Transhumanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This is a really interesting topic that I got into whilst reading the book Pandora's Star. If this sparks your interest, I highly suggest reading this book, it's awesome. It also has a sequel, Judas Unchained. Commonwealth Saga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Speak your mind on this one, and begin t3h deb8zor3.
Ie; Bioshock, for those of you that are too bothered to click his supporting links. I don't believe we should venture too far into this - yes, trans-humanism would definitely help with disability and suffering for those who wish to undergo the process, but if just for a power over others, then no. Do use for: - Medicinal purposes. - Suffering/Mercy. - Combating those with little options left. Do not use for: - Unnecessary power over others. (ie; flying) - A first resort. - Experimental procedures. This directly goes against my faith and I purposely do not like this idea, but many people disagree and would love to have this done. I personally disagree with this idea in general, but I've nevertheless listed a few points that might help further other's arguments.
Well, if we were going to use it to combat suffering and use it for medicinal purposes, wouldn't we have to experiment? Germ line alterations would be put into place there to prevent diseases. Yes, I agree there though with you Dom about what it should and should not be used for. *Secretly plans to fly and drop lulz all over the mere ground-walkers.*
It will NEVER happen, and this is why: Scientists can do all the experimenting they want, but when it comes time to test it on a Human, some IDIOT will step out and say "NO! Its not right! Dont alter Humans! We were made like this for a reason!" and it will ruin everything. Just to use the other debates here because its easier and you probably have more experience, look at the religion vs media debate or the PETA discussion. In both cases, it involves someone doing something which could be classified as outlandish (declaring harry potter the anti-christ, etc.). PETA sometimes goes a bit too far, like their add comparing the slaughter of animals for food to the WWII Halocaust (look to the thread for multiple links). And how does it fit in to transhumanism? I can bet you the spare change in my pocket, in the change in your pocket, and the gold buillon in the US treasury that when it comes time, someone is gonna come out and say "You cant do this because ____(insert some random religious or philisophical rambling here that wont even matter to half the population such as "god made us the way we are for a reason" or "its not right! What if it goes wrong?!")___. And it will spark some huge debate, noone will be allowed to do the experiment, and it will all end in Failure. Even in the Halo Novels you see that, how they never went public with the full details of the Spartan II and III program, how they took the kids and changed their genetic makeup. It hasnt changed now and it obviously wont change then. Someone will declare it unethical or wrong. I would personally love to see it happen, a simple pill that could extend life expectancy by 50 years or a super-immune system drug. A shame itll almost never get off the ground.
Yeah a lot of people would definitely oppose it with their ethical/religious beliefs, but I bet if we could make you virtually immortal like in Pandora's Star, almost no human would refuse that service. But I bet some would indeed not want the treatment for various reasons (some people refuse the "rejuvenation" procedure in Pandora's Star as well). The studies would/are most likely be/being kept under wraps as to not cause a public disturbance such as that. I doubt people's protests will keep any transhumanism from happening, unless it was completely illegal. Transhumanism may just happen naturally too, ya never know.
Well, it wouldnt quite be transhumanism if it happened naturally. I thought the whole part was that it was artifical boosting, not natural evolution. And, really, the studies are probably just the secret brother or are running parallel with gene studies or something. They must be doing something though. I mean, who could resist? Its a Sci-fi dream and could benefit all of humanity in far too many ways to count.
I guess it would just be considered evolution by the time we had surpassed this phase of our physical anatomy, but it'd be transhuman to us in the present. Yeah, you're definitely right there on both points.
I'm not against it, but I would like to say that war and evil people who could possibly get their hands on this would make the world dangerous. Then we would be developing new ones to combat the older ones. It's just like a superhero story, except everyone has powers, and people are generally more evil than good so that is the only way I could see a problem.
Well there's a word I never thought I would see in the debate forum-especially to support an argument. I agree, though. Religion (now, it's mostly religion or beliefs, but its other things also) is holding back transhumanism. I don't see that as a problem, though.
Well, I don't really support transhumanism. We don't know exactly how everything in the human body works, and screwing around with something you don't understand is usually a bad idea. Most people don't realize that the superpowers we see in comic books would have very bad impacts on us. Plus, any superpowered being that we could create would almost inevitably be used for war. In terms of evolution, we are very far from perfect, but I don't think tampering with our physiology is a good way to solve it.
sounds fun, but it probably would be the end of humanity, I mean the magicy stuff like super powers cause there are to many corrupt people.
I doubt we would attain super powers, it would just be things like germ line tweaking to prevent almost all genetic diseases and to decide what kind of person you'll be, which is messed up (that last part gets outlawed in Pandora's star, I bet it would irl too).