The Boundaries of the Human

Abstract

Since the Big Bang, the universe has been in constant evolution and continuous transformation. First there were physical interactions, followed by chemical reactions, then biological processes, and finally now technological evolution. Biological evolution continues but it is just too slow to achieve the possibilities available today thanks to technological evolution. Natural selection with trial and error can now be supplemented by technical selection with engineering design. Humanity’s monopoly as the only advanced sentient life-form on the planet is coming to an end, supplemented by a number of posthuman incarnations, including enhanced humans, transhumans, robots, and cyborgs, as we approach a technological singularity. Thanks to the accelerating rate of technological change, humans are transcending biological limitations and crossing the traditional boundaries of what being human meant. Such radical changes have profound philosophical implications in what it is to be human and the interactions between humans with an increasingly modified environment. What is natural and what is not natural has a new meaning in transhumanism, because everything is still changing and evolving, not only biologically but also technologically. Reality is not static because humans and the rest of nature are dynamic, and both are changing continuously. Transhumanism transcends some static ideas of humanism as humans themselves evolve at an accelerating rate.