Transhumanism from Born Satanist's blog

Could Transhumanism be considered a "Satanic" endeavour? This is a topic that I have been interested in for quite some time, and am interested in the varying perspectives that some fellow LHP folk have.

Some are all for it and recognize this evolutionary probability as more of an inevitability, whereas there are others who feel that Transhumanism is ultimately to discard one's humanity. Here is the original topic including a brief addition in answering a reply, which pulls together well as a single post.

Share your thoughts?

Transhumanismis defined as "the intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by using technology to eliminate aging and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities" - Nick Bostrum

I don't think that LaVey really had such an extreme in mind at all (outside of automaton servants etc.) when discussing Artifice and it's place in Pentagonal Revisionism. Nonetheless, the reality of a 'coming Singularity' is rapidly approaching tangibility.

And what is 'the Singularity'? Among other authors of the subject, Ray Kurzweil has released some work on it with books such as "The Age of Spiritual Machines"and of course, "The Singularity is Near".Kurzweil has broken the Singularity into a graph of 'Epochs' in order to illustrate the Techno-parallel between the evolution of we as a species and our tools.

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With the exponential growth and breakthroughs in medical technology (electronic brain interface computers and prosthesis), it's my belief that we are well on our way in the first steps. Without risking getting too far into Transhumanism, what it is and what it means, I'll get back to the question...Is it compatible with the Satanic endeavor?

My thoughts are that it most certainly is. But, not in it's more extreme forms...ie. fully automated bodies and downloaded consciousness.

If death is considered 'The Great Abstinence', then ideally, the Satanist would strive or at least utilize what ever may be available to extend life in order to enjoy life longer, and cultivate the age of information in order to evolve their consciousness.

The Danger in it all, lies in becoming more machine than man. Satanism is certainly an embrace of the carnal, of the delights of the flesh and joys of emotional being. When being human transcends to wiring and cold steel, I think we lose what makes us embrace our beast. Complete synthesis crosses the line for me...It's tough to know where the line is, when you ponder the idea of: 'How much of 'you' do you have to lose, before you're no longer you'?. Is an amputee any less human with an appendage gone?

In just how we are to drive into this coming Epoch, I responded to the suggestion that either War or Commerce were appropriate.

Whether war and commerce has been the catalyst for such evolutionary steps, or are actual necessities therein, required to further techno-evolutionary dynamics...The growth remains exponential and is projected to be as soon as 2050 to reach 'primitive' Singularity. >>

Kurzweil has charted Logarythmic Plot in order to display our technological advance relative to time frame. It's easy to see that advances continue to have less and less time between them, I don't see this reaching plateau any time soon...

Whether the advances are moved by war or commerce, they continue to drive forward. Were I to choose one of the two to determine what moves our species to evolve in this manner, it would certainly be commerce. Without a doubt. War has it's advances as well, but most are actually done in times of peace in preparation of war...It's more the idea of war than the actual instance.

I'd have to choose commerce as a greater driving force because the technological / biological singularity indeed would be owned by the corporate medical field. I guess in short to say, those who can afford it, will get it. The idea behind this separation of class, thus health and physical innovation is entirely an old plot to our as of yet open ended story...>>

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More of what is happening with technology is real than we have yet to imagine with advances for those who are blind,paralyzed, amputees etc.

I think rebellion has become an excellent precursor as well. All we have to do is consider things like Bush outlawing stem cell research (on religio-political grounds no less) to see that when he did that, those pursuing it simply moved to countries that will allow it, and were funded by the wealthy who hold vested interests in it (commerce again...damn).

As far as 'memory upgrades' for the human brain, it's already being said in neuro-scientific fields that it isn't a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

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Chips, coming to a Brain near you...

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Something else we are beginning to see which will relate to Transhumanism in later stages is 'voluntary Eugenics'. With organizations such as 'Planned Parenthood', soon Western culture will frown upon the five child family. When it gets to the point of a choice of one chance, one child, genetic manipulation and upgrades will soon become an option for the wealthy.>>

I honestly see these types of advances as inevitable rather than fictional. I'm not sure why it's no longer here (think they left), but a member had suggested that human evolution is charted through advances pertaining to either war or commerce. Also, some feel that this type of human advancement isn't possible either in our lifetime, or even at all...I invite you to explore the above links...

As I had implied in the first post however, there is a balance to be held here. I myself would be up for technological merger, but not to such an extreme that caused the loss of all beauty that is being human. I'm all for enhancement, but not outright physical transcendence. The need to discard your beast, is to abandon the Satanic essentials.

Pain and suffering are relative to joy and happiness. To not know one, is the inability to truly appreciate the other. For those who live in pain, these advancements would be a welcoming change I can imagine. A day where brain chemistry, receptors and even problematic physiology can all be altered with a simple 'program' and / or genetically modified 'body parts' per se. With the mapping of the genome, there will be a day when anything from down syndrome to hereditary disease will be passé, reflected upon as a time where we 'can't believe we lived (and even made it) like that'. >>