Transhumanism Isn’t What We’ll Gain, But What We’ll Give Up

by Carol E. Meacham

(auntyproton@gmail.com)

Project 2230

In the course of reading up for the topic of transhumanism for Project 2230, I came across a few opinions from what’s called the “bio-luddite” camp.  One of the questions they ask that has stuck in my mind is this (in paraphrase) :  “Why would anybody want to replace their body, in whole or in part, with mechanical parts?  Why in the world would anybody want to upload their mind into a machine?  What can a mechanical body do that a human body can’t?”

My friends in the Singularity and transhumanist communities have many answers to these questions, most of which I’m sure you’ve all heard if you are at all interested in these subjects.  I have another view, one that may or may not be welcome in the argument.

It is not so much what mechanical bodies and mind uploading will give us as what it will take away.  Or rather, what the transhumanist movement believes it will take away.  The hoopla has been over the assumed capabilities that mechanical parts and bodies will give to an individual, the assumed aspects of immortality, the efficiency, the ability to live and work in environments for which human anatomy is unsuited.  But I think that this idea of a mechanical body appeals because along with all these capabilities the mechanical body will somehow take away the perceived “bad” aspects of being human.  In this case, “bad” equals all those things which are most difficult to live and deal with — emotions,the very things that make us human.

In the popular view, machines are often called “soulless” and often portrayed as emotionless.  They are believed to have no conscience, no moral sense, and no mercy in dealing with humans.  In human terms, this makes them “evil”.  I think, however, that deep under the moralizing and condemning of the “evil machine” is an element of envy.  Machines are freed of all the messy human stuff that we have to put up with every moment of our lives.  They have no emotions — they don’t have to put up with embarrassment, shame, guilt, jealousy, grief, sadness,infatuation, frustration, fear.  Machines do not have these emotions and so are not hindered by them.  They aren’t encumbered by an inescapable human morass and can act uninfluenced by anything save precise logic.  This is a state of being that I think many people would choose for themselves, if such were available.  These emotions are often overwhelming even to a relatively well-adjusted person.  Why not choose to live without them?  Why not choose to eliminate something that consumes vast amounts of time, energy, and thought often to no good end?  Emotionality leads to trouble.  Machines, in existing without such, are able to operate without the interpersonal friction that can doom any endeavor — politics, status-seeking, envy, sexuality.

Humans are confronted not only with their own emotions but inundated by the emotions of others on a daily basis.  And not only in face-to-face interactions but now available 24/7 on the news and the Internet.  War, conflict, politics, the general inhumanity that people can inflict upon each other comes crashing in on us from all sides.  Machines, on the other hand, don’t do that.  Machines are not plagued by millions of years of evolution trying to ensure that the best and strongest of the human herd breed and produce lots of offspring.  In this day and age, politics, wealth and power have replaced success at the hunt.  Machines don’t fight over such things because there’s no emotion there.  Survival for a machine is predicated on far different factors than it is for a human.  Machines work best and most efficiently when they cooperate.  Machines get things done.  I think humanity underneath it all is envious of that.

As for the idea of “soulless” machines — yes, they are soulless.  But no one has been able to conclusively prove via scientific methods that humans have a “soul” either.  Definitions for “soul” vary widely and are usually vague and made of inherently unprovable factors.  No one has ever found a region of the brain wherein the “soul” resides, nor what it’s function is.  I have always wondered what one does with a “soul” anyway.  From what I have seen of the standard dogmas, a “soul” seems to be something akin to a subway token that you have to have to get into an equally vaguely defined “afterlife”, the qualities of which are determined by how clean you have kept said token.  This aspect of the argument simply does not apply to machines.  They are not afraid of death.  They are not afraid of loss of consciousness.  They are not afraid of losing a “self”.  They will not be afraid of anything.  Fear is an emotion, and they are free of that.  Machines, by their nature, are mass-producible and can be made identical.  When one fails, another will take up the task.  It is not the individual that is important, it is the goal the machine or collective of machines are engaged in.  Survival is preferable with regards to conservation of resources and energy, but it is not the primary function of a machine.  So in that respect I think humans envy machines and secretly want to be machines — so that we no longer have to fear death and loss of the individual consciousness.

Ultimately, yes, transhumanism is about transcending the limitations of the human physiology.  Yes, it will enable us to leave Earth, colonize Mars, colonize the moons of Jupiter, and travel to other stars.  Yes, it will enable us to make the most of our lives, to enhance our lives by giving us new senses and new capabilities.  There is noDRM on the human genetic code.  We are open source.  There is no agency that will slap us with a lawsuit for remixing our genetics, or adding in mechanical parts.  The highest goals of humanity — ending war, disease, poverty, prejudice — would be admirably served by wise use of the technologies we will see in the coming decades.  But I can’t help wondering if maybe it’s in part to escape the painful parts of human existence, a sort of cowardly ducking out.  One might see it as a sort of cheating, of trying to cross the river without paying the ferryman his due.  We are still human now.  If we really want to transcend what it is to be human, we have to deal with all of it.  If we don’t, we won’t have transcended anything at all.

Contact me at auntyproton@gmail.com