Abstract
Victoria Lorrimar's Human Technological Enhancement and Theological Anthropology offers an expertly researched argument rooted in a Christian anthropology that engages theological and ethical questions surrounding human enhancement, transhumanism, and technology. Lorrimar, a lecturer in Systematic Theology at Trinity College Queensland, divides her argument into three parts. Part I lays out key terms in human enhancement and relevant aspects of Christian doctrine that connect to a vision of the human person (chapters 1–2). Part II describes the approach of her two main interlocutors, Phillip Hefner and J.R.R. Tolkien. From Hefner, Lorrimar draws on his work focusing on co-creation, theology and science and puts it in conversation with Tolkien's use of narrative fiction and his notion of ‘sub-creation’. In Part III, Lorrimar revisits the scientific questions posed in Part I through the hermeneutic of Part II, to articulate a constructive approach to the imagination and creativity in theology to address questions posed by human enhancements.
Part I of Lorrimar's argument establishes language necessary to understand the intersection between the science of human enhancement and its overlap with foundational theological concerns. Chapter 1 delineates key transhumanist thinkers and establishes a definition drawing from the work of Nick Bostrom. Drawing on Bostrom's definition, she defines transhumanism as ‘a movement that promotes the enhancement of the human condition through advancing technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and AI’ (p. 11). This definition is crucial for understanding the goals and the discourse around human enhancement and where theology might best situate itself in that discussion.
Questions of human enhancement address issues that are central to anthropology, and in chapter 2, Lorrimar draws special attention to the relationship between divine and human creativity (p. 44). The beginning of this exploration draws on Francis Bacon's overly optimistic view of science as a tool for humans to reclaim dominion over creation (p. 48). While the ‘utopian thought’ characteristic of the seventeenth century has faded away, questions remain about how best to understand human creativity in relationship to God. In probing this question, Lorrimar draws on the work of Teilhard de Chardin and the insight that ‘human creativity is connected to God's creative work’ (pp. 62–63). Establishing the connection between human creativity and God's creativity is fundamental to the rest of the argument and in particular the notion of human beings as ‘created co-creators’.
Part II begins with an extensive review of the theological approach of Philip Hefner and his theology of co-creation rooted in a Lakatosian research program (pp. 69–74). For Hefner, Imre Lakatos's work allows him to make the argument that ‘Human beings are God's created co-creators whose purpose is to be the agency, acting in freedom, to birth the future’ (p. 75). While Lorrimar finds shortcomings in both Lakatos's and Hefner's approach, she ultimately develops nine hypotheses that draw on Hefner's work to establish a foundation for investigating the theological significance of scientific discoveries and technological developments as it connects to transhumanism (p. 109). Ultimately, Lorrimar finds Hefner's lack of engagement with the role of imagination limiting, and the next two chapters fill this shortcoming by exploring the role of the imagination within theology (chapter 4) and Tolkien's emphasis on ‘sub-creation’ in various aspects of his writings (chapter 5).
For Lorrimar, it is the imagination that proves essential in future developments at the intersection of human technological enhancement and any theological anthropology that attempts to give words to the relationship between the human and the divine. ‘The imagination's role is not restricted to the comprehension of theological understanding but carries over into the communication of theological ideas’ (p. 157). It is the role of imagination and narrative that leads Lorrimar to turn to Tolkien's notion of sub-creation (p. 172) as a complementary alternative to Hefner's model (p. 176). While the human imagination is infinite, it can also become finite and fixed on particular innovations (think of the ring in The Lord of the Rings) that yield greater possibilities of power, economic gain, while also being susceptible to injury (p. 184).
Part III develops the insights that Lorrimar draws from Tolkien and Hefner to move towards a constructive theology of co-creation. In chapter 6, Lorrimar establishes ten theses that lay out her vision of moral co-creation (pp. 224–66). While each thesis is important in the development of the argument, there are some that seem particularly noteworthy: the centrality of creativity to human agency and responsibility (pp. 226–28); scientific insights should be incorporated into an understanding of the human person and not reduced to theological or philosophical claims (pp. 230–31); the importance of narrative and the diversity of narratives for understanding the world (pp. 241–54).
The attention she gives to narratives is important on two accounts. First, it creates space for those doing the creating (in science or theology) to give an account of what is being created or what needs to be created. The narrative might answer why the vision is being proposed and/or what might be the implications of the creation? Thesis seven places its emphasis on the diversity of narratives. Often when arguments for transhumanism take place, the question remains unasked as to who benefits most from advances in these technologies (pp. 249–51). The argument in this chapter encapsulates the importance of Lorrimar's work and her capacity to synthesize a vast and seemingly disparate body of research into digestible theses that are eminently applicable to the ethical questions raised in the concluding chapter. In that final chapter, Lorrimar raises particular questions connected to the technologies of human enhancement: ‘radical life extension’ (p. 271); ‘mind uploading’ (p. 274); ‘moral enhancement’ (p. 281); ‘hedonic recalibration’ (e.g., increase happiness, by removing painful memories) (p. 285); and ‘engineering wakefulness’ (p. 287). While none of these technological imaginations are fully possible yet, they do occupy the substance of both science fiction and medical conversations around the view of aging as an illness. With Lorrimar's argument, Christian theologians will be better situated to participate in ongoing discussions about the intersection of the Christian and technological vision of the human person.
There are many strengths of this book. First, the detail with which the author researches the topic from multiple perspectives is commendable. She presents in-depth knowledge of Christian doctrine, emerging science and literature, with the capacity to synthesize them into an applied ethical argument. Second, and of equal importance, her argument makes clear that for theological voices to find a seat within the ethical discourse around scientific and technological advancement, it must engage in the discourse as a participant not as a dogmatic leader. As Lorrimar concludes, a theological perspective is most effective, ‘when it concedes that a Christian world view no longer represents the dominant voice in the public sphere … [and] must enter the “tournament of narratives”’ (p. 295). This quote aptly sums up what Lorrimar does in her 300-page book. Finally, she is aware of weaknesses within the argument and invites other scholars to take up questions omitted or touched on only briefly: human flourishing, questions of inequality, sin, and the role of responsibility (pp. 298–99).
Lorrimar's work has developed a roadmap for other scholars to consider in the rapidly developing world of science, technology, and human enhancement. This book would be a challenging read for many undergrad theology students but particular sections around questions of science, imagination, and the role of theology in a seemingly secular discourse could prove fruitful. Professors and graduate students will find this work, and in particular its references, a helpful resource. Although theology may not get the first or final say in the discourse, arguments such as this one allows for a legitimate position to be staked out. Her argument takes seriously the scientific creativity embedded within transhumanism while providing a framework for asking future scientific and technological researchers to give an account of what they have enacted and its creative vision for the human person.