Transhumanism is a difficult field to quantify and define. On the one hand, it seems to be loved by the billionaires who are despised by the world and which gives it a bad name. But on the other hand, there’s the people who just want humanity to succeed and believe the only way we really can succeed is to fundamentally change ourselves. I’d say I fall into more of that category. But for me, transhumanism is more about what it is to be, to exist even. It’s quite a controversial philosophy, but I feel that you need to endure for a very long time to matter on the scale of the universe, in that your value to this universe is how long you live. We look at the things around this universe in eons, in long ages. And for me, seeing all the knowledge that there is to know about this universe, even just the knowledge that there is to know about humans and that humans have discovered, it brings me great dissatisfaction to know that I can’t know it all. And I’m sure there is so much overlap of these fields, so much undiscovered connections that we are not capitalizing on. It much reminds me of my own work of the pursuit of knowledge within this own vault.
For me, transhumanism is synonymous with Longevity, as these two fields go hand in hand with the extension and modification of human life. We cannot have one without the other. And we need longevity in this case to achieve transhumanism. Many believe that the path to living further is actually through transhumanism and changing ourselves through rapid advancement of our research abilities to discover ways to modify the human genus. In the hopes that by living long enough to see this technology bear fruits, I will be able to expand myself in a way that my mind can satiate its absurd lust for knowledge.
It is important to note that transhumanism is not just about physical enhancement, but also about cognitive and emotional enhancement. The idea is to use technology to enhance all aspects of human life, including our mental and emotional well-being. This could involve the use of brain-computer interfaces, cognitive enhancers, and other technologies that can improve our mental capabilities.
It is this area that I am particularly interested in, given my field of computational neuroscience and my desire to understand the human mind. I believe that by enhancing our cognitive abilities, we can unlock new levels of understanding and creativity that can help us solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.