In other words: this is a guy who knows the subject! I later realized that Naam also read an early non-fiction book I read on transhumanism titled More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. The specifics of how this works are left purposefully vague (always wise) but the implications are explored fantastically and in depth. Nexus is a trilogy of books from Ramez Naam that was recommended to me by a reader of this blog! The book is all about the titular ‘Nexus’ drug, which is actually a form of ingestible nanotechnology that interfaces directly with the brain.
Just as you can choose how you want to approach the game, you could choose how you want to approach life with far more options open to you… Nexus This is what really appeals to me about transhumanism – the idea that I could one day be able to explore further and have more experiences by overcoming my limitations. And with that comes more ethical choices as well. By choosing whether you’d rather have bionic legs or expert hacking skills, you decide exactly how you want to approach tasks.īy the end, you’ve become an unstoppable post human, capable of going anywhere you choose and affecting the world around you in subtle ways.
Transhumanism agenda upgrade#
These games are all about choice and the ability to upgrade yourself in myriad ways is a natural extension of that.
Transhumanism agenda series#
What I really love about this series though (other than the excellent cyber punk aesthetics), is the way transhumanism adds to the gameplay. This isn’t the focus of the story in that instalment though, which is much more about conspiracy theories and biological warfare. Likewise, I find it highly unlikely that the average Joe would be willing to sacrifice their real limbs for synthetic ones.įar more realistic is the version of transhumanism portrayed in the first game set in 2057 where augmentation is achieved through the use of nanotechnology and individuals sporting bionics are considered ‘low tech’. Call me naïve but I can’t imagine the world is going to change that much in that timeframe. For starters: this is all set in 2027 – i.e. Such a ‘class divide’ is something that came up a lot in my dissertation ( Surplus Improvement: A Qualitative Exploration of Student Attitudes Toward Transhumanism, Transhuman Technologies and Related Issues) on the ethics of transhumanism, but I do find this part of the plot a little thin in some ways (in terms of its portrayal of the subject at least).
Mankind has been divided into two factions: ‘augs’ and natural humans who are against the use of bionic prosthetics and implants. In Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, transhumanism provides the driving force of the plot. This comes very much to the fore in the most recent titles ( Human Revolution, The Fall and Mankind Divided) but was also a big part of the first two games. The Deus Ex series is perhaps one of the most well-known franchises in any medium to discuss transhuman concepts in great depth. I’ll be discussing at the technologies, the feasibility and the ethics behind each example and also including some cool pictures of people with blades coming out of their arms… The Deus Ex Series Here then are some of my favorite examples of transhumanism being addressed directly or indirectly in the media.
This would be very handy for my line of work (pun unintended)
0 kommentar(er)
