Elon Musk is a poster child of the transhumanist dream with his investments in Neuralink. Neuralink has already developed human brain implant technology to eventually fuse the brain with computers. An early application has a brain implant that allows severely paralyzed patients to communicate with a computer by their thoughts.

Evolutionary biologist Julius Huxley first coined the term transhumanism in an essay in 1957, stating that

The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself—not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.[1]

The transhumanist movement emerged at the end of the last century, united around the philosophy that humankind can be enhanced, in lifespan and intelligence, beyond our human limitations through science and technology. The philosopher and futurist Max More defined the philosophy in an essay in 1990:

Transhumanism is a class of philosophies of life that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.[2]

This philosophy is an extension of humanism and posits that humans could eventually become transformed, so-called posthuman entities with superior intellect and lifespan to humans. These Posthumans could become resistant to diseases and aging, perhaps through advances in nanotechnology and genetic engineering, or they could exist as uploaded and synthetic entities. Other visions of this posthuman future include the enhancement of humans by a combination of technologies such as AI, robotics, and genetic engineering. Transhumanism is the intermediate state between our current limitations and the posthuman dream. Foundational to the transhumanist philosophy is the belief that humans and other species are evolving and that the condition of humanity can be changed over time through our own interventions.

Historian and futurologist Yuval Harari writes that ‘homo sapiens is likely to upgrade itself, step by step’[3] and predicts that having substantially solved the problems of war, disease and food, ‘humankind is likely to aim for immortality, bliss and divinity’ in the twenty-first century. He does admit that this may not be achieved, but that it will be the collective aspiration, rather than the desire, of every individual.[4] Putting it another way, it could be described as a quest for superintelligence, super-longevity, and super-happiness. For transhumanists, death is merely a technical glitch that can be solved.

In the process of solving the problem of aging and ultimately becoming immortal, superintelligent and super-happy, humans thus become deity, the Homo Deus Harari speaks of. There is nothing new in this quest. The problem of humankind from the beginning was that Adam wanted moral autonomy, desiring to become like God rather than serve him. We know where that got us, and seeking to develop technology that will release us from the bonds of death will not only lead to disaster, but it is also a fool’s errand. Death will not be overcome by humans, because Jesus has already done that, and he alone provides a remedy whereby we may live forever with our creator. Yet, many who do not believe in God are caught up in the allure of immortality that AI and other technologies offer—and even beyond that, the allure of possibly becoming gods, outshining or upgrading humanity as we know it.

These are powerful forces, although not everyone will agree to or even desire this future, as Harari points out, it could become a generally accepted aspiration of society.

Some, who call themselves Christian Transhumanists, have been sucked in to the ideology. They confuse the rightful stewarding of technology that God gifts us to create with using it to transform humanity this side of heaven. Death is regarded by them as something to be overcome, rather than something to be accepted as an inevitable consequence of the Fall. However, redemption from sin’s curse is in Christ alone, not in Christ plus technology.

Only a biblically grounded anthropology with clarity about our future can withstand these forces. In this article, I hope to encourage and educate Christians towards these ends.

Engineering Transcendence

Recent breakthroughs in technology spanning genetic engineering, cryogenics, nanotechnology, exoskeletons, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have provided a spur to the claim that science and technology will solve man’s problems and lead to superhumans. Computer Scientist and futurologist Ray Kurzweil, in his book The Age of the Spiritual Machine, predicted that machines will overtake human intelligence—even having emotional and spiritual experiences—and will appear to have free will. He also predicts reaching a “singularity” in 2045, a point when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion-fold by merging with the intelligence that we have created. Billionaire entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Larry Page, co-founder of Google, have invested in life science and biotech companies to slow down or reverse aging and disease.

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