According to transhumanists, we have the potential to evolve so radically that we can become ‘posthuman,’ altering ourselves so successfully using technology and pharmacology that we would no longer be recognizably human. Transhumanism is a philosophy, and its adherents carry out a variety of practices to achieve their goal, including cryonics, lifestyle changes, cybernetic augmentation, neurofeedback, gene editing, and even cognitive enhancements with smart drugs.
Because transhumanism focuses on ‘correcting’ human flaws, the movement evokes comparisons to eugenics — the pseudoscientific and racist movement to ‘improve’ humans through selective breeding and other physical enhancements. Some transhumanists claim that everyone has a disability, because human beings are flawed and unsuited to our environment. Others claim that no one would ever rationally choose disability, since it hampers a person’s ability to live a good life.
This argument has been frequently disputed by disability activists: it is clearly possible to both have a disability and live a good life.
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For now, transhumanism is largely not viable. However, if the scientific evidence changes, we will need to have difficult conversations to move the philosophy beyond the realm of science fiction to something that will legitimately transform human existence for the better.
