Ethics Within Transhumanism

Some Transhumanists argue that with artificial intelligence implemented into the biological human system, humans would be enhanced and immorality could possibly be achieved but is this beneficial for the human race? Is this ethical? As described in the article, “transhumanism is a class of philosophies that seek to guide us towards a posthuman condition.” Scientists and activists who are in favor of transhumanism, seek to essentially “challenge” human nature. Despite this, “It is claimed that there is no ethical route to genetic manipulation of humans,” and because of this factor, there are many critics of transhumanism- politically and ethically speaking. The issue is not whether this can be done/should this be done, the issue at hand is, is this ethical.

Like any good argument, there are critics that advocate for the genetic modification of humans, and some disagree, saying that the implication of transhumanism will create a great divide between modified humans and unmodified humans. In the article, this ideology is compared to the issue of steroid use “where athletes who use steroids in sports have an advantage over those who do not. The same scenario happens when people have certain neural implants that give them an advantage in the workplace and in educational aspects.” M.J. McNamee and S.D. Edwards, who “fear” this issue say that “a specific, privileged section of society will lead to a division of the human species into two different and distinct species.” In other words, this will put the human race at an uneven playing field. If human’s ultimate social goal is equality, transhumanism would drive us further away from this. On the other hand, many say that “‘Transhumanists' goals pose threats to human values.” If the human body and mind were to be altered, would human values such as respect, acceptance, consideration, appreciation, listening, openness, affection, empathy, and love be threatened?

While the analogy to steroid use is valid and true, another thing that transhumanists have compared these technological advances to is “‘lifestyle’ drugs such as Viagra, Propecia, and Botox” which are commonly used to “restore aspects of youthfulness that have been lost in maturity.” This comparison is a far fetched one. Here, we are comparing cosmetic procedures which are oftentimes “temporary,” to altering the valuable and precious human brain. Now we can ask ourselves, we’ve deemed cosmetic surgeries and procedures as ethical but is it ethical to genetically modify the human brain?

Social critics and activists who “place a moral value on the preservation of natural systems,” view the concept of transhumanism as “problematically nebulous” implying that transhumanism is not ethical and would ruin the social value of a natural human. This idea of transhumanism is not necessarily a new one, since the 19th century, many scientists have “opposed the replacement of human manual laborers by machines,” and transhumanism can be seen as just that.

The whole idea of transhumanism is an extremely advanced issue to grasp. However, the modern world has become extremely technologically advanced and many think that these technological advances should be implemented into humans next. Of course, there are many critics who oppose this idea. These people oppose transhumanism for many reasons, some being they do not think it is ethical, or that this will create a social divide, or even that it will take away from what we view as human values. There are many points of view about this argument, however, transhumanism would be unethical to the natural human body.