Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagJoe Allen on transhumanism

ai-risk-and-artificial-intelligence-technology-as-a-human-and-machine-concept-with-advanced-tech-or-robots-taking-over-humanity-and-people-merging-with-a-cyborg-as-an-existential-risk-stockpack-adobe-stock
AI risk and artificial intelligence technology as a human and machine concept with advanced tech or robots taking over humanity and people merging with a cyborg as an existential risk

Technology as the New God, Before Whom All Others Bow

Transhumanists want to replace God with the Machine, tapping into a deep religious impulse of the human race

Some of the world’s predominant religions, such as Christianity and Islam, suggest ways to live forever. In Christian theology, Christ resurrects from the dead in an imperishable body, promising his disciples eternal life. Within such a religious framework, the material world fails to “save” us. We need a transcendent Other who can enter our situation and offer immortality as a gift. But what about people who reject the transcendent and hold to a fundamentally materialist concept of the universe? Is their religious impulse to seek immortality squelched? Not surprisingly, the opposite appears to be true. The transhumanist movement seeks immortality unbound from religious concepts — if we “merge with machines,” we can upload our consciousness and outlast death. We become Read More ›