The Age of Transhumanism Has Begun
Will It Bring Humanism to Its End?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.v23i2.29671Keywords:
humanism, bioethics, benedikter, Transhumanism, technology, bioenhancement, politics, ideology, democracyAbstract
This interview with Roland Benedikter, the European scholar of technology futures and politics, discusses the emergence of biological and computing technologies for transforming humanity. In this wide-ranging discussion, Benedikter discusses many ethical, social, and political implications to the application of these enhancing technologies and their coming political implications. Transhumanism, according to Benedikter, will represent both a powerful social ideology and a serious political agenda. How will humanism respond?
References
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Benedikter, R. and J. Giordano. (forthcoming). Neuroscience and Neuroethics: Impacting Human Futures. New York: Springer.
BBC News. 2014a. “Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights.” March 12. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26540635
———. 2014b. “Net is ‘less free and more unequal,’ says web founder.” December 11. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30432487
———. 2014c. “Facebook offers solution to end drunken posts.” December 11. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30432493
———. 2014d. “Jeans made that will prevent ‘digital pickpocketing’.” December 17. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30513497
———. 2014e. “AI will not kill us, says Microsoft. The chief of Microsoft’s research division says he does not believe artificial intelligence systems are going to wipe out humankind.” January 28. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31023741
Biederbeck, M. 2014. “Wird der nächste US-Präsident ein Cyborg sein?” Wired (Germany), November 7. https://www.wired.de/collection/latest/der-spitzenkandidat-der-transhumanistischen-partei-usa-blast-zum-wahlkampf
Bostrom, N. 2014. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2006. “Technological Revolutions: Ethics and Politics in the Dark.” http://www.nickbostrom.com/revolutions.pdf
Bryant, Chris. 2014. “Volkswagen to replace Germany’s retiring baby boomers with robots.” Financial Times, October 6. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4337b9a0-4d6b-11e4-bf60-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Qt2NbxPG
Cellan-Jones, R. 2014. “Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind.” BBC News, December 2. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540
Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford. http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/
Gibbs, S. and Elon Musk. 2014. “Artificial Intelligence is our biggest existential threat.” The Guardian, October 27. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/27/elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-ai-biggest-existential-threat
Giordano, J., and R. Benedikter. 2012. “An early—and necessary—flight of the Owl of Minerva: Neuroscience, neurotechnology, human socio-cultural boundaries, and the importance of neuroethics.” Journal of Evolution and Technology 22(1): 14–25.
Giordano, J., R. Benedikter, J. Shook and E. Lanzilao. 2013. “Advancing Neuroscience on the 21st-Century Stage: The Need for and a Proposed Structure of an Internationally Relevant Neuroethics.” Ethics in Biology, Engeneering and Medicine: An International Journal 4(4): 211–229.
Giordano, J., R. Benedikter and P. J. Rossi. 2013. “Addressing the Quantitative and Qualitative: A View to Complementarity—From the Synaptic to the Social.” Open Journal of Philosophy, Special Issue: Quantitation and Qualitation 3(4A), Fall 2013 (November). http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2013.34A001
Global Future 2045. 2013. “Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.” March 12. http://gf2045.com/read/208/
———. “Towards A New Strategy For Human Evolution.” http://www.gf2045.com/
Grossman, L. and M. Vella. 2014. “Never offline—The apple watch is just the start. How wearable tech will change your life—like it or not.” Time Magazine, September 11. http://time.com/magazine/us/3326552/september-22nd-2014-vol-184-no-11-u-s/
Hewitt, J. 2014a. “An Interview with Zoltan Istvan, leader of the Transhumanist Party and 2016 presidential contender.” Extremetech, October 31. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/192385-an-interview-with-zoltan-istvan-leader-of-the-transhumanist-party-and-2016-presidential-contender
———. 2014b. “New Brain Implant Tech from Blackrock is Making ‚Mind Over Matter’ A Reality.” Extremetech, December 18, http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/194935-new-brain-implant-tech-from-blackrock-is-making-mind-over-matter-a-reality
Holley, P. 2015. “Apple co-founder on artifical intelligence: ‘The future is scary and very bad for people’.” The Washington Post, March 23, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/24/apple-co-founder-on-artificial-intelligence-the-future-is-scary-and-very-bad-for-people/
Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies. 2014. “Nick Bostrom Testifies on Cognitive Enhancement for Obama BRAIN Initiative,” August 22. http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/bostrom20140822
Istvan, Z. 2015. “Strategies for Growing the Transhumanist Movement.” Psychology Today, March 14, , https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-transhumanist-philosopher/201503/strategies-growing-the-transhumanism-movement
———. 2014. “Should A Transhumanist Run For US-President?” The Huffington Post, October 6. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoltan-istvan/should-a-transhumanist-be_b_5949688.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
———. 2013a. “The Transhumanist Wager Is A Choice We’ll All Have To Make. Zoltan Istvan in interview with Nikola Danaylov.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxVeu67iD0#t=53
———. 2013b. The Transhumanist Wager. Futurity Imagine Media 2013, http://www.transhumanistwager.com/ sowie http://www.amazon.de/The-Transhumanist-Wager-Zoltan-Istvan/dp/0988616114
Joy, B. 2000. “Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us.” Wired, Issue 8.04, April. http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
Kedmey, D. 2014. “Brain Builder.” Time, October 9. http://time.com/3483911/brain-builder/
Hernandez, D. 2014. The Plan to Build a Massive Online Brain for All the World’s Robots. Wired, August 25. http://www.wired.com/2014/08/robobrain/
Kurzweil, R. 2014. “Don’t fear artificial intelligence.” Time Magazine, December 19. http://time.com/3641921/dont-fear-artificial-intelligence/
———. 2005. The Singularity Is Near. When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin. http://www.singularity.com/
Lanzilao, E., J. Shook, R. Benedikter and J. Giordano. 2013. “Advancing neuroscience on the 21st century world stage: The need for, and proposed structure of, an internationally relevant neuroethics.” Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine 4(3): 211–229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1615/EthicsBiologyEngMed.2014010710
Leber, J. 2013. “At Volkswagen, Robots are coming out of their cages.” Fastcoexist Magazine, September 9. http://www.fastcoexist.com/3016848/at-volkswagen-robots-are-coming-out-of-their-cages.
McCracken, H. and L. Grossman. 2013. “Google vs. Death.” Time Magazine, September 30. http://time.com/574/google-vs-death/
Nick Bostrom’s Homepage. http://www.nickbostrom.com/
Partei der Humanisten Deutschlands. 2014. Die Transhumanistische Partei der USA —ein Partner für die Zukunft? December 2. https://parteiderhumanisten.de/die-transhumanistische-partei-der-usa-ein-partner-fuer-die-zukunft/
Prisco, J. 2013. “Book review: The Transhumanist Wager.” Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence Blog, May 15. http://www.kurzweilai.net/book-review-the-transhumanist-wager
Rawlinson, K. 2015. “Bill Gates insists AI is a threat. Microsoft’s founder says we should worry that AI escape our control, despite claims to the contrary by a Microsoft Research chief.” BBC, January 29. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/31047780
Savulescu, J., and N. Bostrom, eds. 2009. Human Enhancement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/human-enhancement-9780199299720?cc=it&lang=en&
Shook, J. R. and J. Giordano. 2014. “A principled, cosmopolitan neuroethics: Considerations for international relevance.” Philosophy, Ethic, ands Humanities in Medicine 9(1). http://www.peh-med.com
Teleological Egocentric Functionalism (TEF). http://www.transhumanistwager.com/ThePhilosophy.html
Transhumanist Party. “Putting Science, Health & Technology at the Forefront of American Politics.” http://www.transhumanistparty.org/
Transhumanist Party Global Europe. http://transhumanistpartyglobal.org/europe/
Transhumanistische Partei Deutschland. http://transhumanistische-partei.de
Transhumanist Party UK. http://www.transhumanistparty.org.uk/
USA Department of Health and Human Services. “Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN).” http://braininitiative.nih.gov/
Volpicelli, G. 2015. “Transhumanists Are Writing Their Own Manifesto For The UK General Election.” Motherboard, January 14. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-transhumanist-manifesto-for-the-uk-general-election
Vowinkel, B. 2014. “Mensch-Maschine Visionen.” Kolloquium der Daimler und Benz Stiftung in Berlin, June 12. http://hpd.de/node/18799.
Wood, D. 2015. “Q&A with Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist Party candidate for the US president,” January 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk4olY4qIjg
WTA World Transhumanist Association. http://www.transhumanism.org/resources/transhumanism.htm
Woollaston, V. 2015. “Will robots make us their PETS? Apple founder Steve Wozniak has no doubt artificial intelligence will take over the world.” Daily Mail Online, March 23. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3007920/Will-robots-make-PETS-Apple-founder-Steve-Wozniak-no-doubt-artificial-intelligence-world.html
Benedikter, R. and J. Giordano. (forthcoming). Neuroscience and Neuroethics: Impacting Human Futures. New York: Springer.
BBC News. 2014a. “Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights.” March 12. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26540635
———. 2014b. “Net is ‘less free and more unequal,’ says web founder.” December 11. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30432487
———. 2014c. “Facebook offers solution to end drunken posts.” December 11. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30432493
———. 2014d. “Jeans made that will prevent ‘digital pickpocketing’.” December 17. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30513497
———. 2014e. “AI will not kill us, says Microsoft. The chief of Microsoft’s research division says he does not believe artificial intelligence systems are going to wipe out humankind.” January 28. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31023741
Biederbeck, M. 2014. “Wird der nächste US-Präsident ein Cyborg sein?” Wired (Germany), November 7. https://www.wired.de/collection/latest/der-spitzenkandidat-der-transhumanistischen-partei-usa-blast-zum-wahlkampf
Bostrom, N. 2014. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2006. “Technological Revolutions: Ethics and Politics in the Dark.” http://www.nickbostrom.com/revolutions.pdf
Bryant, Chris. 2014. “Volkswagen to replace Germany’s retiring baby boomers with robots.” Financial Times, October 6. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4337b9a0-4d6b-11e4-bf60-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Qt2NbxPG
Cellan-Jones, R. 2014. “Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind.” BBC News, December 2. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540
Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford. http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/
Gibbs, S. and Elon Musk. 2014. “Artificial Intelligence is our biggest existential threat.” The Guardian, October 27. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/27/elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-ai-biggest-existential-threat
Giordano, J., and R. Benedikter. 2012. “An early—and necessary—flight of the Owl of Minerva: Neuroscience, neurotechnology, human socio-cultural boundaries, and the importance of neuroethics.” Journal of Evolution and Technology 22(1): 14–25.
Giordano, J., R. Benedikter, J. Shook and E. Lanzilao. 2013. “Advancing Neuroscience on the 21st-Century Stage: The Need for and a Proposed Structure of an Internationally Relevant Neuroethics.” Ethics in Biology, Engeneering and Medicine: An International Journal 4(4): 211–229.
Giordano, J., R. Benedikter and P. J. Rossi. 2013. “Addressing the Quantitative and Qualitative: A View to Complementarity—From the Synaptic to the Social.” Open Journal of Philosophy, Special Issue: Quantitation and Qualitation 3(4A), Fall 2013 (November). http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2013.34A001
Global Future 2045. 2013. “Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.” March 12. http://gf2045.com/read/208/
———. “Towards A New Strategy For Human Evolution.” http://www.gf2045.com/
Grossman, L. and M. Vella. 2014. “Never offline—The apple watch is just the start. How wearable tech will change your life—like it or not.” Time Magazine, September 11. http://time.com/magazine/us/3326552/september-22nd-2014-vol-184-no-11-u-s/
Hewitt, J. 2014a. “An Interview with Zoltan Istvan, leader of the Transhumanist Party and 2016 presidential contender.” Extremetech, October 31. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/192385-an-interview-with-zoltan-istvan-leader-of-the-transhumanist-party-and-2016-presidential-contender
———. 2014b. “New Brain Implant Tech from Blackrock is Making ‚Mind Over Matter’ A Reality.” Extremetech, December 18, http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/194935-new-brain-implant-tech-from-blackrock-is-making-mind-over-matter-a-reality
Holley, P. 2015. “Apple co-founder on artifical intelligence: ‘The future is scary and very bad for people’.” The Washington Post, March 23, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/24/apple-co-founder-on-artificial-intelligence-the-future-is-scary-and-very-bad-for-people/
Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies. 2014. “Nick Bostrom Testifies on Cognitive Enhancement for Obama BRAIN Initiative,” August 22. http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/bostrom20140822
Istvan, Z. 2015. “Strategies for Growing the Transhumanist Movement.” Psychology Today, March 14, , https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-transhumanist-philosopher/201503/strategies-growing-the-transhumanism-movement
———. 2014. “Should A Transhumanist Run For US-President?” The Huffington Post, October 6. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoltan-istvan/should-a-transhumanist-be_b_5949688.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
———. 2013a. “The Transhumanist Wager Is A Choice We’ll All Have To Make. Zoltan Istvan in interview with Nikola Danaylov.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxVeu67iD0#t=53
———. 2013b. The Transhumanist Wager. Futurity Imagine Media 2013, http://www.transhumanistwager.com/ sowie http://www.amazon.de/The-Transhumanist-Wager-Zoltan-Istvan/dp/0988616114
Joy, B. 2000. “Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us.” Wired, Issue 8.04, April. http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
Kedmey, D. 2014. “Brain Builder.” Time, October 9. http://time.com/3483911/brain-builder/
Hernandez, D. 2014. The Plan to Build a Massive Online Brain for All the World’s Robots. Wired, August 25. http://www.wired.com/2014/08/robobrain/
Kurzweil, R. 2014. “Don’t fear artificial intelligence.” Time Magazine, December 19. http://time.com/3641921/dont-fear-artificial-intelligence/
———. 2005. The Singularity Is Near. When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin. http://www.singularity.com/
Lanzilao, E., J. Shook, R. Benedikter and J. Giordano. 2013. “Advancing neuroscience on the 21st century world stage: The need for, and proposed structure of, an internationally relevant neuroethics.” Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine 4(3): 211–229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1615/EthicsBiologyEngMed.2014010710
Leber, J. 2013. “At Volkswagen, Robots are coming out of their cages.” Fastcoexist Magazine, September 9. http://www.fastcoexist.com/3016848/at-volkswagen-robots-are-coming-out-of-their-cages.
McCracken, H. and L. Grossman. 2013. “Google vs. Death.” Time Magazine, September 30. http://time.com/574/google-vs-death/
Nick Bostrom’s Homepage. http://www.nickbostrom.com/
Partei der Humanisten Deutschlands. 2014. Die Transhumanistische Partei der USA —ein Partner für die Zukunft? December 2. https://parteiderhumanisten.de/die-transhumanistische-partei-der-usa-ein-partner-fuer-die-zukunft/
Prisco, J. 2013. “Book review: The Transhumanist Wager.” Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence Blog, May 15. http://www.kurzweilai.net/book-review-the-transhumanist-wager
Rawlinson, K. 2015. “Bill Gates insists AI is a threat. Microsoft’s founder says we should worry that AI escape our control, despite claims to the contrary by a Microsoft Research chief.” BBC, January 29. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/31047780
Savulescu, J., and N. Bostrom, eds. 2009. Human Enhancement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/human-enhancement-9780199299720?cc=it&lang=en&
Shook, J. R. and J. Giordano. 2014. “A principled, cosmopolitan neuroethics: Considerations for international relevance.” Philosophy, Ethic, ands Humanities in Medicine 9(1). http://www.peh-med.com
Teleological Egocentric Functionalism (TEF). http://www.transhumanistwager.com/ThePhilosophy.html
Transhumanist Party. “Putting Science, Health & Technology at the Forefront of American Politics.” http://www.transhumanistparty.org/
Transhumanist Party Global Europe. http://transhumanistpartyglobal.org/europe/
Transhumanistische Partei Deutschland. http://transhumanistische-partei.de
Transhumanist Party UK. http://www.transhumanistparty.org.uk/
USA Department of Health and Human Services. “Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN).” http://braininitiative.nih.gov/
Volpicelli, G. 2015. “Transhumanists Are Writing Their Own Manifesto For The UK General Election.” Motherboard, January 14. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-transhumanist-manifesto-for-the-uk-general-election
Vowinkel, B. 2014. “Mensch-Maschine Visionen.” Kolloquium der Daimler und Benz Stiftung in Berlin, June 12. http://hpd.de/node/18799.
Wood, D. 2015. “Q&A with Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist Party candidate for the US president,” January 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk4olY4qIjg
WTA World Transhumanist Association. http://www.transhumanism.org/resources/transhumanism.htm
Woollaston, V. 2015. “Will robots make us their PETS? Apple founder Steve Wozniak has no doubt artificial intelligence will take over the world.” Daily Mail Online, March 23. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3007920/Will-robots-make-PETS-Apple-founder-Steve-Wozniak-no-doubt-artificial-intelligence-world.html
Published
2016-02-18
Issue
Section
Interview
How to Cite
Siepmann, K., & McIntosh, A. (2016). The Age of Transhumanism Has Begun: Will It Bring Humanism to Its End?. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, 23(2), 133-158. https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.v23i2.29671
