I live with Cerebral Palsy, and I consider myself lucky because by and large I can live a fairly normal life, but this took years of therapy from around the time I was three to get where I am now. I would love to be enhanced physically just to the position of a normal person.

How many of the people who attack this idea have been made to feel like an invalid because of an disability? Or how many people have looked into the eyes of an extremely intelligent child trapped in a fairly useless body? I think human enhancements will be just the next leap forward in medicine, that gives humans a better quality of life.

As others have noted, this is always the case, then to varying degree it spreads to the manager/worker masses (as economies of scale allow), and upon whom the system has historically depended. Some measure of inclusiveness, not by design, but by default and necessity. “Progress.”

The difference going forward is the tech increasingly replaces/reduces the need for so many workers. The future no longer built upon their sweat and muscle.

The question I pose to all those clamoring for these technotopias is simple: What will Transhumanism do with all those unemployed/marginalized, resource devouring, pollution generating, disease ridden, and now deemed “less evolved” beings… Will is stop or slow it’s unbridled leaps “forward” to insure integration/adoption for all? Can it make unlimited allowances for those who resist?

Exclusiveness, not by design, but by default and “necessity”. A cold future of exponential acceleration, blurring the consequences, leaving all that to the past…

The future unpredictable, always has been, but we know very well who we are and what we are capable of doing to each other under the guise of some “ism”.

“Transhumanism” is simply a matter of “better” weapons. Same game, different name.

I do not agree, whether something is legal or not does not determine whether people will do it. There are illegal drugs, yet people still take make and take them. It would be nice if post humans grew out of a society that respected their sovereignty but I don’t believe that is necessary for it to occur.

Making transhumanism something that only occurs in a Sci Fi future diminishes the importance of transhuman bioethics in the present. And we’re neck-deep in them.

>“Absolute conjecture and completely hypothetical. My initial argument is against the idea that we can factually claim that something will be possible prior to it actually being possible.”

Twice wrong. First, the techniques I mentioned are *already* in use around the world for genetic engineering of mammalian cells. This includes targeted addition and removal of specific chromosomes. Here’s an example:

http://www.intechopen.com/source/pdfs/15476/InTech-Chromosome_engineering_in_mouse_embryonic_stem_cells_addition_and_elimination_of_targeted_chromosomes.pdf

“[..] we have developed chromosome elimination cassettes (CEC) using a Cre-inverted loxP system that was first used in mouse ES cells. In this system, transient cre expression can initiate immediate chromosomal loss over the course of a few cell cycles in the recombinant cells.”
…showing it’s possible to move tagged chromosomes into or back out of the genome between generations.

Second, we can pretty damn well say what’s possible prior to it being practical if the relevant natural laws and conditions are known. Humans can’t put an astronaut on Mars right now. But in view of scientific extrapolations from the Apollo Moon landings, it’s most likely just a question of money to solve the remaining health and engineering issues. Likewise, since chromosome engineering already works in stem cells and mammalian embryos, expectations that it will also work out for human zygotes are no leap of faith.

Whether chromosome engineering could be applied to the adult organism directly, depends on whether the delivery methods for signalling molecules and/or gene vectors can be improved enough. I have yet to see a cogent argument suggesting it’s impossible. In any case, no one in here has made a contention that it will “absolutely” be feasible, and in “every” cell, without “any” problems. That’s a strawman you are bashing. Neither is it all that clear why it should be necessary to reprogram 100.0 % of body cells in order to achieve a desired effect with little side effects, rather than just, say, 99.999 %.

One thing I really like about Transhumanists is that they have guts. Like Christians, they make no bones about belonging to an exceptional species. None of this milquetoast pussyfooting around about “becoming one with the Earth”. Transhumanists recognize, even more clearly than most Christians today, that because Mother Nature accepts evolution as her handmaiden, she is a brutal and psychotic bitch who tortures and slaughters her children. And they want to do something about it. Christians should recognize that the goal of ameliorating the effects of the fall is nothing different from anything they’ve been doing since Jesus Christ walked this Earth.

Christians are sinners too, of course (See “Bad Popes” for some famous examples http://stmarystudentparish.org/PDFs/students/grad/TheBadPopes.ppt). With respect to Transhumanism, on one hand Christians are philosophically much better equipped to identify Transhumanism’s problems (e.g. the entire theme of CBC’s “Imago Dei” conference a few years ago; see also their critique at http://www.cbc-network.org/2011/08/the-trouble-with-transhumanism-2/). But Christians commit a sin of the intellect when they blithely disregard the technological assumptions of Transhumanism. Productive Nanosystems will make many of Kyle Munkittrick’s predictions come true. And that should make everyone sit up and take notice –and carefully examine what they really want (See “Be Careful What You Wish For” http://www.nanotech-now.com/columns/?article=358).

What is interesting is that if you find out what you really, really want, then you discover that saints and theologians have known it all along. In addition, some of the smarter ones have thought about some of the earth-shaking issues that mature nanotechnology will raise (see “Edith Stein: Atheist, Philosopher, and Saint” at http://stmarystudentparish.org/PDFs/students/grad/EdithSteinPhilosophyFinal.ppt).

Let them be our eternal slaves!