Abstract
This chapter introduces the reader to the field of transhumanism and some of the most important philosophers contributing to this recent movement. Related philosophical issues such as moral standing and personhood theory are presented. The possibilities of genetic engineering as a means to fundamentally alter the nature of humankind are discussed, along with the concepts of animal -human hybrids, computer-human hybrids, and fully artificial beings . These ideas are presented to support the premise that there is no unique and unalterable biological form that constitutes humanity, and that our concept of what it means to be human will be forced to evolve in the face of new biotechnologies such as genetic engineering , molecular biology, and nanotechnology , all of which have the potential to alter our nature and character in ethically profound ways.
Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.
William S. Burroughs (http://quotes.dictionary.com/Man_is_an_artifact_designed_for_space_travel)
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Notes
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One example might be to alter our central nervous system so as to reduce the likelihood that individuals would go into a rage when upset, or (perhaps even better) reduce the likelihood that individuals would get emotionally disturbed under adverse circumstances. Another example would be altering our central nervous system to make us become more caring and empathetic to other individuals. More mundane examples of enhancement might include improvements so that we retain facts with improved reliability, respond faster to dangerous or adverse situations or simply have improved physical strength.
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John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, II, ed. Raymond Wilburn, Chapter XXVII (London: Dent and Sons, [1690] 1948), p. 9. quoted in Atkins, 2005:20.
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Naturalistic epistemology is an approach to the theory of knowledge that emphasizes the application of methods, results, and theories from the empirical sciences. It contrasts with approaches that emphasize a priori conceptual analysis or insist on a theory of knowledge that is independent of the particular scientific details of how mind-brains work (From http://www.iep.utm.edu/nat-epis/).
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This phrasing allows for periods of unconsciousness, such as when general anesthesia is administered. Note that sleep is not taken to be an unconscious state.
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Simply stated, the problem is this: if, as Locke holds, personhood depends on consciousness , what happens to personhood when one’s body relinquishes consciousness , such as with general anesthesia? Additionally, since personal identity is based on consciousness , and that only oneself can be aware of his consciousness , exterior human judges may never know if they really are judging—and punishing—the same person, or simply the same body.
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For a more detailed discussion of what I mean by “human condition” see Chap. 4.
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That being said, the state may choose to limit what a parent may do on behalf of his or her child on the basis of safety, because of a concern about child exploitation, or for other reasons. For example, in the interests of safety governments may mandate that a child be vaccinated against a newly emerging virus or may limit the extent to which children are allowed to work outside the home to help prevent child abuse.
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Real-world limitations such as cost and safety considerations may, however, limit the extent that such interventions are practical.
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For an American perspective on how political forces sometimes act against scientific interests, the reader is invited to read Mooney’s The Republican War on Science (2006).
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A notable exception is John Harris (Erin and Harris 2003).
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One of the most important recent developments in is this field is a radical new gene-splicing technique called “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats” (CRISPR). CRISPR is a new tool to edit DNA with unprecedented precision. For more information, a highly readable account is available at http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-crispr-the-new-tool-1702114381.
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Mott M. Animal -Human Hybrids Spark Controversy. National Geographic News. January 25, 2005. Accessed from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0125_050125_chimeras.html. See also the following account from 2013 by Jonathan Moreno entitled “Researchers Put Human Brain Cells in Mice. Why Aren’t Conservatives Freaking Out?”, available online at http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/03/15/why_aren_t_conservatives_upset_about_researchers_putting_human_brain_cells.html.
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See, for instance, http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/compgen.shtml.
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An example would be a treatment for Cystic Fibrosis. This disease is caused by a defective gene encoding a protein known as cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), and is characterized by chronic lung infections and progressive lung damage that ultimately results in early death (Lee and Southern 2013).
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The fact that many nation-states do not honor these rights in no way diminishes the fact that human persons are morally deserving of a number of rights and freedoms; this fact merely points to the moral corruption of certain nation-states. An additional issue concerns the debate between scholars who advocate moral relativism and those who argue for moral universalism. The former argue that human rights are culturally contingent social constructs while the latter hold that human rights have always existed, and apply to all people regardless of ethnicity, race, culture, education, sex, or religion .
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Note that some thinkers suppose the computer model to be a poor fit to understand human consciousness . In his 1989 book The Emperor’s New Mind, Roger Penrose speculated that quantum mechanical processes inside individual neurons gave humans special cognitive advantages over machines. Hubert Dreyfus has argued that human intelligence and expertise depends primarily on unconscious instincts rather than conscious symbolic manipulation, and that these unconscious skills cannot be captured as formal (algorithmic) rules employed by contemporary computers (Dreyfus 1979, 1986, 1992).
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Like McGinn, I am not so confident that we will ever find out what causes consciousness to emerge from mere neurons. I expect that in real scientific life , identifying the neuro-computational structures which support conscious existence may be impossible because of overwhelming technical problems related to the complexity of the brain. That is, it might be possible to propose completely accurate brain models without being able to actually do a full test (which might require in vivo brain recordings, for instance). Cosmology has a similar problem with cosmological models such as black holes and baby universes. And, finally, there is even a distant connection of this problem to Godel’s Theorem, which tells us that there exist true mathematical statements that cannot be proven to be true.
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For the computer enthusiast considering entering the contest, full details are available at http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html. In addition, the transcripts for the 2009 bronze medal winner may be reviewed at http://www.worldsbestchatbot.com/Competition_Transcripts.
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A related issue concerns moral behavior in higher animals such as the Great Apes. For an interesting discussion on this topic visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJxRqTs5nk.
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Ronald C. Arkin, Governing Lethal Behavior: Embedding Ethics in a Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive Robot Architecture. Undated Technical Report GIT-GVU-07-11 http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ai/robot-lab/online-publications/formalizationv35.pdf.
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Doyle, D.J. (2018). Humans, Transhumans and Humanoids. In: What Does it Mean to be Human? Life, Death, Personhood and the Transhumanist Movement. Anticipation Science, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94950-5_3
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