and desirable.
In several respects, transhumanism’s goals overlap with the hopes of Christians, who long for a Second Coming of Christ and the subsequent elimination of sin, suffering, and death for all eternity. Based on Bruno Latour’s work, I analyze the superficial similarities between transhumanism and Christianity to argue that diplomacy between Christians and transhumanists is both possible and potentially beneficial.
In developing this argument, I examine a new <i>Christian Transhumanist Association</i>, its leaders, and their diplomatic strategy of “theological minimalism.” I argue that this strategy is flawed because it does not apply the rich insights of orthodox, biblical theology to the most vexing problem of transhumanism development: the threat that an artificial superintelligence could be hostile to human life.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/73484 |
| Date | 18 November 2016 |
| Creators | Winyard Sr, David C. |
| Contributors | Science and Technology in Society, Collier, James H., Spaulding, Henry Walter, Schmid, Sonja, Goodrum, Matthew R. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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