{"id":57223,"date":"2025-12-15T11:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T04:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/transhumanism-branded-a-death-cult-as-thinkers-clash-over-humanitys-future\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:16:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T04:16:12","slug":"transhumanism-branded-a-death-cult-as-thinkers-clash-over-humanitys-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/transhumanism-branded-a-death-cult-as-thinkers-clash-over-humanitys-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Transhumanism Branded a &#8216;Death Cult&#8217; as Thinkers Clash Over Humanity&#8217;s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<h4 color=\"#333\">In brief<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Transhumanism was labeled a \u201cdeath cult\u201d by critics who argued it misunderstood what it means to be human.<\/li>\n<li>Advocate Zoltan Istvan defended the movement as a humanitarian effort to end suffering, aging, and death through technology.<\/li>\n<li>Philosophers and AI researchers warned that promises of digital immortality were flawed and raised unresolved ethical risks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Transhumanism, a movement that seeks to defeat aging and death through technology, was sharply criticized during a recent debate between philosophers, scientists, and transhumanist advocates, who rejected the accusation as misguided and reactionary.<\/p>\n<p>The exchange took place Dec. 4 at the UK-based Institute of Art and Ideas\u2019 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iai.tv\/video\/the-worlds-most-dangerous-idea?utm_source=YouTube&#038;utm_medium=end-screen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">World\u2019s Most Dangerous Idea<\/a>\u201d event, where neuroscientist and philosopher \u00c0lex G\u00f3mez-Mar\u00edn argued that the movement functions as a pseudo-religion\u2014one that aims to eliminate the human condition rather than preserve it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think transhumanism is a death cult,\u201d G\u00f3mez-Mar\u00edn said. \u201cI think transhumanism is a pseudo-religion dressed in techno-scientific language whose goal is to extinct the human condition and tell everyone that we should cheer and clap as this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The debate has circulated among technologists, philosophers, and ethicists for decades, but has taken on renewed urgency as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and longevity research advance. While advocates argue technology can save humanity from death, critics warn the movement is based on fantasies of immortality.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, a <a href=\"https:\/\/galileocommission.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Transhumanism-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">report<\/a> by the Galileo Commission warned that transhumanist efforts to merge humans and machines could reduce human life to a technical system and sideline questions of meaning, identity, and agency.<\/p>\n<p>The term \u201ctranshumanism\u201d was coined in the mid-20th century and later developed by thinkers including Julian Huxley, Max More, Natasha Vita-More, <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/238253\/ai-transhumanism-ben-goertzel-singularitynet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ben Goertzel<\/a>, Nick Bostrom, and Ray Kurzweil. Supporters such as biohacker <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/211346\/behind-bryan-johnsons-4-million-bid-for-immortality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bryan Johnson<\/a> and tech billionaire Peter Thiel have argued that technology could be used to <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/321480\/enhanced-games-debut-las-vegas-promises-1-million-prizes\" target=\"_blank\">transcend<\/a> biological limits such as aging and disease. Critics have countered that the movement\u2019s aims would only benefit the ultra-wealthy, and blur the line between science and religion.<\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dear humanity,<\/p>\n<p>I am building a religion. <\/p>\n<p>Wait a second, I know what you\u2019re going to say. Hold that knee-jerk reaction and let me explain.<\/p>\n<p>First, here\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen:<br \/>+ Don\u2019t Die becomes history&#8217;s fastest-growing ideology.<br \/>+ It saves the human race.<br \/>+ And ushers in\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MJcrU9uXNf\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">pic.twitter.com\/MJcrU9uXNf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bryan Johnson (@bryan_johnson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bryan_johnson\/status\/1898062895533195497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">March 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Joining G\u00f3mez-Mar\u00edn in the discussion were philosopher Susan Schneider, AI researcher Adam Goldstein, and Zoltan Istvan, a transhumanist author and political candidate who is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/323798\/democrat-zoltan-istvan-basic-income-home-robots-california-governor-bid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">running<\/a> for governor of California, rejected G\u00f3mez-Mar\u00edn\u2019s characterization and described transhumanism as an effort to reduce suffering rooted in biology.<\/p>\n<p>The participants offered competing visions of whether transhumanist ideas represented humanitarian progress, philosophical confusion, or an ethical misstep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost transhumanists such as myself believe that <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/316338\/biological-age-chronological-longevity-ai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aging<\/a> is a disease, and we would like to overcome that disease so that you don\u2019t have to die, and that the loved ones you have don\u2019t have to die,\u201d Istvan said, tying the view to personal loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI lost my father about seven years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cDeath we have all accepted as a natural way of life, but transhumanists don\u2019t accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>G\u00f3mez-Mar\u00edn said the greater risk lay not in specific technologies but in the worldview guiding their development, particularly among technology leaders who, he argued, know about technology but don\u2019t know humanity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey know a lot about technology, but they know very little about anthropology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>For her part, philosopher Susan Schneider told the audience that she once identified as a transhumanist, and drew a distinction between using technology to improve health and endorsing more radical claims such as uploading consciousness to the cloud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s this claim that we will upload the brain,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI don\u2019t think you or I will be able to achieve digital immortality, even if the technology is there\u2014because you would be killing yourself, and another digital copy of you would be created.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schneider also warned that transhumanist language was increasingly used to deflect attention from immediate policy questions, including data privacy, regulation, and access to emerging technologies.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Goldstein, an AI researcher, told the audience that the debate should focus less on predictions of salvation or catastrophe and more on choices already being made about how technology is designed and governed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think if we want to be constructive, we need to think about which of these futures we actually want to build,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of taking it as a given that the future is going to be like this or like that, we can ask what would be a good future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The central issue, Goldstein said, was whether humans chose to design a cooperative future with artificial intelligence or approached it from fear and control, which could shape the future of humanity once AI systems surpassed human intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we have good evidence for what a good future is from the ways we\u2019ve navigated differences with other human beings,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve figured out political systems, at least some of the time, that work to help us bridge differences and achieve a peaceful settlement of our needs. And there\u2019s no reason I can see why the future can\u2019t be like that with AI also.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Generally Intelligent Newsletter<\/h3>\n<p>A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In brief Transhumanism was labeled a \u201cdeath cult\u201d by critics who argued it misunderstood what it means to be human. [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":57224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tien-dien-tu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}