ITEST Webinar - Transhumanism and Transcendence: What are We Becoming? (February 12, 2022)

This webinar focuses on the philosophical movement of Transhumanism and its quest to transcend biological limits toward enhanced life. The emphasis on transhumanist transcendence will be compared to the hybridity of posthumanism. Both movements will be contextualized within an evolutionary framework.SISTER ILIA DELIO, OSF, PHDTranshumanism advocates deeply transformative technologies for the betterment of humankind – a world in which the frailties of human biology are transcended. Sister Ilia will examine Transhumanism, compare it to Posthumanism, which emphasizes hybrid relationships, and contextualize these movements in an unfinished universe.NICHOLAS M. SPARKSA RESPONSE TO SISTER ILIA DELIOFirst, I register my agreement with Sister Ilia Delio, arguing that posthumanism can help Christians to recover insights obscured by Enlightenment humanism. Then, I note a few points of disagreement: (1) the relationship of nature and techne; (2) the account of nature as computational and informational; (3) to what extent a classical Christian view of the person and of nature is already consonant with the insights of posthumanism; (4) and finally, the proper understanding of the transition to a cybernetically-embedded and mediated mode of individual and social existence.