Transhumanism: Should We Upgrade Ourselves? (…and What Happens If We Don’t?)

If you could double your IQ with a brain chip — would you do it?

What if everyone else did… and you didn’t?
This week, we plunge headfirst into transhumanism — the radical belief that we should use science and technology to overcome our biological limits. Smarter, stronger, longer-lived, maybe even immortal. It’s progress — or so we’re told.

But if some people get to upgrade and others don’t, are we evolving into a new species… or just inventing a shinier class system?

Philosophers and futurists are already at war over the implications:

• Nick Bostrom says enhancement is a moral obligation — evolve or die.
• Francis Fukuyama calls transhumanism the world’s most dangerous idea.
• Yuval Harari warns of a future where the rich don’t just own more — they are more.

And the tools of transformation are already in the works:
Brain–computer interfaces that turn thoughts into Google searches
Bionic limbs and synthetic eyes that outperform biology
Genetically enhanced children, tailor-made for intelligence, immunity, and charisma
Nanobots that patrol your bloodstream, fixing cells before they fail
Anti-aging drugs and cellular reboots, promising amortality — life without expiry
Mind uploading into the cloud: you die, but your data keeps tweeting
Mood-control implants that eliminate anxiety, heartbreak, or inconvenient guilt

This Week, We Wrestle With Eight Philosophical Provocations:

1. **What makes us human — and can we upgrade that away?**If we alter memory, mood, intelligence, and lifespan… what’s left that’s still “us”
2. Should governments regulate human enhancement — or should it be left to personal choice? If someone becomes smarter, stronger, or longer-lived than others, is that their right — or a risk to society?
3. Is genetically enhancing your child just parenting with better tools — or eugenics in a lab coat? Where’s the line between opportunity and control?
4. Would you date someone genetically or cognitively enhanced — if you weren’t? In a world of asymmetrical design, what happens to trust, attraction, or status?
5. Should some people be required to enhance — soldiers, surgeons, prime ministers? If enhancement can save lives or sharpen decisions, can refusal become unethical?
6. Could human upgrades solve inequality — or supercharge it? Is this a path to justice, or to techno-feudalism?
7. Does democracy survive when only some citizens are post-human? Can equal votes still matter when cognitive capabilities no longer are?
8. If you upload your mind and your body dies — are you still alive? What is personal identity in a digital age?

Suggested Readings & Watchlist:
Nick Bostrom, Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up: https://nickbostrom.com/posthuman.pdf

Francis Fukuyama, Transhumanism Is the World’s Most Dangerous Idea https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/23/transhumanism/

Yuval Harari, Homo Deus useless class discussion: https://youtu.be/7FzNUc-ZFv4?feature=shared

Kurzgesagt, The Last Human – A Glimpse Into the Far Future (YouTube): https://youtu.be/LEENEFaVUzU?feature=shared

MIT Tech Review, CRISPR Babies Are Coming — Whether We’re Ready or Not: https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/08/22/1096458/crispr-gene-editing-babies-evolution/