Transhumanism in fiction

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Many of the tropes of science fiction can be viewed as similar to the goals of transhumanism. Science fiction literature contains many positive depictions of technologically enhanced human life, occasionally set in utopian (especially techno-utopian) societies. However, science fiction's depictions of technologically enhanced humans or other posthuman beings frequently come with a cautionary twist. The more pessimistic scenarios include many dystopian tales of human bioengineering gone wrong.

Transhumanist art has been defined by Natasha More as art that is based on the transhumanist principles, visions, goals and sentiments.[1][2]

Examples of "transhumanist fiction" include novels by Linda Nagata, Greg Egan, Zoltan Istvan, and Hannu Rajaniemi. Transhuman novels are often philosophical in nature, exploring the impact such technologies might have on human life. Nagata's novels, for example, explore the relationship between the natural and artificial, and suggest that while transhuman modifications of nature may be beneficial, they may also be hazardous, so should not be lightly undertaken.[3] Egan's Diaspora explores the nature of ideas such as reproduction and questions if they make sense in a Post-human context. Istvan's novel The Transhumanist Wager explores how far one person would go to achieve an indefinite lifespan via science and technology.[4] Rajaniemi's novel, while more action oriented, still explores themes such as death and finitude in post-human life.

Fictional depictions of transhumanist scenarios are also seen in other media, such as television series (the Ancients of Stargate SG-1), manga and anime (Ghost in the Shell), role-playing games (Rifts) and computer games (Deus Ex).

Literary authors

Television series

Film

Animation

Visual novel

Computer games

Table top games

Another prominent and long-lived example is the Warhammer 40,000 universe--Games Workshop's longstanding tabletop strategy franchise, which includes several video games and dozens of novels. While usually focusing on concepts like the loss of technology and the death of knowledge, and nowhere near what could be called a "utopia", the Warhammer 40,000 universe does depict a setting where transhumanism and even posthumanism are both quite widespread. Cybernetic and genetic modifications, human-machine interfaces, self-aware computer "spirits" (advanced AIs), ubiquitous space travel and even true posthuman gods are all quite prominent and featured throughout. The main protagonists of many novels and campaigns, the Imperial Space Marines, are literal textbook transhumans: normal human men who have been so vastly augmented and changed by technology that they are no longer homo sapiens but some other, new species. However unlike many transhuman or posthuman futures depicted by authors on the subject, Warhammer 40,000 is bleak, violent and filled with war and even with the existence of posthuman gods (like the Emperor of Mankind or his Primarchs) humanity is still beset on all sides by threats--including those of actual, supernatural gods, namely the Chaos Gods, the two Orkish deities, Gork and Mork, and their fungal offspring and C'Tan, the Necron God.

The GURPS Supplement Transhuman Space deals with a closer transhumanist future of our solar system, describing a role playing game setting “in the year 2100”.

The role playing game Eclipse Phase takes transhumanism to a post-apocalyptic horror setting in which General Artificial Intelligences have gone rogue, introducing itself with the slogan “Your mind is software. Program it. – Your body is a shell. Change it. – Death is a disease. Cure it. – Extinction is approaching. Fight it.”

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Transhumanities". Aleph.se. 2000-03-11. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
  2. ↑ Natasha Vita-More. "Transhumanism Art Manifesto". Transhumanist.biz. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
  3. ↑ "Review of The Bohr Maker, Tech Heaven and Deception Well by Linda Nagata". Aleph.se. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
  4. ↑ http://www.kurzweilai.net/book-review-the-transhumanist-wager

External links

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