Transhumanism, False Reenchantment, and Rage against the Given
by Paul Gould
The reality police tell us that there is no extra-mundane reality. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is divine. There is no deep meaning to the world. There is just one little bit of matter colliding with another bit of matter in a vast sea of nothingness. Yet this disenchanted and rather boring picture of the world is betrayed by our longings. We long for a world full of deep mystery, magic, and meaning. We long for a story that matters and understands us. These longings can lead to reenchantment. They can set us on the path that ends, if faithfully followed, to God. But success along the way is not guaranteed. False reenchantments are possible. One false reenchantment that many today find alluring is transhumanism.
What Is Transhumanism?
According to one of the movement’s thought leaders, Nick Bostrom, who teaches philosophy at Oxford University, transhumanism is the view that human nature is a “work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways.”[1] And the transhumanist vision, according to Bostrom, is eternity itself, although on man’s terms: “Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthumans, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.”[2] We will achieve this utopian vision through physical and intellectual enhancements and the uniting of biological thinking and existence with technology. Bostrom summarizes the Transhumanist Vision: “The vision, in broad strokes, is to create the opportunity to live much longer and healthier lives, to enhance our memory and other intellectual faculties, to refine our emotional experiences and increase our subjective sense of well-being, and generally to achieve a greater degree of control over our own lives.”[3]
Why Not Transhumanism?
I’m struck with how attractive the transhumanist vision initially sounds. Why not improve our minds or bodies? Who wouldn’t want to live longer? Don’t we all want to be a better self? Lurking beneath the surface, however, is a posture taken, a presumption adopted, and a wager made that, in the end, lead to idolatry, foolishness, and despair. Let’s unpack this claim.
First, the transhumanist posture can be described as a kind of rage against the given. This posture, according to Joel Thompson, amounts to a “boundless bid for mastery and domination”[4] that is morally problematic, since it fails to cultivate, according to Harvard political philosopher Michael J. Sandel, an “ethic of giftedness,” an ethic that encourages humility, reverence, and gratitude.[5] The transhumanist ethic, with its boundless drive toward perfection and mastery, constitutes an idolatrous attempt to become like God . . .
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