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Roger Scruton on pessimism and transhumanism

By Alliance Alert

Roger Scruton writing at New Humanist: "In the world that we are now entering there is a striking new source of false hope, in the 'trans-humanism' of people like Ray Kurzweil, Max More and their followers. The transhumanists believe that we will replace ourselves with immortal cyborgs, who will emerge from the discarded shell of humanity like the blessed souls from the grave in some medieval Last Judgement. The transhumanists don't worry about Huxley's Brave New World: they don't believe that the old-fashioned virtues and emotions lamented by Huxley have much of a future in any case. The important thing, they tell us, is the promise of increasing power, increasing scope, increasing ability to vanquish the long-term enemies of mankind, such as disease, ageing, incapacity and death. But to whom are they addressing their argument? If it is addressed to you and me, why should we consider it? Why should we be working for a future in which creatures like us won?t exist, and in which human happiness as we know it will no longer be obtainable? . . . "

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on June 09, 2010 (boomark / email).