Towards a Mature Transhumanism

What transhumanism is and is not, according to Max More, with a little help from yours truly.

I believe in transhumanism: once there are enough people who can truly say that, the human species will be on the threshold of a new kind of existence, as different from ours as ours is from that of Peking man. It will, at last, be consciously fulfilling its real destiny. —Julian Huxley

We are as gods and might as well get good at it.
—Stewart Brand

Transhumanism is a philosophy whose adherents advocate for improving the human condition through advanced technology. But it is often either misunderstood or mischaracterized. Transhumanism centers not on pursuing a utopian paradise or creating perfect people but rather on continuously improving life for our species.

Most consider Max More a father of transhumanism in the direct lineage of Julian Huxley. (Disclosure: Max More and the brilliant Natasha Vita-More are friends.) In his “True Transhumanism, Part I,” I discovered an important set of bullet points that More used to dispel some of the false narratives about transhumanism. In this piece, I want to expand on each:

Transhumanism is about continual improvement, not perfection or paradise.
Transhumanism is about improving nature’s mindless “design”, not guaranteeing perfect technological solutions.
Transhumanism is about critical rationalism, not omniscient reason or scientism.
Transhumanism is not technocratic globalism, nor is it about creating a machine god to rule us.  
Transhumanism is about morphological freedom, not mechanizing the body.
Transhumanism is about trying to shape fundamentally better futures, not predicting specific futures.
Transhumanism is not Singularitarianism.
Transhumanism is not posthumanism.

With this, I aim to clarify some points and shed some light on what transhumanism actually represents. I think it’s important to do so, not only because I am whiggish about progress but because I’m hopeful about the future. Too many contemporary replacement religions are death cults. Mature transhumanism is about expanding, improving, and deepening our lives.

Continual Improvement Over Perfection

The essence of transhumanism lies in its commitment to continual improvement. It's a journey of progress, where each step forward is valued over Platonist fantasies of perfection. This perspective is crucial in understanding that transhumanism is not about creating an ideal world but more about making the existing one better. Such usually happens not in great leaps and bounds but in marginal improvements to our everyday lives.

Enhancing Nature's Design

Nature, in all its wonder, is not without flaws. Transhumanism recognizes this and advocates improving nature’s design. Some will worry that this about “playing God” or denying the beauty and wonder of nature.

Playing God is the accusation they used to hurl about IVF treatments. Once time passed, people got past the taboo. Today, few think of IVF as playing God, and most believers think technological advance is God playing through us. Indeed, humanity’s gift for manipulating nature shouldn’t be viewed as an inherent evil but rather a way of respecting and extending the wonders of nature for the benefit of all. When we can use technology to address our limitations, we become extensions of the universe’s creative powers.

Critical Rationalism, Not Scientism

Transhumanists value what More calls “critical rationalism,” which involves questioning, experimenting, and learning rather than claiming absolute knowledge or making any God out of Science. Indeed, mature transhumanists will avoid lapsing into scientism—which is more or less the notion that science can or should answer all questions to the exclusion of other methods of inquiry. Transhumanism acknowledges the limits of our understanding but advocates an ongoing discovery process that involves skepticism and imagination.

Most scientific and technological improvements are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And that evolution happens thanks to a thousand tinkerers making improvements by solving little problems and building on small successes, which create knowledge ecologies, like coral reefs, which are not constituted by a single genius or group of geniuses with great largess and power who think they are the science, but by the totality of tinkerers tinkering.

Beyond Technocracy and Machine Gods

Contrary to some portrayals, transhumanism is not about establishing technocratic globalism, such as the sort of charlatanry we see coming out of Yuval Harari and the WEF. Nor is it about creating or worshipping an AI Machine God to rule over humanity. Instead, the philosophy is about using technology to enhance human capabilities and well-being within the constraints of morality and the recognition of rights. It’s not always easy. And every major advance presents new challenges we have to sort through.

If you’re thinking that this doesn’t sound like the variations of transhumanism you’ve heard about, it’s probably because you’ve been listening to either fearmongers or false prophets. Fearmongers include folks like Kass, Kingsnorth, and Sandel. False prophets include Istvan, Rothblatt, and even Kurzweil. The former want to lay culture war controversies about, say, transgenderism at the feet of transhumanists. The latter can get a bit cultish in that they seek to build political ambition or religious zeal around ideas like digital immortality or forging a technological path to God.

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While both of these camps make points we should consider, I find mature transhumanism incorporates the old wisdom of the Golden Mean. In the sweet spot between techno-deification and bio-conservatism lies a desire to explore, a healthy skepticism, and a pragmatic bent to integration.

Morphological Freedom

Just as I suggested that mature transhumanism doesn’t own culture-war controversies around transgenderism, we arrive at an important principle.

At its heart, transhumanism advocates for morphological freedom—the right to modify and enhance one's body as one sees fit. You know, adults. From people who wish to hack themselves or modify their bodies and brains with nootropics to amputees with next-generation prosthetics and even aging rich people addicted to plastic surgery. As long as no one else’s body is involved without his or her consent, it’s your body, your choice. In case you were wondering, I do not think children should be allowed to butcher themselves in the name of “gender-affirming care.” Nor do I think children get to invent or concoct bizarre new sex and gender categories for themselves because they saw it on TikTok. Transgenderism for kids is postmodern relativism, not transhumanism.

Now, extreme instantiations of morphological freedom can seem strange, even taboo, but ultimately, the principle is about expanding human possibility at the margins of feasibility. It’s not about zipping ahead to crazy extrapolations, turning everyone into demigod cyborgs, or reducing humans to appliances for AI. Instead, mature transhumanism is a recognition that we humans are innovative problem solvers by nature and that knowledge is combinatorial. Sometimes, though, our very natures introduce problems or limitations we might wish to avoid. We might want to be smarter or faster. We might like to put off death a little longer. We might want to make life a little less painful.

Shaping Futures, Not Predicting Them

Transhumanism is focused on shaping better futures. It is not about making precise predictions about what the future holds. While the writings of Ray Kurzweil have inspired me, for example, some futurists place too great an emphasis on extrapolating from exponential growth trends. Of course, there is some use to these Moore’s Law exercises, but such shouldn’t come at the expense of living in the present, confronting present problems with feasible solutions, and evolving our way to the next stage of humanity. We can explore pathways that can improve our life conditions—just as we did when we figured out how to sterilize our hands before operating or to kill an infection with mold.

People’s freedom to innovate technologically is highly valuable, even critical, to humanity. This implies several imperatives when restrictive measures are proposed: Assess risks and opportunities according to available science, not popular perception. Account for both the costs of the restrictions themselves, and those of opportunities foregone. Favor measures that are proportionate to the probability and magnitude of impacts, and that have a high expectation value. Protect people’s freedom to experiment, innovate, and progress. —The Proactionary Principle, by Max More

Mature transhumanism is more about continuous access to new adjacent possibiles. Imagine a fantastic house that symbolizes paths of discovery. Each room represents current knowledge and skills, while new doors lead to new opportunities and experiences. Opening one door reveals more rooms, illustrating the endless expansion of possibilities as one learns and explores. Unlike normal houses, this House of the Adjacent Possible expands in all directions with each new open door.

Distinct from Singularitarianism and Posthumanism

It’s important to distinguish transhumanism from Singularitarianism. The latter is centered on belief in an upcoming technological singularity—a point where artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Transhumanism, while acknowledging such possibilities, does not revolve around this singular event.

Finally, transhumanism is not synonymous with posthumanism. While both concepts deal with the future of humanity and technology's role, transhumanism focuses more on the practical and immediate applications of technologies to enhance human life rather than the theoretical and philosophical implications of a posthuman future. Of course, it is important to anticipate problems that come along with transhumanist tinkering, not to mention seismic impacts on culture and society. But practical posthumanism should be carried out with humility and acceptance in equal measure—humility because we are not soothsayers and acceptance because change is inevitable.

Humanity First

Transhumanism, at least in my view, puts a greater emphasis on the human part than the prefix. To exist and to experience existence is a gift. And transhumanism starts with that acknowledgment. Just as humans have set about adapting the world to us, we can adapt ourselves to the world. While some transhumanists seem to operate on the idea that we should be shorn from our natures and roots in the past—mature transhumanists take special care to respect our origins, consider ethical issues, and preserve the meaning we derive from being a member of this peculiar species.

Of course, mature transhumanists are committed to the idea that we must first do no harm and that informed consent is fundamental. So, far from foolish fantasy, a mature transhumanist will demonstrate subtlety, wisdom, and presence of mind. We are not here to cut away the roots of our humanity or fly too close to the sun. We are here to extend our genius into new domains of possibility, all to make life a little easier, a little better, and a little longer.