"The Transhumanist Wager"- Is Religion The Enemy?

THE ‘TRANSHUMANIST WAGER’: IS RELIGION THE ENEMY?

(Image from H+ Magazine)
(Author’s note: What follows is not a review of Zoltan Istvan’s novel ‘The Transhuman Wager, but rather some thoughts inspired by its plot and the issues it raises. My intended audience are people who have read the book, so I do not intend to give a synopsis of its plot, nor will I shy away from spoilers.)

Zoltan Istfan’s novel ‘The Transhumanist Wager’ explores the idea that religion is opposed to transhumanism. Is it? It is certainly true that if you seek you will find opponents of transhumanism whose objection is religiously motivated. In 'The Transhumanist Wager' there are various government organizations like the NAH (National Association of Health) and the NSFA (National Future Security Agency) that are supposedly ethics committees charged with assessing the potential risks of technology, but are actually theocratic organizations whose purpose is to thwart transhuman agendas.

REAL-LIFE OPPONENTS

This sounds rather like the 'President's Council on Bioethics', which was established in 2001 by George W. Bush and later closed by President Obama. Bioethicist Leslie A. Meltzer criticised the PCB for wrapping 'political and religious agendas in the guise of dignity', and argued its members were mostly christian affiliated neoconservatives. Elizabeth Blackburn accused the PCB of existing mostly to justify President Bush's position on stem cell research and abortion.

Go on Youtube and put 'transhumanism' into the search engine, and you will easily find videos with titles like 'What Is Transhumanism? Is This Why YHVH (GOD) Destroyed Everything in a Huge Flood'? and 'Satan's New Lie: Transhumanism'. Does this count as proof that religion opposes transhumanism? Not, really, no. It's just proof that some people with religious beliefs are critical of transhumanism. That's not surprising, given that transhumanists hold some controversial views and the major religions have billions of followers. Among that many people you are bound to find some that have a negative opinion of any controversial topic.

(Animal testing: a hot bioethic issue. Image from Wikipedia)
If you seek, can you find people who do not see their faith as incompatible with transhumanism? Yes, and that is not surprising given how religion and transhumanism share many dreams in common, even if they disagree on the best methods to realize them. Religious anticipations of ascending to heaven in immortal angelic bodies, and of a returning Messiah who will establish a kingdom of Heaven on Earth, can be seen as analogous to transhuman dreams of uploading into immortal robotic bodies, and a coming Singularity that will transform civilization into paradise on Earth.

RELIGIOUS ROOTS OF TRANSHUMANISM

The word 'Transhumanism' was first introduced in a book written by Julian Huxley in 1927, the title of which was 'Religion Without Revelation'. The word obviously has its roots in 'Humanism'. The Humanists were originally a group of practicing Catholics who believed that human ability was the best way to celebrate God.

Fast forward to modern times, and you can find people mixing scitech with religion. Rabbi Youseff Kazan said:

"The prophecy of isaiah is that the time will come when the world will be filled with the knowledge of God...We, today, are actually able to see this happen...You have...Satellites which are bringing the whole world connected into one small unit, where telephone and wireless technology is being able to bring everybody together".

Look closely at two of the largest scientific projects of the 20th century- the Space Race and the Human Genome Project. Here, too, you will religious beliefs mixed up with secular science. In Russia, the origins of manned spaceflight can be traced back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who preached that it was mankind's destiny to dominate the cosmos and become reunited with God. Over in the West, the former Nazi rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun became a born-again Christian who argued that humans must go into space to spread the gospel. Historian David F. Noble pointed out how "the astronauts have carried literally thousands of Christian banners, flags...copies of the Bible etc into space with them". One of the most memorable film sequences captured by astronauts was 'Earthrise'- our home planet rising over the Moon's horizon. What words were chosen to accompany this jaw-dropping sight? The Bible's most famous passage, 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth..."

(Earth rise. Image from Wikipedia)
What about the Human Genome Project? It was run by Francis Collins (there was also, of course, a parallel project headed by Craig Venter). Collins was an evangelical Christian who has written about how he thinks the resurrection of Christ was the most important event in history. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as 'the' human genome. Everybody's genome is unique. When asked whose genome was being sequenced, the reply was (according to Noble) "it will be sort of a composite, and it will be male, sort of an Adam 2".

Considering the way religious beliefs were mixed up with secular science, David F. Noble commented:

"Technological development, which appears to be the most worldly of activities, is in actuality an otherworldly project, rooted in Christian notion of redemption, the resurrection of original perfection. And the story, which is a peculiarly Christian one, is the story of the fall of Adam, and the promise of the recovery of Adam's original divinity".

SO RELIGION AND TRANSHUMANISM MAKE GOOD BEDFELLOWS?

Rather than the Christian Right being fundamentally opposed to transhumanism, we seem to have found evidence that it supports transhuman tech like genetic engineering for its promise to restore Eden. Again, not really. All we have done is find some religious scholars who interpret the mumbo-jumbo of Scripture in terms of prophecies that foresaw the Internet, and projects conducted by countries with histories steeped in religion, supplying a large body of religious imagery that some are tempted to apply to large scientific projects.

But it does at least show that someone whose beliefs sit at the conservative Christian Right need not necessarily be anti-transhumanist. Nor should we assume that someone whose beliefs lie at the opposite end of the political spectrum would necessarily be pro-transhuman. Indeed, many on the Left are distrustful of modern technology, most of which is designed by corporations, and therefore (they would argue) intended primarily to serve the interests of corporations and the wealthy owner/ investment classes that run them.

'Transhumanist Wager' is full of images of religiously-motivated folk opposing the agenda of Jethro Knights. In a town hall forum, "the conflict of religious imperatives versus transhuman aims was being called the next great civil liberties war". Opponents of transhumanism in the story describe it as "anti-theistic... steeped in blasphemous egoism". But this is arguably only a surface-level phenomena. Look deeper and there is another agenda at work in the story which in real life could very well oppose transhumanism as Knights defines it. By way of introduction to the agenda, and a future essay, I will leave you with the question: Who, in the story, is Jethro Knights' opposite?

(This essay was originally posted on my blog)

References: ‘Technocalypse’ documentary by Frank Theys
“Transhumanist Wager” by Zoltan Istfan
“Apocalyptic AI” by Robert Geraci
“The Singularity Is Near” by Ray Kurzweil
“Citizen Cyborg” by James Hughes