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Transhuman Territory / Melanie Hofmeister & Maxime Victor

03 28th, 2020

„I still think, that within a few generations it will be possible to transform the substrate of our humanity.“ Nick Bostrom

Humans have always striven for something higher. Whether it is overcoming death or attaining a state of omniscience. This ambition has driven humans for thousands of years and has brought many new discoveries and inventions to light. Nowadays, the confidence in technology as well as the current state of research regarding the topic of living longer or overcoming death is greater than ever before. Even today, immortality is still an attainable goal for many human beings, and with the new technological possibilities, the chances to turn that wish into reality rise. Even though there is a clear desire for the eternal life, we have to bear in mind that the climate change, as well as constant natural catastrophes and epidemics could make it harder to survive on earth. According to some philosophers and scientists, humans could get upgraded with machine parts and learn abilities with the help of new technologies which allow them to better adapt to future changes on earth. This development leads on to the fact, that humans wouldn’t be tied to the biological rhythm of life anymore and that they could live longer than usually. This kind of upgraded human beings could be one solution to prevent the human species from a possible extinction. These thoughts and goals are the guidelines of transhumanism. Transhumanism is a philosophical movement that emerged from Posthumanism. However, it is not clear whether they are two completely different theories or if Transhumanism is based on Posthumanism. The concept of Transhumanism has a lot of parallels with the futuristic visions of science fiction movies or books whereas some of them have already become reality. However, you are mostly not aware of it yet. Transhumanistic concepts can be found in many areas like in research on mind-uploading or artificial intelligence, the development of cyborgs and how machines already influence the body, or the practice of cryopreservation. In addition to that, art has also been dealing with this topic for a long time. Furthermore, characteristics of the movement can even be recognized in architecture. In the following book, Transhumanism is analysed in detail. It will be illustrated how omnipresent different ideas are already in today’s society and how they are applied to different areas. In the end, the question of whether transhumanist ideas are to be considered futuristic visions of the future or a possible reality is going to be discussed.

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