“Man is not born free, but everywhere in biological chains. People of the world, unite - you have nothing to lose but your biological chains.”
- Simon Young
As city, state, and national governments already have
sensible regulations on education, medical services, motor vehicles and many
other aspects of our lives; so will sensible regulations on Transhumanism
technology keep the most dangerous aspects in check, while giving everyone
opportunities to use as much or as little of Transhumanism technology as they
wish. In other words, there are already
many things in human society that are potentially dangerous to humans and our
world’s biosphere. However, sensible
regulations keep these dangers to a manageable level. Thus, sensible regulations will keep the
dangers of Transhumanism technology to a manageable level, while helping all of
humanity climb Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to achieve self-actualization and transcendence.
My thoughts are about how Transhumanism
technology could make both human individuals as well as human society as a
whole better. My thoughts expressed here
are not about if any specific Transhumanism technology is possible to create or
not possible to create. Additionally, my
ideas about improved humans and an improved human society will be different
from that of most of my readers. Any
individual Transhumanism technology will delight and excite some people, while
the same technology will inspire alarm and hatred in other people.
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not
possible.”
- Frank Zappa
For guidance, allow me to take you back on a
journey of the imagination, two hundred thousand years ago, to the time when our
ancestors Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals changed over
to anatomically modern humans (AMH).
During that time, three different species of humans lived with each
other. Also, this is not the only time
when there were two or more species of our ancestors that lived at the same
time and in the same places. Thus, there
were many transition times when our ancestors
evolved from one species to a better species.
Evolution is both natural and shouldn't be feared. I welcome the fact that today and in the
future both individuals and society will assume control and responsibility of
the speed and direction of human evolution.
Humanity is already riding the inevitable winds
of change. The only question is how and
when we will take charge of our evolution to get to outcomes that improve all
of humanity for the better.
“Without continual growth and progress, such
words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
- Benjamin Franklin
If headstrong and foolish, technophobic people
oppose any use of Transhumanism technology, would they have preferred if
humanity had remained as our Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal ancestors? After all, modern humans (Homo sapiens) are
not the pinnacle of our evolution any more than our Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal
ancestors were. Going back further in
time, our Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal ancestors themselves evolved from many
lesser species such as Homo erectus and Australopithecus. It is clear that Transhumanism technology
will not be the first great change in our species and it will not be the last
great change in our species.
It is not a question if humanity will change over
time. Humanity is already changing due
to better human nutrition, faster means of travel, and therapeutic medicine. Thus, we have bigger bodies and bigger brains
as we did a few generations ago. But,
the question is how and when humanity will change.
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