Introduction. The main ideas of transhumanism

The term "transhumanism" was borrowed from R. Huxley, but he was talking about "understanding the new possibilities of human nature", in which a person remains a person. Modern transhumanists, on the other hand, consider “evolutionary humanism” (as they define transhumanism) as a process aimed at overcoming human nature and transition to a qualitatively new state.

The means of achieving this are the application and convergence of the so-called NBIC technologies. NBIC technologies are nanotechnologies, biological, information and cognitive technologies. As a result of the synthesis of these technologies, a new human being must be created for a new human society. The creators call such a person a trans person.

The concept of "transhuman" was described by the futurist F.M. Esfendiari (alias FM-2030). A trans-man is a transitional model of a person, between a real person and a post-human, akin to the Nietzschean understanding of a person as an intermediate link between a monkey and a superman. They say that this post-human will have supermind and superpowers.

The authors of the project themselves claim that this person will have some kind of implants connecting him directly to technical devices. Humans will be asexual, they will reproduce artificially with the help of biotechnology. People will exist not only in the usual, biological way, but also in a technical, informational and digital state. That is, with the help of technology, it is planned to create a certain creature that will overcome its human nature and its limitations.

These are not fairy tales, not fantasy. This is one of the main directions of today's Western science and philosophy.

History of transhumanism

The ideological and cultural-intellectual substantiation of transhumanism took place in the 80s in California, at a local university. The leading role in this was played by the English futurist and philosopher Max More (OConnor), who in 1990 developed his own doctrine of the “Principles of Extropianism” (extropy is the degree of vitality or organization of system intelligence) and outlined the ways of a person’s transition into a posthuman existence. In 1992, together with Tom Morrow, he created the Extropy Institute, which discussed neo-Darwinist futurological projects proposed as an "ideology of the future."

Erica Davies, in her book Technognosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Information Age, states that Extropian anthropology is "an old humanism, only turned on to its fullest." It combined the New Age perspective (sixth race) with technical libertarianism, which does not recognize any natural barriers to human evolution and also demands that all political and cultural boundaries be removed for "self-actualization and self-realization."

As Mohr writes, “When technology allows us to transcend ourselves psychologically, genetically, and neurologically, we who become transhumans will be able to transform ourselves into posthumans—beings of unprecedented physical, intellectual, and psychological abilities, self-programming, potentially immortal, unlimited individuals.”

More challenge God in his writings: “God is also disgusted that we can enjoy life. If we get into the habit, we may lose interest in obedience. We could rather focus our efforts on getting positive experiences from life, and not on avoiding punishment.

In 1998, More's like-minded professor at Oxford University Nick Bostrom (a specialist in cloning, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, cryonics, etc.) and David Pierce (a supporter of the "hedonistic imperative" in the field of nanotechnology implementation) founded the World Transhumanist Association (WTA) - a non-governmental an organization that set a goal to achieve recognition of transhumanism by the general scientific community and government structures (in 2008, in order to give the image of the WTA a more “human dimension”, it was called “Humanity Plus” (h+).

The WTA prepared the Transhumanist Declaration adopted in 2002, which stated not only that advanced technologies would radically change people (overcome aging, the limitations of natural and artificial intelligence, suffering and “imprisonment within the planet Earth”), but also the need to defend the moral right of those who are going to use these technologies in the face of technophobia and ridiculous prohibitions.

This claim of unrestricted “man-made evolution” was strengthened by the following statement: transhumanism “defends the right to a decent life for all beings with sensory perception, whether the brain is human, artificial, post-human or animal.” In other words, a person is considered as an experimental object, as a biological material for the application of new technologies.

Such a peculiar greeting from eugenics and the experiments of Dr. Mengele. Its use is not limited by any considerations of a moral order, but is determined only by the rights of the experimenter, which fit into the concept of "Human Rights" and are expressed in the laws of bioethics, which are extremely opportunistic and change depending on the needs of the customer.

For example, Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute, is convinced that there are no moral and ethical reasons why they should not interfere with nature and achieve immortality. Moreover, he considers as dangerous and even deadly those religious doctrines that teach resurrection in the other world, because "they are helpless and encourage inaction."

The development of the ideas of transhumanism is very generously funded by both states and private corporations. Supporters of transhumanism become politicians. Despite the atheistic content, some Catholic communities are increasingly interested in transhumanism, trying to rethink transhumanism as a kind of ascent to God.

Rebellion against God for "Heaven on earth" for the elect

One of the key stages of transhumanism is the creation of a supermind, which is thought of as a kind of technical analogue of God. It is planned to be created by 2035-2050. They call this event the singularity or the anthropological turn. And of course, further after the creation of this superintelligence, into which they are going to co-opt, become part of it, a simple question will arise: what to do with the rest of humanity, which did not want and could not turn into a superman?

These supermen will raise the question of the existence of people, since they themselves will reckon not just with other people, but with another anthropological species. Their attitude towards us may be about the same as we now feel towards great apes.

In the transhumanistic world, those few who take advantage of new technologies will make themselves biorobots and declare themselves elected, and the rest of humanity as unchosen, lagging behind in evolutionary development. Then, with all its sharpness, the question will arise: what to do with all this imperfect human mass?

Historically, society has been dominated by traditional family and moral values, and large, strong families have been encouraged and supported. Everyone understood: the more people there are, the more large families the stronger the people will be. Traditional religions blessed marriage, family and childbearing. Due to the low level of medicine, wars, diseases, many people died at working age, and even in early childhood. There were never enough people.

The situation began to change dramatically in the 20th century. Discoveries in science and medicine have significantly reduced mortality and increased life expectancy, which is why the growth of the world's population has gone up sharply. At the same time, with the development of science and technology, people became less and less needed in production and in agriculture.

We live in an information technology civilization. Human hands are much less in demand than before. At the same time, human demands in the field of consumption have grown tremendously.

Experts predict that in the next 30 years we will see a much stronger leap in the development of technology than it was in the 20th century. The place of man in the new technological world will decrease even more. A person will no longer be needed in production, in the army, perhaps even for the birth of other people, people with given characteristics will be able to produce with the help of biotechnology.

Therefore, the ideologists of the transhumanist future are already raising the question of a radical reduction in the world's population. They proceed from the awareness of their own exclusivity, perceiving people as a biomass, the amount of which they can regulate based on their own considerations. Based on their logic, most of the population is not needed, since it does not produce anything, while it needs food and other material resources, which are limited.

Reducing the population will ensure a virtually endless comfortable existence for a select few, avoiding social unrest, wars and revolutions. As they say, if there is a person, there is a problem; if there is no person, there is no problem.

Thanks to the most powerful technologies, the ruling elite for the first time has the opportunity to complete the course of world history, securing total control over the entire society, turning it into a monstrous slavishly obedient, godless and soulless machine.

Such a "bright" future, or rather, its absence, is prepared for humanity. Thus, humanism, which since the Renaissance has been the basis of Western civilization, is perverted into its anti-human opposite.

Mankind as a species, for the first time, faced such a serious challenge that problematizes the very existence of man. The answer to this challenge of man-godism, overcoming this diabolical temptation to build a new Tower of Babel that reaches Heaven and replaces Heaven, is impossible without a humble faith in man as a creature in the image and likeness of God, without the formation of a just egalitarian society based on traditional Christian values.

The article was prepared as part of the work of the Slovo discussion club at the Khanty-Mansiysk diocese

Katasonov Vladimir Nikolaevich,
Professor, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Theology

In February 2011, Russia established strategic public movement "Russia - 2045". The purpose of this movement is "the creation of an international research center for cyborgization with the aim of the practical implementation of the main technoproject - the creation of an artificial body and preparing a person for the transition into it" . The achievement of this goal is divided into stages, the main of which are the following (project "Avatar"): An artificial copy of the human body (2015-2020), an artificial copy of the human body into which the brain is transplanted (2020-2025), an artificial copy of the human body into which the consciousness is transferred (2030-2035), the body-hologram (2040-2045). Thus, a person, de, will overcome suffering, illness, aging, and, finally, will achieve the long-sought immortality: an artificial body, or mechanical, or holographic, or some other much “stronger” than natural, and consciousness can be transplanted at will into anything ... Exit into space, the unlimited exploration of the Universe will be facilitated by the fact that a person will no longer need those conditions required by its biological form of existence. Transhumanists consider themselves heirs of the ideas of N.F. Fedorov, V.I. Vernadsky, K.E. Tsiolkovsky. All this assumes that the development of information technology by 2030 will reach singularity points when a self-improving program is invented and the way to endless machine progress is opened.

The movement "Russia - 2045", which unites some domestic scientists and philosophers, was created in the footsteps of the international non-governmental "World Association of Transhumanists", which arose in 2008 and pursues the same global goal. Supporters of these movements also gravitate immortalism(particularly based on cryonics), postgenderism(overcoming the floor), technoguyanism(ecology and environmental protection), etc.

These facts could be interpreted as some kind of marginal futurological tendencies. modern culture, which was always enough, if not for two significant points:

In the conditions of the rejection of the classical ideologies of the 19th - 20th centuries, transhumanism, based on modern scientific and technological progress, so popular among the youth, incorporating ecological trends, remains, in essence, the only ideology that promises progressive development to humanity;
In Russian culture, where, due to the 70-year triumph of ideological and technocratic tendencies, the role of the humanities is not very high, the ideology of transhumanism is persistently making its way. Russian transhumanists are quite active, they send letters to the leadership of Russia, the UN Secretary General. They are supported by a number of domestic scientists, futurists and the Dalai Lama. In August 2011, at a meeting in the Department of State Science and Technology Policy and Innovation of the Ministry of Education and Science, which was attended by the leaders of the Russia-2045 movement, the Kurchatov Institute, representatives of several other departments of the Ministry, the directions of the Movement’s work were approved and support was promised in terms of contacts with RAS and RAMS.

All this inspires serious concern and strongly raises the question of a scientific and philosophical analysis of transhumanist ideas.

In the 20th century, the advance of technological civilization on natural environment human habitation continued. The creation of artificial materials has led to the fact that a person in his house almost does not meet things made from natural materials: electric light, plastic windows, artificial wood, chemically obtained paints, synthetic fabrics, etc. However, in the last century, an active phase of the penetration of artificial “materials” also began and, so to speak, inside person. The industry of replacing natural organs with artificial ones is becoming more and more active. These technologies are combined with the replacement of diseased organs with healthy ones taken from other people. Most of the food consumed by today's man is genetically modified products.

Since the middle of the last century, information technology has begun to develop, the degree and speed of development of which by the beginning of our century reaches titanic proportions. Computers and related technologies saturate the entire space of human culture: education, science, art, media, business, trade, military, household. Computer innovations, where information technology has not yet been applied, are considered progress and are encouraged in every way by the state, which, in essence, fulfills the unspoken order of the information technology industry. Computerization, the introduction of information technology is responsible spirit new European civilization, which seeks to make human life as much as possible comfortable , to shift the hard and dirty work from your shoulders to the machine. Starting with the simplest mechanisms, with a steam engine, humanity has created a huge number of technical devices to date, allowing you to rebuild the environment at will, “conquer” space and time, and arrange human life on earth as you wish. Within the framework of information technology, we see that the task of managing all these mechanisms is gradually being given to machines. The idea of creating an artificial intelligence capable of self-learning, a program more or less comparable to human intelligence, is being put forward more and more persistently.

Achievements of computer technologies cannot but amaze. The speed of calculations (more precisely, the performance of elementary operations) is growing more and more. Thanks to this, it is possible to solve more and more complex problems. A machine translation program from one language to another is effectively developed. To a certain extent, the problem of pattern recognition, which had been resisting for a long time, was solved to a certain extent. This, in turn, opens the way to building artificial vision, voice communication with a machine, voice machine translation from one language to another, and so on.

Advances in solving problems in mechanics make it possible to build mechanical models human organs. The implementation of the superproject of the new European civilization is getting closer, which, in the myths of the homunculus and the Golem, dreamed of building an artificial creature imitating a human .

The ideology of transhumanism is quite naturally connected with the most cherished, historically, perhaps not immediately clearly realized, aspirations of our civilization that has existed for the last four or five centuries. The ideology of man, the creator, who builds Regnum hominis on Earth, by analogy with the Kingdom of God in Heaven, has inspired man since the Renaissance. Our humanistic civilization is still inspired by these ideals, and for better or worse, it is on their basis that today's global civilization is built and continues to be built. But from the very beginning, the key problem facing the human creator was realized: he can create a lot, but can he create himself? Not in a natural way given to him by God, but artificially, technologically? How far does the biblical likeness of God and man extend?

The entire Renaissance dreams of this idea. The creation of a homunculus in a magical-alchemical way is a problem on which scientists of the 16th century struggle tirelessly. The next century is already beginning to build mechanical automata, or with a pretension to model the whole person - here, as a rule, it could not do without a real person hidden inside - or as a model of individual human abilities (Pascal's computing machine). To build a universal automaton, a special algorithmic language is needed that would represent the “soul” of this automaton (a program, as we say today). Descartes and Leibniz, each in their own way, begin to develop this language. For all subsequent centuries, this project of a new European civilization, as the cherished goal of the efforts of many scientists and thinkers of various worldview orientations, looms on the horizon of their activities. Logicians, mathematicians, mechanics, engineers are discussing the technical problems of creating an artificial person, while philosophers and culturologists are trying to understand the "conditions for the possibility" of realizing this dream.

The emergence of the transhumanism movement in the 20th century is closely related to the new stage of the scientific and technological revolution, the development of new methods in biology and the emergence of computer technology. Introduction of the term itself transhumanism in the 60s of the last century associated with the name Juliana Huxley(grandson of the famous propagandist of evolutionary theory Thomas Huxley), English biologist, philosopher of science and politician. D. Huxley actively advocated the support and dissemination of humanistic values, and was one of the ideologists International Humanistic and Ethical Union (InternationalhumanistandethicalUnion, year of creation 1952). The program activity of the latter is devoted to the promotion of the ideas of humanism, atheism, rationalism, freethinking, and the support of moral teachings not related to religion. In the 60s, ideas also become very popular cryonics(R. Ettinger, E. Cooper), technologies for freezing people and animals at ultra-low temperatures, with the hope that in the future science, which has reached a high level, will revive (and, if necessary, heal) these creatures. The emergence of transhumanism was significantly influenced by the works and public speeches of scientists who developed the foundations of computer technology - A. Turing, J. von Neumann, philosopher E. Toffler, etc. In 1998, philosophers Nick Bostrom and David Pierce organized World Association of Transhumanists(Humanity+). On the official website of this public non-governmental organization in the “Philosophy” section, we read: “Transhumanism is a set of teachings about life that are aimed at continuing and accelerating the evolution of intelligent life outside the framework of its real human forms and limitations, achieved by means of science and technology, and led by life-affirming principles and goals… In this area, our focus is mainly on current technologies such as biotechnology, information technology, as well as anticipated future technologies such as molecular nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. Transhumanism seeks to ethical use of these and other speculative technologies (italics mine - V.K.). Our theoretical interests are focused on the post-humanist topics of singularity, extinction risks, and consciousness uploads (full brain simulation and matter-free minds)" .

After the creation of self-developing programs (“singularity point”), the time will come to create robots that produce themselves. Robots will gradually learn to do any job and will inevitably supplant man, subject to fatigue and imperfection, in all areas. By virtue of their tirelessness and the exponential progress of their capabilities, these artificial beings will eventually become more perfect than man. On this way to the new world of smart machines, the problem must be solved download consciousness, i.e. creating a complete model of the human brain, and transferring by "scanning" human consciousness into a machine. However, the arguments of transhumanists on this topic often look illogical and rather crafty. Hypothetically, the development of smart machines may not go along the biological path at all. Yes, and machines can rebel against slow and weak man much earlier. If man still remains in this "society" of endlessly self-improving machines, then, apparently, he is destined there for about the same place as the animals in our zoo have.

Transhumanism is undoubtedly some new ideology , which its adherents are trying to offer to the "disbelieving humanity", mired in consumerism. Domestic propagandists of these ideas write so directly: “Humanity has turned into a consumer society and is on the verge of a total loss of semantic guidelines for development. The interests of most people come down mainly to maintaining their own comfortable existence ... We believe that the world needs a different ideological paradigm. Within its framework, it is necessary to formulate a super-task that can indicate a new vector of development for all mankind and ensure the scientific and technological revolution.

With all the claims to the scientific foundation of the transhumanist perspective, the fundamental questions about the possibility of such self-organizing programs, or about the similarity of consciousness to the electrical machinery of an artificial neural network, remain hypotheses. believers In these hypotheses, educated people often demonstrate amazing philosophical illiteracy. Transhumanism exploits here the results of two scientific and philosophical traditions, which were mentioned above: the development of modern information technology and the evolution of structuralist ideas, which came in postmodernism to the concept human death. And of course the idea evolution, within which man is by no means the “crown of the universe”, but only a stage that had a beginning and should have an end, like all other stages of evolution. Transhumanism calls on a person to part with these ambivalent, from his point of view, values of classical humanism: feelings, faith, love, physicality, gender differences, childbearing and raising children, dreams of happiness, salvation, etc. On the other hand, it promises boundless knowledge, and, in principle, the immortality of a knowing being.

Transhumanism is not just some new ideology among others, but a project that poses fundamental questions of human being, and requires the deepest spiritual honesty and responsibility in answering them.

Our human values are natural and familiar to us, by which we live, for which we work, for which we sacrifice: love, family, children, parents, Motherland, friendship, heroism, loyalty, self-overcoming in creativity, etc. But in the face of evolutionary progress, all this is "only human, too human" and must be transcended. The society of smart machines, whether on an electronic or biological basis, is indeed a new stage of endless evolution, and what can we oppose to this Moloch of progress? ..

Only if we give absolute value human life, in all the specificity of its spiritual and material being, only then there is an ideological support for the fight against the ideology of transhumanism. To recognize the absolute significance of human life, a person's connection with the Absolute, with God, is necessary. This does not deny the possibility of technological progress, but it introduces certain limitations and a sober sense of responsibility into our reasoning.

Friendship, love, family, self-sacrifice, faith have an absolute spiritual significance for a person. It is in this that the life of the individual is manifested, this is precisely the main content of life, without them a person is spiritually dead and, often, having lost them, he himself refuses physical life. All these spheres of human existence, one way or another, correlate with the Absolute, with God. Only in this case do they have a proper human significance, elevating him above the animal world.

Transhumanism invites us to lose all this. We are invited to lose the highest meaning of human existence, and leave ourselves only the possibility of limitless scientific knowledge and pleasures… Moreover, transhumanism, as an ideology, already today wants to take away these spiritual values from us and accustom us to the “lentil soup” of purely scientistic joys. Already today, even before the “singularity point” has been reached, or the “consciousness upload” strategy has been implemented, when all these technologies are still purely speculative, transhumanist propaganda seeks to form a certain ethics. In this ethic, any progress in the field of information technology, in science, is absolutely valuable, regardless of the humanitarian consequences. Any objection from the point of view of classical humanitarian culture is regarded as an encroachment on the highest, de, human ability, knowledge, and on the highest cultural value, science. Domestic adherents of transhumanism are also acting in the same direction. Formulating the goals of their movement, they not only insist on the creation of: "... an international research center for cyborgization with the aim of the practical implementation of the main artificial body and preparing a person for the transition into it(my italics - V.K.) ", but also worried about the formation of "a culture associated with the ideology of the future, technical progress, artificial intelligence, multi-corporeality (!!! - V.K.), immortality, cyborgization" .

The narrow-minded, purely scientist orientation of this program simply screams.

The perspective of transhumanism is, of course, incompatible with the Christian perspective of history: the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment. However, this argument is only valid for believers. The discussion of the ideology of transhumanism involves many non-believers who, nevertheless, respect the traditional humanistic values of European civilization, and for whom the possibility of a transhumanism scenario is a scandal.

However, on the basis of a purely humanistic materialistic worldview, the fight against transhumanism is doomed to failure.

Transhumanism raises problems, the very formulation of which immediately baffles. Probably the most fundamental here is the project "Avatar V", in the designations of the society "Russia - 2045": "an artificial copy of the human body, into which consciousness is transferred at the end of life". But the question immediately arises: who proved that consciousness is separable from the brain? If we reason in a materialistic paradigm – and this is precisely how modern science thinks of itself – then consciousness is simply the activity of the brain, and it is not clear how to separate activity from this agent itself. Of course, this means that consciousness will be modeled as some kind of program, but who has proven that this is possible? The fact that certain electro-chemical processes in the brain correspond to the activity of consciousness has been known for a long time, but the fact that consciousness is reduced to this is a pure hypothesis. Philosophical anthropology, phenomenology tell us that consciousness is closely connected with our corporeality, and how to separate it from the body, this question seems even absurd... In the logic of transhumanism enthusiasts, it is clearly felt that when they say consciousness, they essentially mean that , which is denoted by the word soul. If we take not just the philistine use of this word, then we are forced to move into an idealistic and religious context. Here, indeed, the soul is separated from the body (in death), and is a special entity, irreducible to the body. But if you stay on materialistic scientific ground, then this division is simply incomprehensible.

In general, the creation of a computer program that is equivalent, so to speak, to human consciousness, is represented in the highest degree utopian. Not in the sense that the program could simulate some individual functions of a person - some of them, these programs even today perform more perfectly than a person - but in the sense that consciousness has resources that are in principle inaccessible information technology. This, in fact, is the main stumbling block in the way of creating a cyborg-superman.

Cyborgs and posthumans, built on the basis of modern scientific technologies, will always be lower than a human in terms of his higher spiritual abilities – creativity, moral and moral consciousness, perception of beauty, faith, hope, love… Therefore, the “evolution” of a human to posthumans – cyborgs, promoted by transhumanists, but in fact, the replacement of a person by post-human cyborgs will always be not development, but human degeneration, the loss of those divine gifts that cannot be modeled within the framework of information technology.

Today's civilization poses the most serious questions for humanity regarding the understanding of the very nature of man.The problem of anthropology becomes the most pressing problem. How we thinkhumanwhat content we put into this word, we willeducate, develop a person, treathim and the whole society. And thanks to modern technologies, this development of a person can go very far ... You need to clearly understand thatfor a purely humanistic, non-religious understanding, there are and cannot be any boundaries on the path of technological experimentation and utopian design of man and society. And in this case, experimentation will inevitably give rise to many deformities and tragedies. It is on this path that currents of gender modification, cloning, and even anthropophagy arise today. All this can lead to a total catastrophe of the self-destruction of humanity... Only if our science is correlated with the knowledge given to us in revelation by God himself, with the understanding of man that humanity has preserved for centuries in the biblical tradition, only then will we be able to cope with the "genies" produced by modern science.

The pathos of this article is not to abandon information technology. Even if we wanted to abandon them, it is impossible today to do it simply at will. Information technology controls many sectors of our civilization, and the rejection of it would immediately lead to tragic consequences. In particular, this applies to today's military equipment and methods of control over it. But you need to be sober about information technologies and not make them a universal tool for solving all problems, not create an idol out of them. Information technology is only funds, only assistants in human activity, by their very design they cannot surpass human nature, no matter how great their technical capabilities. But again, it is possible to stop the virus of the utopian idolatry of the information machine that is possible here only on the basis of a sober religious anthropology.

Bibliographic list

1. Russia 2045: website. URL: http:// 2045.ru (accessed 20.06.2014)

2. Humanity+: website. URL: http://humanityplus.org (Accessed 06/20/2014)

3. Russian transhumanist movement: website. URL: http:// transhumanism-russia.ru (Accessed 06/20/2014)

4. Bart R. Structuralism as an Activity / Roland Barthes // Gumer Library - Humanities: Internet site. URL: http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Culture/Bart/_02.php (accessed 07/15/2014).

5. Delez J. On the Death of Man and the Superman // Gilles Deleuze // Gumer Library - Humanities: website. http://www.gumer.info/bogoslov_Buks/Philos/Delez/sm_chel.php

Katasonov V.N. Struggling with the infinite. Philosophical and religious aspects of the genesis of G. Kantor's set theory. M., 1999.
Katasonov V.N. Metaphysical mathematics of the 17th century. M., 1993 (2010). Ch.I.
Katasonov V.N. Information and reality // Science, philosophy, religion. Man facing the challenge of the latest information and communication technologies. Sat. materials of the XVI conference “Science. Philosophy. Religion. M., 2014

The kingdom of man (lat.). So, by analogy with the Kingdom of God, F. Bacon called his project of mastering nature on the basis of a new science. See book: Saprykin D.L. Regnum hominis. Imperial project of F. Bacon. M., 2001.

Soviet scientists of the 20s, inspired by the new ideology, tried to artificially derive a new nature Soviet man, using both eugenic methods and human-animal crossing.

As S.S. Khoruzhy rightly writes on this subject: “... it seems that noisy PR people with a chicken intellect and obsessed with intellect developed along one straight line are going to lead us to superintelligence, convinced, according to evidence, that “man is a machine of meat, wearing a computer in the skull "" ( Khoruzhy S.S. The problem of posthuman, or transformative anthropology through the eyes of synergistic anthropology // Philosophical sciences. 2008, No. 2. P.29).

The weakness of the position of V.A. Kutyrev is connected with this. In his book "The Philosophy of Transhumanism" one can also find the words God, Christianity, Goodness, Logos, Christ, as well as Buddha and Allah, but it is obvious that he is a non-believer, in the sense that for him these names are only cultural - historical marks. God entered into history and acts in it has not yet become for him the term of his philosophy.

Avatar: key stages of the project // Russia 2045: website. URL: http:// 2045.ru (accessed 20.06.2014)

Although the modeling of the work of human organs, such as, for example, the human foot, encounters serious difficulties, and for moving automata, simpler and more compromise solutions have to be applied.

All that is comprehended with the help of raison de finesse (subtle mind), as B. Pascal called it ( PascalB. Oeuvres completes. Paris, 1963. P. 576).

Introduction. The main ideas of transhumanism

Transhumanism, not being a classical political ideology as such, however, can be designated as a quasi-political ideology (at least potential), since the implementation of the ideas of transhumanists in society is impossible without political agreements (and decisions based on them), without a broad social convention, and even without political consensus on major issues.

Thus, transhumanism acquires a political dimension.

Some transhumanists advocate the creation of a political organization and participation in politics in order to promote their ideas, change the political agenda of global humanity.

Transhumanism is an ideology that calls for a multilateral improvement of human nature by technological means. First of all, we have in mind medical biotechnologies, which make it possible to consciously transform the parameters of human nature, purposefully change them. This is the basic idea of transhumanism, its starting point.

Transhumanists note the fact that a person has already studied the mechanisms of the evolutionary process, studied the evolutionary path of his species, in such a way that he is theoretically able to take his further evolution under his conscious control, to direct his genetic and cultural co-evolution in the direction he desires.

Another important postulate of transhumanism is that the informational and cultural projections of a person, or rather, his complete memocomplex (i.e. memotype, by analogy with the genotype) are potentially eternal. It is only necessary to learn how to adequately download this cultural information into computers and their networks, and a person, and in religious terminology, his soul (that is, his complete memocomplex), becomes immortal. It can be copied, it can transform and reproduce itself, live at its own discretion in simulated worlds, where the laws of physics can be arbitrarily changed as needed and at will, completely control itself and its own destiny - that is, use all the possibilities that are already provided by modern cybernetic and telecommunication technologies, and which will be possible in the foreseeable future. Thus, human consciousness can continue to live its own life, indefinitely, regardless of the fate of its original biological basis,

its shells are bodies.

According to transhumanists, the opponents of the technological improvement of man are biased people who are in captivity of prejudice, often of a religious nature.

But for an open mind, there are no such obstacles in the discussion of the main ideas of transhumanism.

The biggest obstacle to transhumanist plans is the mass nature of modern human societies, which makes such fundamental agreements about the very development of humanity quite difficult, although the modern politics of mass participation has developed some mechanisms that can solve these issues. Most importantly, it is such an achievement of human civilization as democracy - the social technology most suitable for optimal management in the mass egalitarian societies that prevail in modern humanity. Also, for these purposes, information and telecommunication technologies can be used, which allow you to quickly and in an organized manner interact in huge communities and societies. For example, the global information network Internet, which allows an unlimited number of people to communicate at any planetary distances in real time.

But the main problem of the ideology of transhumanism is that a person is a social species and, in general, a cultural being.

It is theoretically easy to transform one individual, one individual with the help of new technological possibilities. Much more difficult is the problem of evolution directed by the evolving species itself, i.e., the organized and coordinated transformation of entire social groups, given that decisions must be made in the paradigm of liberal democracy, by this group itself.

Therefore, the question seems to be relevant for social and political philosophy and for practical political science, which could classify and evaluate from a scientific point of view both the ideology itself, the groups that profess it, the social movement and its significance that these groups represent, and offer answers. to those real socio-cultural and political challenges to global humanity that transhumanism only denotes.

And these challenges have already passed from the sphere of futurology and distant hypotheses into the practice of modern mankind.

The question is raised about the very essence of human nature, its future fate. It has become clear to humanity today that it is only a step, albeit a very important one, in the huge building of evolution that continues to be built, and man (Homo sapiens), apparently for the first time in the evolution of living matter, has the privilege to further determine the architecture of the future building. The man realized that his species had both a pre-human past and there are options for a possible post-human future. And the option that will be implemented may depend on the political decisions of the near future and, in general, on the current course of human cultural evolution. Given the potential significance of these issues for the species Homo sapiens, which is a variant of intelligent matter, the ideology of transhumanism is of interest for the study of social sciences, and primarily political science.

Although transhumanism itself is not a science (nevertheless, there are different opinions among transhumanists on this matter), it relies only on scientific knowledge and real technological achievements of mankind, and, with all the superficial similarities with many so-called. "esoteric" religious currents, speculating scientific terms (for example, the term "evolution"), transhumanism has nothing to do with both the now popular "neopagan" cults ("anthroposophy", "theosophy", etc. religious doctrines), and traditional religions revelations, also postulating immortality and salvation. Transhumanism arose only as a response to those real problems and challenges to humanity, which, one way or another, will be resolved. Our only opportunity is to choose the socially acceptable and optimal path. These challenges were set by the very course of events, the very course of life - the current stage of evolution of the species. Transhumanists offer their own solution, being apologists for high technologies. And the course of the political discussion on these problems and possible political decisions on this matter will largely determine how adequate and optimal the response to this challenge will be found by mankind.

ChapterI. History and development of the ideology of transhumanism

From the history of transhumanism

The term "transhumanism" was first introduced in 1957 by a prominent English biologist Julian Huxley. As their ideological predecessors, modern Western transhumanists consider mainly the thinkers of the 20s - 50s of the XX century - the biologist (biochemist) J. (an important stimulus for the formation of transhumanism was his essay "Dedalus: Science and the Future" (1923), in which he describes how scientific and technological discoveries can change society and improve the human condition; this essay set off a chain reaction of discussions about the future), physicist J. D. Bernal (he talks about space colonization and bionic implants, as well as improving intelligence with using advanced sociological and psychological methods), the anthropologist and paleontologist P. Teilhard de Chardin, and others. Olaf Stapledon should also be noted, and the essay “Icarus: the future of science” (1924) by Bertrand Russell, who shared a more pessimistic view of things, arguing that without goodwill in this world, the power of technology will basically increase the ability of people to harm each other. These ideas, which were developed by Aldous Huxley in his novels and later by many science fiction writers, had a great influence on the ideas of transhumanism and so on. "studying the future" (futures studies).
The Second World War changed the direction of development of many currents,
which today have led to transhumanism. The early eugenics movement was
strongly discredited by fascism (Nazism), and the idea of creating a new, better world became a taboo for a certain time. (Even some of today's transhumanists continue to be very suspicious of collective change, now the goal, according to one of these currents, is to reconstruct oneself and, possibly, one's descendants. Although not all transhumanists consider such a "narrow" approach to be correct and productive.) Instead, optimistic futurists have turned their attention to technological progress, in particular space travel, electronics and computers. Science began to keep up with the assumptions, and even overtake them.
Transhumanist ideas during this period were discussed and developed, in
mostly in science fiction. Authors such as Arthur
Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Heinlein, Stanislaw Lem, and later Bruce Sterling, Greg Evan, Vernor Vinge and many others explored various aspects
transhumanism and contributed to its spread.
In its modern form, transhumanism was mainly formulated in the lectures and publications of FM-2030, aka (Fereidoun M. Esfandiary). He was one of the most influential early transhumanists. F. M. Esfandiary, who later changed his name to FM-2030 (Future Man 2030) is one of the first professors in the field of "future studies" (future studies), FM taught at the New School for Social Sciences (New School for Social Research)
in New York in the 1960s and formed a school of optimistic
futurists known as the UpWingers. In 1989, in his book Are You Transhuman?, he gave the first description of the concept of the transhuman as an evolutionary bridge to posthumanity. A great contribution to the development of transhumanism was made by R. Ettinger (he initiated the cryonics movement with the publication of his book “The Perspective of Immortality”, 1964, where he argued that since medical technology is constantly evolving, and since chemical activity stops at sufficiently low temperatures, it should be possible
freeze the patient today and keep him until the moment when
technology will advance enough to repair the freeze damage and diseases he might have), M. Minsky, E. Drexler. Their ideas are based on the main scientific areas with which transhumanists pin their hopes - immortalism, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology.

In particular, in 1972, Ettinger published From Man to Superman (see notes), where he considered some possible improvements to the human body, continuing the tradition started by Haldane and Bernal. Robert Ettinger, as most transhumanists acknowledge, was as instrumental in giving transhumanism its modern form.
Damien Broderick, Max More, Natasha Vita-More, Nick Bostrom and many others have contributed to the popularization of transhumanism.

In 1988, the first issue of Extropy Magazine was published, edited by Max More and T. O. Morrow (alias for "tomorrow"), and in 1992 they founded the Extropy Institute. The journal and the institute catalyzed the unification of many separate early groups. Max Mohr gave the first definition of the concept of "transhumanism" in its modern sense. If we choose a specific date and place for the emergence of modern transhumanism, then
it happened in America in the late eighties. Thanks to the work of Natasha Vita-More, the direction of transhumanist art was formed around the same time.
"Machines of creation" (Engines of
Creation) (1986) was the first major work on the molecular
technology, its potential applications, possible abuses, and the strategic questions that its development raises. This important book
has had a huge and lasting impact on the ideas of transhumanism. Also important were the books by robotics researcher Hans Moravec Mind Children (1988) and the later Robot (1999). And today, Drexler and Moravec remain at the forefront of transhumanist thought. Two other important contemporary transhumanists are Anders Sandberg and American economist Robin Hanson.
Many transhumanists disagree with the Institute's political views
Extropia. Therefore, the World Transhumanist Association was founded in 1998 by Nick Bostrom and David Pearce to complement the Institute and act as an umbrella organization for all groups and movements associated with transhumanism.
With a focus on supporting transhumanism as a "rigorous academic and scientific discipline", the World Transhumanist Association launches the Journal of Transhumanism, the first peer-reviewed scholarly journal dedicated to research in the field of transhumanism.
Thus, all the names that are usually associated with the ideas of transhumanism belong to the representatives of the West, almost all of them are English-speaking. However, a look into the past of Russian thought suggests that many of the ideas that are today classified as transhumanist first arose or were developed in Russia.
The undoubted predecessor of modern transhumanism is the philosophy of Russian cosmism (,, -Kobylin, etc.). In turn, as the forerunners of Russian cosmism can be considered (it is enough to recall his treatise "On Man, His Mortality and Immortality") and (the novel "4338"). As a continuation of Russian cosmism, one should consider the literary movement of biocosmists-immortalists that arose in the 20s of the twentieth century (A. Svyatogor); V. Mayakovsky also expressed close thoughts (“And I am completely convinced that there will be no death. They will resurrect the dead”).

Here you can even see the continuity of ideas with the Christian doctrine that promises people resurrection (a self-fulfilling prophecy?).
In the 1930s and 1940s, the biocosmists-immortalists movement was crushed, many of the followers of Russian cosmism were physically destroyed. However, ideas that go back to their views have gained new life- in particular, in France in the form of the doctrine of the noosphere, formulated by E. Leroy and P. Teilhard de Chardin under the influence of lectures given by V. Vernadsky in the 1920s at the Sorbonne.
Despite the fact that among modern transhumanists in the West, not everyone knows about Russian cosmism and its influence on transhumanism, many people have an awareness of the role of Russian cosmism. So, one of the ideological fathers of transhumanism, the author of the books “Prospects of Immortality” and “From Man to Superman” R. Ettinger, in the preface to the publication of the first of these books in Russian, directly mentions the philosophy of the common cause of N. Fedorov, and on the website of the European The cryonics organization "Cryonics Europe" hosts Fedorov's quotes automatically selected by the computer.
For someone who is familiar with both Russian cosmism and modern transhumanism, the continuity between them is undeniable. Already in Fedorov, we find provisions on the need for directed further human evolution, the fight against aging and death, settling in new habitats, space exploration, projects on a planetary scale - all that is the essence of the views of transhumanists. Fedorov proposed to restore human beings by collecting them from smallest particles matter. This can be seen as the first proposal of what is now called nanotechnology, and what constitutes the main hope of modern transhumanists - in the 19th century, when the very existence of atoms was still a hypothesis that not all scientists accepted - it was a bold programmatic thesis. Fedorov, for the first time, has the idea of the danger of self-destruction of mankind in wars with the use of new destructive types of weapons, as a result of climate change on the Earth, etc. As the only way for the survival of mankind, he put forward his idea of the Common Cause.
Not only Nikolai Fedorov, but also other Russian cosmists have made a significant contribution to the fund of ideas of modern transhumanism. A huge influence was exerted by K. E. Tsiolkovsky, who, developing the ideas of Fedorov, substantiated the possibility of human space exploration and even proposed a number of technical solutions that provided the first steps in this direction (a liquid jet engine, multi-stage rockets, manned space stations, vacuum suits, and much more). The space megaprojects of modern transhumanists are the direct heirs of Tsiolkovsky's "ethereal settlements".
, as mentioned above, formulated the concept of the Noosphere (the term itself was proposed by the French mathematician and philosopher E. Leroy). It was developed by P. Teilhard de Chardin, whose ideas, in turn, formed the basis of the theory of the modern transhumanist, theoretical physicist F. Tipler.
, a Russian biophysicist of the early twentieth century, for the first time proved experimentally that mammals can tolerate cooling to temperatures below 0 ° C. He also substantiated the possibility of long-term preservation of a person in a state of deep freezing in order to unfreeze him in the future, when science and technology allow it. Thus, half a century before Ettinger, he expressed the idea of what Ettinger later called cryonics, and which now occupies such a significant place in modern transhumanism. Bakhmetiev's ideas were quite popular in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century; a circle of followers formed around him, ready to take risks in order to go into the future. However, in 1913 Bakhmetiev died suddenly; subsequent World War, two revolutions, Civil War and further social upheavals led to the fact that both his scientific results and ideas were forgotten for a long time. They persisted for some time among biocosmists-immortalists (until they were defeated), served as a source of an unfulfilled plan to freeze Lenin's body in order to revive him in the future, and formed the basis of Mayakovsky's famous play The Bedbug. However, in the West, Bakhmetiev is practically unknown either as a cryobiologist or as an immortalist, and these ideas are formulated anew.
It can be noted that among modern Western transhumanists a very prominent place is occupied by immigrants from Russia and former USSR. One of the most prominent ideologists of modern transhumanism was A. Chislenko, a futurologist and expert in artificial intelligence, who died in 2000. Biophysicists Y. Pichugin and M. Solovyov are now living in the West - well-known specialists in the field of cryonics, supporters of immortalism and transhumanism in general, V. Turchin - author of the famous book "The Phenomenon of Science: A Cybernetic Approach to Evolution" and co-founder of the Principia Cybernetica project, Mikhail Anisimov - A specialist in artificial intelligence and a well-known transhumanist, A. Bolonkin is a Russian scientist who currently lives in the United States and works at NASA. Even the above-mentioned "father of cryonics" R. Ettinger comes from Russia on the maternal side.
In modern Russia, there are, as it were, several interacting layers of carriers of the ideas of this circle. Firstly, these are participants in the so-called Fedorov movement - Yonova, and others. Among them, special attention is paid to the religious and ethical aspects of their views. Unfortunately, Fedorov's followers call themselves and several groups that focus on parapsychology, "esotericism", Eastern mystical practices, etc. - a circle of ideas that have no real relation to the cultural heritage of Fedorov, Tsiolkovsky and Vernadsky.
Fedorov's teaching is largely based on a major modern philosopher who develops scientific immortalism, the most important component of modern transhumanism. The aforementioned cryobiologist Yu. Pichugin also considers himself a follower of Fedorov.
The second layer is those modern Russian immortalists and transhumanists who came to their ideas regardless of the legacy of Russian cosmism. As a rule, these are representatives of the natural sciences. Among them, one can mention which, developing the views of Russian scientists, and especially the theory of functional systems, formulated his settleretics - a “new interdisciplinary science” about the relocation (transfer) of a personality (memocomplexes) to new physical carriers (similar proposals are made by A. Bolonkin mentioned above) . This group includes a doctor, the author of the immortalistic Program-50, and a cryobiologist, the author of a related program, Life Forever.
The largest group of Russian transhumanists is the Russian Transhumanist Movement (D.A., Ryazanov, and others). It exists in the form of an Internet community that has developed around the sites ***** and *****.
The activity of the participants of the Russian transhumanist movement is mainly oriented in the immortalist direction. They cooperate with several Russian researchers and groups aiming to increase human life expectancy, both by traditional medical methods and using innovative approaches (genetic engineering, therapeutic cloning, nanomedicine, cryonics, etc.), maintain links with immortalists and transhumanists for abroad - primarily with people from Russia and the former USSR. The Russian transhumanist movement put forward the Manifesto of Russian transhumanism, the first provision of which reads: Transhumanists see their most important task as preventing the death of our civilization.
As in the West, the ideas of transhumanism and immortalism in Russia are most popular among representatives of the exact and natural sciences, doctors, computer and programming specialists. It is interesting to note that in similar circles the ideas of Russian cosmism were also most popular.

ChapterII. modern transhumanism.

What is the ideology of modern transhumanism

Transhumanism is completely new approach to thinking about the future, based on the assumption that the human species is not the end of the evolution of intelligent matter, but rather, its beginning. Transhumanism defines it this way:

1) Studying the results, prospects and potential dangers of using science, technology, creativity and other ways to overcome the fundamental limits of human capabilities.

2) A rational and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and
the desirability of fundamental changes in the human condition through the advances of the mind, especially the use of technology to eliminate aging and greatly enhance the mental, physical and psychological capabilities of man.

Transhumanism can be described as an extension of the humanism from which it
partially occurs. Humanists believe that the essence of people is that only individuals matter (individualization). People (and societies) may not be perfect, but they can improve things and promote rational thought, freedom, tolerance and democracy. Despite the obvious individualism, modern transhumanists pay great attention to social issues, recognize the social context and the very ideology of transhumanism and almost all problems of the Homo sapiens species. Transhumanists agree with the social improvement of the individual (society), but they also emphasize what humans can potentially become through the biotechnological improvement of their nature.
Mankind can not only use reasonable ways to improve
the position of man and the surrounding world; Homo sapiens can also use them to improve themselves, the human body itself, its mental abilities, etc. And the methods available to us are not limited.
those that humanism usually offers, such as education and enlightenment, although they are critical to the further cultural development of the species.
Mankind can use technological methods, which in the end
allow us to go beyond what most consider human,
to radically strengthen various abilities, including intellectual ones, to expand the scope of the possible, while maintaining continuity with respect to the best in the current human culture.
Transhumanists believe that thanks to accelerating scientific and technological progress, we are entering a completely new stage in the development of mankind. In the near future, we will likely encounter the possibility of true artificial intelligence. New cognitive tools will be created that will combine artificial intelligence with new types of interfaces, i.e. we will be able to look at reality not only with the help of the “browser” that was developed in the evolution of our species, and is so familiar to us that we do not wondering
practically such questions as “what can be outside?”.
Molecular nanotechnology is believed by many trashumanists to have the potential to create an abundance of resources for every human being and give us complete control over the biochemical processes in our bodies, allowing us to rid ourselves of disease. By rewiring the pleasure centers in the brain, people will be able to experience a greater range of emotions, endless happiness and joyful experiences of unlimited intensity at any time. Transhumanists also see the dark side of the future development, recognizing that some of these technologies are capable of causing great harm to human life; the very survival of our species (and thus the future of its evolutionary successors) may be in question.
While these possibilities are radical, they are being seriously considered by
a growing number of scientists and scientifically literate philosophers and social thinkers.
AT last years transhumanist ideas spread around the world
at a fast pace, which, to a large extent, is facilitated by new telecommunications and information technologies, which have greatly facilitated the communication of people, the exchange of ideas - in fact, in this sense, leveling the barrier factor of spaces and distances.

There are currently two international transhumanist organizations, the Extropy Institute and the World Transhumanist Association,
both publishing online journals and organizing conferences on transhumanism. There are local transhumanist groups in many countries, and in the US, there are discussion groups in virtually every major city. A growing body of material on transhumanism is being published online, as well as in books and magazines.

Transhumanism as a philosophical worldview

What preceded transhumanism in philosophical and general cultural terms? Man's desire for divine qualities seems to be as old as the human species itself. People have always sought to expand the boundaries of their own existence: geographical, ecological or mental.
Archaeological evidence of funeral rites and surviving fragments of religious records show that ancient and prehistoric people were deeply moved by the death of their loved ones and tried to reduce the fear and regret that arose in such situations, suggesting an afterlife. However, despite the idea of an afterlife, people still sought to prolong their lives in this world. In the Sumerian story of Gilgamesh, the king goes in search of a plant that can make him immortal. It is worth noting two people's assumptions: that death was not in principle inevitable, and that there is a means to achieve immortality. That people really aspired to live longer and rich life, seen in the example of the development of various systems of magic and alchemy; lacking practical means, people turned to magical rites and religious practices. A typical example is the various esoteric schools of Taoism in China that strove for physical immortality, control and harmony with the forces of nature.
The Greeks had different attitudes towards people going beyond their "natural" boundaries. On the one hand, they were fascinated by this idea. This is seen in the myth of
Prometheus, who stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to people, thus
much better for the people. In the myth of Daedalus, the cunning master Daedalus successfully defies the gods several times using
not magical means to expand human capabilities. On the other hand, there was a perception that some goals were forbidden and that there would be retribution for trying to achieve them. In the end, Daedalus' bold venture ends in disaster (which, however, was not the punishment of the gods, but was caused entirely by natural causes).
Greek philosophers first attempted to develop a worldview based not on faith, but on logical reasoning. Socrates and the Sophists extended the application of critical thinking from metaphysics and cosmology to the study of ethics and questions about society and human psychology. The study of these questions led to the birth of cultural humanism, a current of particular importance throughout Western history for science, political theory, ethics, jurisprudence and other areas of human culture.
The Renaissance was an awakening from medieval thinking, and the study
man and the surrounding world again became acceptable. Theocentrism is being replaced by anthropocentrism and secular humanism. Renaissance humanism encouraged people to rely on their own observations and judgments instead of relying on religious dogma for everything. The humanism of the Renaissance also offered the ideal of a culturally harmonious personality, developed scientifically, morally and spiritually. An important milestone in the development of humanism was the treatise by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola "Speech on the Dignity of Man" (1486), where he explicitly states that a person is not a finished form, but must turn himself into something. Modern science begins to take shape, primarily in the works of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and others.
It can be said that the Age of Enlightenment began with the publication of Francis Bacon's New Organon (1620), where he proposed a new scientific methodology based on empirical research rather than a priori reasoning. Bacon promoted the idea of "expanding the boundaries of human power up to the subordination of everything possible to him," meaning by this the strengthening of power over nature in order to improve the condition of man. The legacy of the Renaissance, combined with the influence of empiricist and post-scholastic and later philosophers: Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Immanuel Kant and others, formed the basis for a rational humanism that emphasizes science and critical thinking, rather than revelation and religious authorities as methods of knowing the world around us, the fate and nature of man, and laying the foundations for secular morality. Rational humanism is in fact the direct predecessor of transhumanism.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries we see the emergence of the idea that even man himself can be developed and improved by science and technology based on it. Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire speculated about extending human life through medicine. Atheism and agnosticism, especially after the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution, became rationally justified and increasingly attractive alternatives to Christianity, although Christianity itself postulated many ideas that transhumanism only rationalized and gave them a scientific basis (and also showed possible ways to implement them).
However, the optimism and rationalism of the late nineteenth century often degenerated into an almost religious belief in the inevitability of the progress of society (Hegel, Marx and other historicists). The clash of these views with a complex reality backfired, and many turned to irrationalism and mysticism, believing that if reason was insufficient, then it was generally useless. This gave rise to anti-technological, pseudo-evolutionary (“esoteric”), anti- and pseudo-intellectual views that are still with us today.

Much later, the long-standing denial of the possibilities of man and society resulted in the appearance of the countercultural phenomenon of postmodernism, which was popular in humanitarian circles (in the 80s and partly in the 90s of the 20th century). Postmodernism is evidence of a deep crisis of human culture, a challenge to human civilization, to which transhumanism gives its answer along with scientific evolutionism and science in general.

ChapterIII. Political aspects of transhumanism.

Under the political aspects of transhumanism, we will understand the ethical and social issues that require a political solution, which transhumanism puts on the agenda of modern humanity.

Won't new technologies be available only to the rich and powerful? What will happen to the rest?
The argument can be made that the standard of living of the average American today is higher than that of any king five hundred years ago. The king may have had an orchestra at court, but you can afford a CD player with which you can listen best musicians whenever you want. If the king got pneumonia, he could die, and you just take antibiotics. The king might have had a carriage drawn by six white horses, but you can buy a car that goes faster and is much more comfortable. And you have a TV, Internet access, a radio and a shower, you can talk to relatives on another continent on the phone, and you know more about the earth, the stars, and nature in general than a king could ever know.
New technologies tend to become cheaper over time due to competition in a market economy. For example, in medicine, experimental methods are usually available only to those who participate in clinical trials or to very wealthy patients. But gradually these treatments
become routine, their cost is reduced and much more people can afford them. Even in the poorest countries, vaccines and penicillin have helped save millions of lives. In the field of consumer electronics, the price of high-end computers and other electronic devices is falling as more advanced models are developed.

It is clear that better technologies can benefit everyone. But in
In the beginning, the greatest advantages will go to those who have the necessary
means, knowledge and, in particular, a desire to learn how to use new tools. It can be assumed that some technologies can increase social inequality, which can potentially lead to destabilization of the political system. For example, if some way to increase intelligence becomes available, it may initially be so expensive that only the richest can afford it. The same can happen if we find a way to genetically improve our children. The rich will get smarter and be able to earn more more money. But this phenomenon will not be something completely new: even now the rich can give their children an excellent education, and they can use tools such as information technology and personal contacts that are available only to the privileged class.

Trying to ban technological innovation because of this would be counterproductive. But some political regulation of this process is necessary. If a society finds such inequality unacceptable, it would be wiser to increase the redistribution of income in that society, for example, through taxes and the provision of free services (education, medicine, computers and Internet access in libraries, genetic improvements covered by social security, etc.) .). The point is that economic and technological progress is a positive-sum game. It does not solve the old political problem of how the public income should be distributed, but it can make that income much larger.

Possible dangers of transhuman technologies

This means that we must study and discuss possible problems before they become reality. Find socially acceptable political responses to technological and other challenges. Biotechnology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence can be a source of serious danger if used carelessly or maliciously, for example, for military purposes. Transhumanists believe very
It is important that people think seriously about these issues now.

There are many ethical, social, cultural, philosophical and
scientific issues that need to be studied in detail, considered and discussed in a wide public discussion. Required
research, as well as the most complete discussion in the media. We must also create organizations and international structures that will help us pursue a responsible policy and make well-thought-out decisions - to create a system of legal regulation of these issues. All this takes time, and the sooner we start, the greater our chances of avoiding the most dangerous threats that may be in the way of progress.

A good example is the Foresight Institute (http://www.foresight.org), which has been promoting research and public awareness of emerging transhumanist technologies, especially molecular nanotechnology, for several years now.

Many people ask the important question: Shouldn't we focus on current issues such as improving the situation of the poor or resolving international conflicts, instead of
try to foresee the "distant" future?
It is worth doing both. One does not exclude the other. Moreover, new technologies can make it possible to more optimally and quickly solve traditional social and political-cultural problems and issues. Trying to focus only on current problems and use current solutions will fail - firstly, we will not be ready for new problems, and secondly, our current methods are often insufficient even to solve today's problems.
Many of the transhuman technologies already exist or are actively
developed, becoming the subject of ongoing controversy. Biotechnology already
reality. Information technology has transformed many sectors of our
economy. From the standpoint of transhumanism, the future is always happening.
Most of the transhuman technologies are already working well in medicine, for example. An important factor Influencing life expectancy is access to quality health care – improvements in medicine prolong life, and life extension work is likely to make conventional health care more effective. The work of enhancing the intellect has obvious applications in education, in good governance, and in improving the effectiveness of communication.
Improvements in communication, rational thinking, commerce and education are very effective methods to help resolve international conflicts peacefully. This accelerates the socio-cultural development of mankind. Nanotechnological production promises to be both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Working to create a world order characterized by peace, democracy, international cooperation and respect for human rights will greatly increase the chances that potentially dangerous technologies of the future will not be used irresponsibly or for military purposes. It will also free up resources that are now being used for military purposes, and perhaps allow them to be used to solve traditional social problems, such as the eradication of poverty and the availability of universal quality education throughout the planet.
Transhumanists do not simple solution, with which it would be possible to achieve a similar result as no one else has, but, of course, technology can and should play a significant role in this. For example, the development of communications can help people find a common language more easily. As more people gain access to the Internet and can listen and watch satellite radio - and TV channels,
dictators and authoritarian regimes will find it increasingly difficult to silence dissenters and control public access to information. And, as many Internet users know, the World Wide Web helps you find friends, acquaintances and business partners around the world. And this leads to a greater density of social networks, an increase in the exchange of information (including ideas), which accelerates the development of societies and human culture.

Life extension and the problem of overpopulation

Population growth is a problem that we will have to solve in the end.
eventually take, even if the extension of life does not occur. Some people
blame technology for the overpopulation problem. Let's look at it differently - if not for technology, then most of the people living today would not exist. This is a consequence of the development, for example, medicine. If we stopped using modern methods in agriculture, many people in many countries would die of starvation and related diseases. If not for antibiotics and medical intervention, especially at the birth of a child, many of us would have died in childhood.

Therefore, this problem is ambiguous and it is hardly possible to solve it positively without new technologies.
Of course, too rapid population growth leads to overcrowding, poverty and depletion. natural resources. In this sense,
overpopulation is indeed a real problem today and in the near future. We should probably support family planning and contraception programs,
especially among families in poor countries where the population is growing the fastest.
According to transhumanists, the constant lobbying by some religious groups in the United States to stop this humanitarian aid is a serious mistake stemming from ignorance.
The number of people that the Earth can feed and support with an adequate standard of living and without harm to the environment depends on the level of technological development. New technologies, from simple improvements in land reclamation and management to modern breakthroughs in genetic engineering, will continue to increase food production (while reducing animal suffering).

One point that environmentalists are right about is that the "status quo" cannot be maintained. Things cannot, simply for physical reasons, go on as they do now, indefinitely, or even just for a very long time. If we continue to use resources at the current rate, then we will face a serious shortage of them before the middle of this century, as many experts believe. The radical greens have an answer: they propose that we turn back the clock
back and returned to the idyllic pre-industrial age (the myth of the golden age), when we lived in harmony with nature. Realists sneer at these calls, logically developing the ideas of the radical "greens": Back to the caves, back to the Pithecanthropes! The problem is that the pre-industrial age was anything but idyllic—poverty, suffering, disease, hard physical labor from dawn to dusk, superstitious fear and cultural narrow-mindedness; nor was it "environmentally friendly" - just look at the deforestation of Europe and the Mediterranean, the desertification of much of the Middle East and North Africa, the depletion of soils by some Indian tribes, etc. Do we want this? Hardly. In addition, it is difficult to imagine how more than a few hundred million people can be supported at an acceptable standard of living using pre-industrial production methods, so that 90% of the world's population will have to be somehow got rid of, as the "greens" and return preachers in so-called. the “golden age” is deliberately or misunderstood kept silent.

Transhumanists offer a much more realistic and humane alternative: not to retreat, but to persevere and persevere forward. Environmental problems that are caused by technology are problems of inefficient intermediate technology, a stage of imperfect technologies. Less developed industry in the countries of the former
the socialist bloc pollutes the environment much more than similar Western enterprises. High-tech industry is safer for nature. When we develop molecular nanotechnology, we will not only be able to produce virtually any commodity in an absolutely clean and efficient manner, but we will also be able to undo the harm done by today's crude production methods. Thus, transhumanists offer a higher standard of environmental cleanliness than traditional "greens".

Nanotechnology should also make space colonization inexpensive. On a cosmic scale, the Earth is an insignificant, completely tiny grain of sand in our Universe, which continues to expand, and according to modern ideas, it will always be so.
It was proposed that we preserve the cosmos in its original beauty and
left it untouched. It is difficult to take such a view seriously.
Every moment of time, in a completely natural way, a huge amount of resources, millions of times more than the human species has spent in the entire history of its existence, turns into radioactive waste or is wasted in intergalactic space in the form of radiation. It takes a very limited imagination not to be able to come up with a more creative use of all this matter and energy. Moreover, unlike the universe, our concrete solar system and the planet Earth are not eternal, and it is desirable to expand the boundaries of the habitat of the species, before its cradle is threatened.

Ethical criteria by which transhumanists evaluate "the improvement of the human condition"

Transhumanism is compatible with a variety of ethical systems, and transhumanists hold a variety of views. However, the following ideas are in agreement with most transhumanists:
Transhumanists believe that we can talk about an improvement in the situation
humanity if the condition of individuals has improved. Usually only the person himself can judge what is good for him or her. That's why
transhumanists are advocates of personal freedom, especially
moral right for those who want it to use technology to
expansion of their mental and physical abilities and more control over your own life.
From this point of view, an improvement in the condition of humanity will be a change that increases the ability of individuals to consciously change themselves and their lives in accordance with their informed desires. Emphasis is placed on the word "consciously". It is important that people understand which options they are choosing between. Education, freedom of information, information technology, intelligence enhancement, capable
help people make more informed and informed choices.

Conclusion.

Transhumanism, as we see it, is an ideology, moreover, an ideology that affects the political agenda of modern humanity - the implementation of the ideas of transhumanism is possible only through the path of political decisions. But transhumanism does not offer anything that does not correspond to the logic of the social and cultural development of the Homo sapiens species, it only offers possible (and, from the point of view of transhumanist ideology, optimal) options for responding to those actual challenges that the development of mankind has already faced and will probably face more. in the short term, if we extrapolate the current trends in the development of mankind into the future.

In view of the fact that the proposed responses to the challenges to global humanity lie in the sphere of political decisions, but the ideology itself is apolitical in the traditional sense, we call transhumanism a quasi-political ideology. Moreover, transhumanism also raises philosophical questions, such as the possible self-government of the species itself in the course of its further biological (and cultural) evolution. True, this or that decision in this case will also go into the sphere of politics - such decisions, obviously, can only be political, based on the widest discussion of the problem and the adoption of a socially acceptable decision based on political consensus. (In this sense, we see that politics is a factor in evolution, can influence the very course of evolution.)

This is the only possible way for a democratic and liberal society. And global humanity is demonstrating a tendency to turn into just such a society. Here it can be noted that the most fair decisions, as human experience shows, are both the most optimal and reasonable. This is not an accident. Such a correlation is a consequence of the evolution that our species has gone through. Economic "rationality" does not coincide with the real rational behavior of people developed in their evolution. The economy is only an episode in the history of mankind, which has not changed the deep foundations of human behavior, which was formed by millions of years of evolution of our and ancestral species.

Whether the transhumanist movement will create its own political organization is a non-principled question. This will not weaken or cancel the problems that humanity is facing. Moreover, the ideology of transhumanism itself does not weaken technological challenges and problems, but only offers ways of answering and solutions that can be discussed.

Of course, transhumanism, in itself, can be perceived by some as a challenge, especially when it comes to religious associations. But this is an illusion, since transhumanism only offers options for responding to challenges, putting ethical (including) problems that arise as technology develops and technological progress accelerates before modern polities. And all sorts of diverse religious groups have no moral right to blame the very development of mankind for their problems. That religious dogmas don't fit objective reality, and can be left to the history of human thought - not the fault of any ideology, but an inherent problem of these religions themselves. Religions have been useful in their ethical part for the development of human culture and Civilization, but their metaphysical doctrines are simply not true and do not satisfy modern people who want to know something - proven and re-verified facts, know undisproved theories - and not believe in something that can easily turn out to be only fantastic images - a product of the reflection of our ignorant distant and narrow-minded ancestors.

Opponents of progress and further development of technology can be considered biased people, since there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the path of progress is a suboptimal path of development, and not a way to solve the problems of mankind, including social ones.

The only reasonable point in criticizing the opponents of technological improvement is the question of how socially and culturally prepared humanity is for such rapid changes? This question can even be answered that humanity is not ready enough. But technological development probably still won't stop it. Therefore, transhumanism offers a political solution and regulation of these issues.

"The Ethology of Man on the Threshold of the 21st Century" (Moscow, Stary Sad, 1999, ed.)

The implementation of such ideas does not contradict either the scientific approach, or even just ordinary common sense. The only question is the feasibility of these ideas in the near future. Here it is appropriate to note that the very formulation of the question, in a certain sense, forms and directs the unfolding social reality. This effect, in particular, is discussed in George Soros' book "The Crisis of World Capitalism" (see http://capitalizm.*****/), where he formulates the concept of "reflexivity".

It can be said that most of the traditional religions, without realizing it, only sanctify the current stage of evolution, rejecting the idea that this is a transient state. But how it will change is determined by the laws of evolution itself, and the course of events, which a person can potentially influence; evolution is a process with an open end.

For a functional definition of the term "culture", see http://anthropos. *****/human_behavior. html

See, e.g., Russian Newsweek # 23, 2004 (p. 58)

"Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnological Revolution" Francis Fukuyama (Moscow, AST Publishing House, 2004)

"Fundamentals of Religious Studies" Ed. (Moscow, " graduate School", 1998)

It is important to note that transhumanists emphasize that the knowledge of mankind and, in particular, technology, should be used only for the benefit of both the individual and the benefit of the whole society. Therefore, they consider it important to raise these issues, including at the political level, and their general discussion, public discussion - in order to develop generally acceptable development options.

J. Huxley, New Bottles for New Wine, London, 1957

J.B.S. Haldane, Daedalus or Science and the Future (paper read to the Heretics, Cambridge, on February 4th, 1923)

J. D. Bernal, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil: An Inquiry into the Future of the Three Enemies of the Rational Soul, 2nd ed. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press (1969) (first published in 1929)

P. Teilhard de Chardin, Phenomenon of man, M., 1955, 1987, 2002; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The Future of Man, N. Y .: Harper, 1964, 1969 / L "Avenir de l" Homme Paris, Seuil, 1959

FM-2030, Optimism one; the emerging radicalism. Norton, 1970; FM-2030, UpWingers: A Futurist Manifesto. John Day Co, 1974; FM-2030, Are You a Transhuman?: Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World. Warner Books, 1989

Terminology note: FM also used
to describe trans people, the word "trans". The word "transhuman" was first
used in a science fiction short story by Damien Broderick
Broderick) in 1976, although there the meaning of this concept was somewhat different. Word
"transhumanism" was first used by Julian Huxley in
book New Bottles for New Wine (1957)

Ettinger, Robert C. W., The Prospect Of Immortality. 1964; edition in Russian: Robert Ettinger, Perspectives of Immortality. M., Scientific world, 2003; Ettinger, Robert C. W., Man Into Superman. Avon, 1974

Minsky, Marwin., Society of Mind. Simon & Schuster, 1987; In the seventies and eighties, many organizations arose to promote
ideas of life extension, cryonics, space colonization or futurism. How
As a rule, they were scattered, although many of them shared similar views and
values. An outstanding defender of the position of transhumanism during this period was
Marvin Minsky.

Drexler, Eric K., Engines Of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology. Doubleday, NY, 1986; Drexler, Eric K., Chris Peterson, Gayle Pergamit; Unbounding The Future - The Nanotechnology Revolution. William Morrow, NY, 1991; Simon and Schuster, 1992

Fedorov N. F., Philosophy of the common cause. Articles, thoughts and letters of Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov, published under the editorship of and. T. I. Faithful. 1906, Vol. II. M., 1913. See also: Fedorov works in 4 volumes. M.,

Space animal. Sobr. soch., vol. 4. M., 1964

About man, his mortality and immortality. Series: Psychology/classics, Peter, 2001

About a generation that squandered its poets. M., 1930

Robert Ettinger, Prospects for Immortality. M., Scientific world, 2003

Compare with the Christian postulate of the resurrection

Tipler F. J., The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead. Anchor, 1994

N. A. Fedorov as a forerunner of the modern concept of the practical immortality of man. In the collection "On the Threshold of the Future. In memory of Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov”, pp. 322-332. M., Pashkov house, 2004

Cryonics and perspectives of Fedorov's ideas. In the collection "On the Threshold of the Future. In memory of Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov”, pp. 332-337. M., Pashkov house, 2004

Settleretics is a new interdisciplinary science about the "resettlement" of the individual. Scientific and practical seminar "New Information Technologies" NIT-98 (Moscow State Institute of Electronics and Mathematics, February 1998). // Materials, pp.130-149. M: MGIEiM, 1998

WWW. ***** (scientific immortalism) or Scarlet Sails on the new way. M., New Age, 2001

Atlantic Diary (http://www.svoboda.org/programs/AD/): Einstein's grandchildren:

http://www. freedom. org/programs/ad/2005/ad.011205.asp

The blind watchmaker Richard Dawkins

Karl Popper "The Poverty of Historicism"

"Facts, Norms and Truth: A Further Critique of Relativism" / Karl Popper "The Open Society and Its Enemies"

United Nations. World Population Prospects: The 1998 Revision (United Nations, New York)

http://www. popin. org/pop1998/

transhumanism(from lat. trans - through, through, beyond; lat. humanitas - humanity, humanus - humane, homo - a person) - a rational worldview based on understanding the achievements and prospects of science, which recognizes the possibility and desirability of fundamental changes in the position of a person with using advanced technologies to eliminate suffering, aging and death, and to greatly enhance the physical, mental and psychological capabilities of a person.

Story

Ideas in the form of desires or opinions, which today can be interpreted as transhumanistic, have been present in human culture throughout history.

For the first time the word "transhumane" was used by Dante Alighieri in his " Divine Comedy”, which brought him wide fame, but in the modern sense this word is found for the first time only by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley in his work “Religion without Apocalypse”. In the spirit of its era, marked, in particular, by the penetration of the methods of the natural sciences into biology, the formation of genetics as an independent scientific direction and the beginning of the liberation Everyday life people from the influence of religion, Huxley presented transhumanism as a new ideology, "faith" for Humanity, which is part of a new wave of the scientific and technological revolution. At the same time, views close to Huxley were developed by the geneticist J. B. S. Haldine and Russian cosmists. The collapse of hopes for the emergence of real ways to radically change the biological nature of man quickly led to the extinction of a wide interest in ideas in this area.

The first in practice to the prospect of strengthening the capabilities of the human mind with the help of special devices developed on a scientific basis was the Russian inventor S. N. Korsakov. At the end of the 19th century, such philosophers as Francis Villard, Nikolai Fedorov and Friedrich Nietzsche spoke about the further evolution of mankind through overcoming the limitations of the human body as a desirable perspective.

In 1966, the Iranian-American futurist FM-2030 (Fereidun M. Esfendiari) called transhumanists people who had a special worldview and lifestyle aimed at self-improvement. These are the people who use the modern achievements of science and technology for the transition to a "posthuman" - a creature with fundamentally new abilities.

One of the first definitions of transhumanism was introduced by the philosopher Max Mohr.

In 1998, philosophers Nick Bostrom and David Pierce founded the World Association of Transhumanists.

The main goals and objectives of transhumanism

The main goal of transhumanism is the endless improvement of man, based on latest discoveries scientific and technological progress. To achieve this goal, transhumanism proposes:

Transhumanists support the development of new technologies; they consider nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, developments in the field of artificial intelligence, uploading consciousness into computer memory, and cryonics to be especially promising.

Many transhumanists (in particular, the famous futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil) believe that by 2050 the continuously accelerating technological progress will make it possible to create a posthuman whose abilities will be fundamentally different from the abilities of modern people. Genetic engineering, molecular nanotechnology, the creation of neuroprostheses and direct computer-brain interfaces will especially help in this.

Also, many transhumanists believe that as the speed of technological development increases exponentially, there will come a time when important discoveries will be made almost immediately, at the same time (the phenomenon of technological singularity).

Technology

Human enhancement technologies are technologies that can be used not only as compensating or replenishing the deficiencies in the functions of disabled and sick people, but also can increase the abilities and capabilities of a person to a new, previously unattainable level.

Existing technologies

Expected Technologies

Criticism of transhumanism

The very concept and prospects for human improvement have caused a lot of criticism, controversy and discussion. Thus, Francis Fukuyama called transhumanism "the most dangerous idea in the world." Criticism of transhumanism and its proposals takes two main forms (often complementary):

"practical" - objections to the achievability of the goals of transhumanism;
"ethical" - objections to the goals and ideas of transhumanism, moral principles and worldview of those who support transhumanism or are transhumanists as such.

Critics often see the aims of transhumanists as a threat to universal human values, state social programs, and the spread of civil rights and freedoms. One of the extreme arguments is the comparison of the goals (and sometimes declared methods) of transhumanism with eugenics research.

Also, the problem of transhumanism can be considered as the problem of choosing the direction of the path of human improvement. In contrast to the religious solution of this issue through self-improvement using the tool of free will, that is, improving memory, skills and abilities consistently and gradually on its way, transhumanism also involves exogenous intervention, an implantation upgrade also at the physical level.

Often, some degree of criticism of the transhumanist program is contained in fiction and science fiction films, which, however, often depict imaginary worlds rather than analyze the problem.

According to critics, the ideas of transhumanism are in conflict with their desired goals: for example, immortality will give rise to many of the problems considered in dystopias, such as overpopulation of the planet, low social level, restriction of freedoms. However, according to the opinion of the supporters of transhumanism, all these problems can be settled by adequate social management, in particular, strict birth control, as well as the expansion of humanity into space.

However, despite this, the "Russian Transhumanist Movement" believes that the majority of transhumanists are in favor of:

protection of individual human freedoms, strengthening the traditions of democracy
support social programs to improve the education system and the development of information technology
support for developments to create more advanced technologies and industries, and through this - the solution of the problem of poverty, the resolution of the environmental crisis and the improvement of the quality of life of people.

Humanism, transhumanism and posthumanism

The question remains whether transhumanism is a branch of "posthumanism", as well as how it should be defined, taking into account transhumanism. The latter is often characterized as a subset or active form of posthumanism, both by its conservative, Christian and progressive critics and by pro-transhumanist scholars, who, for example, call it "philosophical posthumanism". A common feature of transhumanism and posthumanism is the prediction of some new intelligent species into which humans will evolve. This the new kind replenish or even replace humanity. Transhumanists emphasize an evolutionary perspective, supporting directed evolution leading to a "posthuman future".

Also, transhumanism was influenced by the idea of creating Artificial Intelligence, proposed, in particular, by Hans Moravec. Moravec's ideas and transhumanism have been characterized as an "apocalyptic" form of posthumanism as opposed to "cultural posthumanism" in the humanities and arts. While such “cultural posthumanism” directs efforts towards rethinking the relationship between man and increasingly complex machines, transhumanism not only does not want to abandon the outdated concepts of the “autonomous free subject”, but also extends them into the posthumanist field. The self-definition of transhumanism as a natural continuation of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment is consistent with this point of view.

Some secular humanists present transhumanism as the result of the freethinking movement and point out that transhumanists differ from mainstream humanism in their focus on technological approaches to solving human problems, including the problem of human mortality. However, other progressives point out that posthumanism, whether in its philosophical or activist forms, seeks to move away from questions of social justice, the reform of social institutions, and other central issues of the Enlightenment, to a narcissistic pursuit of the endless improvement of the human body in search of better forms of existence. From this point of view, transhumanism departs from the goals of humanism and the Enlightenment.

Currents in transhumanism

Libertarian transhumanism

Libertarian transhumanism is a political ideology that combines libertarianism and transhumanism.

Researchers who call themselves libertarian transhumanists (Ronald Bailey of Reason magazine and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit) advocate for the right to human empowerment. In their opinion, the free market is the best guarantor of this right, as it gives greater personal freedom and prosperity than other economic systems.

Libertarian transhumanists believe that the principle of self-ownership is the fundamental idea that unites libertarianism and transhumanism. Other principles, such as reasonable selfishness and a rational attitude towards new technologies, will allow, in their opinion, to achieve a significant expansion of human freedoms. This will make it possible to build a state characterized by complete physical, intellectual and social well-being, and not just the absence of disease and poverty.

As staunch defenders of civil rights, libertarian transhumanists believe that any attempt to restrict the right to empower one's own body is a violation of civil rights and freedoms. At the same time, libertarian transhumanists oppose state intervention in this area, since, in their opinion, any state intervention of this kind limits their ability to choose.

Communist transhumanism (technocommunism)

Communist transhumanism combines humanism, scientism and rationalism. This kind of transhumanism believes that humanity will either achieve communism or perish.

In the novel by Alexander Vladimirovich Lazarevich, the Nanotech Network describes the goal and the way to achieve it, the development of mankind in this direction. The main idea is that with the help of nanomachines it is possible to create any things and objects from carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere absolutely free of charge, which corresponds to the principles of communism. Further, a person moves his consciousness into artificial communication channels, achieving immortality.

Technogayanism

Technogayanism (from "techno-" - technology and "gaian" - Gaia) is one of the currents of environmentalists and transhumanism. Representatives of technogayanism advocate the active development of new technologies that will help restore the environment in the future. Technogayanists also argue that creating clean and safe technologies is an important goal for all environmentalists.

Technogayanists believe that technologies become cleaner and more efficient over time. Moreover, industries such as nanotechnology and biotechnology can provide the means to fully restore the environment. For example, molecular nanotechnology will make it possible to transform the garbage accumulated in landfills into useful materials and products, biotechnology will make it possible to create special microbes that feed on industrial waste.

According to technogayanists, humanity is currently at a dead end, and the only way for the development of human civilization is to accept the principles of technogayanism and limit the exploitation of natural resources. Only science and technology will allow humanity to get out of this impasse into a steadily progressive development and avoid the catastrophic consequences of global risks.