WTTE – 016 – Transhumanism Fiction And Immortality

Play This Episode

0 Votes

This is an episode about who we are as humans And more importantly where we are going About a future in which technology and biology have merged in ways that are in equal part fascinating and terrifying A future of unparalleled technological ingenuity but one with deeply problematic ethical concerns It s a future that sounds like science fiction because in some ways it is But it s a world that s being designed right now Transhumanism is a social movement which aims to use technology to push out the boundaries of the human condition It aims to move humanity beyond what we are today It takes in a huge range of ideas from the wildly speculative like uploading our consciousness to computers to the more low tech like DIY tech implants and biohacking It s a movement which tries to transcend the human condition and ultimately to achieve immortality It s also a movement which has been heavily influenced by a century of science fiction writing about these ideas In this episode I talk to Dr Mark O Connell author of To Be a Machine a fascinating new book which explores the world of transhumanism The book as its subtitle outlines is about O Connell s Adventures Among Cyborgs Utopians Hackers and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death I also chat to Dr Thomas Connolly who helps situate the transhumanist movement in the context of a long history of science fiction writing We talk about genetically engineered mice scifi dystopias Silicon Valley immortality human consciousness and quite a bit in between For more details links and more head to the Words To That Effect website http wttepodcast com transhumanism Click here to visit this podcast episode

Listen to our podcast on podcasting success!