Humanity's End: Why We Should Reject Radical Enhancement
Nicholas Agar
Abstract
Proposals to make us smarter than the greatest geniuses or to add thousands of years to our life spans seem fit only for the spam folder or trash can, yet these are what contemporary advocates of radical enhancement offer in all seriousness. They present a variety of technologies and therapies that will expand our capacities far beyond what is currently possible for human beings. This book argues against radical enhancement, describing its destructive consequences. It examines the proposals of four prominent radical enhancers: Ray Kurzweil, who argues that technology will enable our escape fro ... More
Proposals to make us smarter than the greatest geniuses or to add thousands of years to our life spans seem fit only for the spam folder or trash can, yet these are what contemporary advocates of radical enhancement offer in all seriousness. They present a variety of technologies and therapies that will expand our capacities far beyond what is currently possible for human beings. This book argues against radical enhancement, describing its destructive consequences. It examines the proposals of four prominent radical enhancers: Ray Kurzweil, who argues that technology will enable our escape from human biology; Aubrey de Grey, who calls for anti-aging therapies which will achieve “longevity escape velocity”; Nick Bostrom, who defends the morality and rationality of enhancement; and James Hughes, who envisions a harmonious democracy of the enhanced and the unenhanced. The author argues that the outcomes of radical enhancement could be darker than the rosy futures described by these thinkers. The most dramatic means of enhancing our cognitive powers could, in fact, kill us; the radical extension of our lifespan could eliminate experiences of great value from our lives; and a situation in which some humans are radically enhanced and others are not could lead to tyranny of posthumans over humans.
Keywords:
radical enhancement,
technology,
radical enhancers,
Ray Kurzweil,
human biology,
Aubrey de Grey,
anti-aging therapies,
longevity escape velocity,
Nick Bostrom,
morality
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780262014625 |
| Published to MIT Press Scholarship Online: August 2013 |
DOI:10.7551/mitpress/9780262014625.001.0001 |
