More and more influential voices are committed to the advances in brain-computer interfaces, general artificial intelligence (AGI) and biotechnology give way to a transhumanist era. But what really consists of this movement and what is the vision of the Church about it?
According to Transhumanist FAQ 3.0Transhumanism as “the intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desire to fundamentally improve the human condition through the applied reason, especially developing and doing widely available technologies to eliminate aging and greatly improve the intellectual, physical and psychological abilities of the human being.”
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Although the number of members in official transhumanist organizations remains small, the mentality of the movement is widespread among influential technological developers and affects key decisions related to the beginning and the end of life that are taken daily.
The technological investor and media figure Bryan Johnson It embodies the transhumanist ideals with their strict life regime aimed at reversing aging and gaining more time, both for him and his followers.
After optimizing his dream, diet and exercise routines, Johnson resorts to more than 100 daily supplements pills, light exposure therapies and other experimental improvements. For example, it uses rapamycin (an immunosuppressive drug administered to patients with organ transplants), receives blood transfusions from his university child in good physical condition and traveled to the Caribbean island of Roatán to receive injections of gene therapy with folistatin (a protein that stimulates muscle growth, used to treat degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy) FDA.
This ex -Mormon has started its “Don’s Die” movement (do not die), which is not afraid to call a New religion.
Without declaring a religion, other great technological figures are committed to technological solutions to aging and death. For example, the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has invested billions in high labs to investigate how to stop and reverse aging, while Google co -founder Larry Page, founded the radical project of Calic Labs Labs life extension.
Support for human dignity
Although it does not promote a biological solution to death, the Church is committed to using technological innovations to help patients live healthier and for longer through their broad health system.
The Church supports the adoption of promising gene therapies with CRISPR for beta-caasmia, the anemia of falciform cells and personalized treatments for rare metabolic conditions. However, in its commitment to intrinsic human dignity, the Church rejects techno-pronatalist projects that use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create embryos and then select them according to desired characteristics.
Many in the transhumanist movement are especially interested in selecting intelligence so that children can innovate and properly guide AI developments, avoiding existential risks and promoting a more prosperous society.
These projects are presented as “responsible paternity”, giving the children genetic advantages for their future activities. However, after this benign rhetoric, they hide dark nuances of neo-Eugenics.
Numerous embryos created through IVF are considered unworthy of life due to their genetic profile and are discarded or maintained in perpetual suspension. These transhumanist projects tragically seek to create a future superior humanity at the expense of the humans present.
In addition, although planning for future generations is a moral responsibility, focusing too much on long -term projects such as spatial colonization can urgently distract short -term efforts to address current social injustices, such as poor access to basic health services and environmental damage without control.
Together with the next-generation genetic engineering, many transhumanist thinkers are interested in bodily modifications that increase capacities through brain-computer interfaces.
The Neuralink mission, Elon Musk’s company, to restore autonomy in patients with spinal cord or ELA injuries, is admirable. Listen to Noland Arbaugh Tell how easy it is to connect with their loved ones and study neuroscience using a computer controlled computer is encouraging.
However, the attempt to enhance mental capacity with millions of healthy implants uses raises serious concerns about mental privacy, the manipulation of thoughts and the effects on the mental health of such a accelerated connectivity.
The boldest transhumanist projects point to a posthuman and postbiological existence, maintained through digital immortality.
Ray Kurzweil, former Google engineering director for many years, predicts a singularity event marked by accelerated technological growth, AI systems capable of self-improvement and a fusion between humans and machines that would bring unimaginable improvements to human existence. Some expect advances in AI to allow the preservation and transfer of human consciousness.
However, these efforts, at best, can only provide one copy of the data of the deceased person. They fail to preserve the embodied human person. In addition, the wrong hope of digital immortality can discourage people to accept their earthly finitude serenely, while putting their definitive hope in the resurrection of the body.
Attempts to abandon the fragile and vulnerable body can also negatively affect the way they are treated who face disease or disability. Likewise, if someone becomes convinced that the value of life depends mainly on physical and psychological capacity, the temptation of the Assisted suicide and the euthanasia In moments of decline and suffering it becomes stronger.
Taking care of body welfare is a Christian duty, but true dignity is not based on physical force or mental acuity. The vulnerable body is not only a problem that must be tolerated, but the reality through which virtues such as care, patience, service, empathy and courage are exercised. Safe and effective improvements in cognition, physical health and emotional well -being – either through drugs, genetics or other biotechnologies – can contribute to a good life if they are used with wisdom, but cannot guarantee the moral or spiritual growth.
‘Catholic transhumanism’
Catholics must dialogue with transhumanists who sincerely seek to improve the human condition through technological tools. Non -Christian authors recognize that Catholic Church was in his time the Silicon Valley of the time: a well -connected and funded center of innovation in astronomy, architecture, agriculture, engineering, health, social assistance and many other fields.
Catholic priests led discoveries in cosmology of the Big Bang, genetics, geology and even internet hyperlinks. Together, they can collaborate to improve health and guide biotechnological interventions in a way that respects the fundamental dignity of vulnerable patients.
Religious expressions of transhumanism include the Mormon Transhumanist Association and the Christian Transhumanist Association, which they see in emerging technologies crucial tools to reach traditional Christian goals of spiritual transformation. However, many leading transhumanists consider their movement as a rational and scientific alternative – even an improvement – regarding traditional religions.
For example, Max More, co -founder of the Extropy Institute (predecessor of the World Transhumanist Association), affirms that “in addition to the falsehood and irrationality of religion, it has had the unfortunate consequence (identified by Ludwig Feuerbach) to degrade humanity.” It proposes transhumanism as a liberating force for human creativity and continuous progress. However, the contemporary transhumanist movement, although largely secular, has surprising Catholic roots.
Centuries before secular authors such as Julian Huxley wrote about transhumanism as man -directed technological evolution, Dante affirmed that the transhumanizing experience of heavenly transfiguration is so sublime that not even his poetic genius could express it fully in words. In it Paradise (Canto I, 70-71), wrote: “Transmit meant to mean per verba, non si poria” (“Transfer the human cannot be expressed with words”).
He Catholic transhumanism It is rooted in the gift of grace and in free collaboration with God. Transhumanizing Theosis focuses mainly on growth by virtue and docility to the Holy Spirit. Catholic divinization is an open elevation to all, in any condition or circumstance, not only to the strongest physically or intellectually.
Translated and adapted by ACI Press. Originally published in CNA.
P. Michael Baggot
Fr. Michael Baggot is an associate professor of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and the guest professor of theology at the Pontifical University of Santo Tomás de Aquino (El Angelicum) and in the Catholic Institute of Technology. He is currently a visiting researcher at the Institute of Human Ecology of the Catholic University of America.