Tagged posthumanism

January 17, 2015

Initial thoughts on critical posthumanism

The concept/philosophy shares many similarities with transhumanism. However, it also acknowledges that humans have a cultural history that informs their future development, and that this history will continue to have import.

The critical posthuman is not the endstage in human evolution. It is an acknowledgement that we have expanded our conscious minds to account for more than humans. We are not anthropocentric, we are biocentric. In Hayles (1999) opinion, we are already posthuman.

To be continued as my cognitive posthuman schema evolves…

Hayles, K.N. (1999) Towards embodied virtuality. In: How we became posthuman: virtual bodies in cyernetics, literature and informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. pp. 293–297.

January 17, 2015

Interview with Stefan Herbrechter, author of Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis

Interview with Stefan Herbrechter, author of Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis http://t.co/QdePCvor4D #mscedc

January 16, 2015

Transhumanism v posthumanism

Google fight recorded by jindarling

So much more difficult to get a clear picture of posthumanism. Struggling to understand the differences, I get that it is a philosophical thing but philosophy and humanism are not stuff that I have studied before so a steep learning curve ahead of me. Still I have a couple of weeks, no need to do it all in one day!

January 14, 2015

Me, attempting to understand transhumanism and posthumanism

“Transhumanism” is a term first used by Julian Huxley (1957).

As humans have become aware of the possibilities for improving themselves and eventually mankind as a whole. All humans will one day have their basic needs fulfilled, “poverty, disease, ill-health, over-work, cruelty [and] oppression”. Science will make this possible.

Very simply:

Transhumanism is the process of this transformation.
A “transhuman” is somebody who chooses to follow a path towards transhumanism.
“Posthumanism” describes mankind after the goal of transhumanism is realised.

The terms transhumanism and posthumanism are also commonly used to describe a philosophy that involves the use of technology to improve/evolve the whole of humankind.

Author: jindarling

Bibliography

Humanity+ (n.d.) Transhumanist FAQ. Available from: http://humanityplus.org/philosophy/transhumanist-faq/#answer_19 [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Huxley, J. (1957) “Transhumanism.” Available from: http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/huxley [Accessed 14 January 2015].