FAQ: TRANSHUMANISM AND NATURE

Nick Bostrom (bostrom@ndirect.co.uk)
Thu, 16 Jul 1998 23:10:25 +0000

I'm too tired right now to come up with any proposals for how to answer the following questions. Anybody got any rethorical ideas?

TRANSHUMANISM AND NATURE

Why do transhumanists want to live longer?

(Henri Kluytmans:)
-Because I like living.
-Because I want to do, experience, learn enormously more than I can do
in a natural lifespan.

Isn't transhumanism tampering with nature?

(HK:)
-Yes, but don't we humans do that all the time.
-Yes, but isn't that just what distinguishes us from animals.

Won't transhuman technologies make us inhuman?

(HK:)
-They will probably evolve us into not-humans (i.e. post-humans).

Are transhumanist technologies environmentally sound?

Might transhuman technologies be dangerous?



Nick Bostrom
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method London School of Economics
n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb