Transhumanism and immortality appeals to many. It's being portrayed as some wonderful thing by many. They desire incorporating technological augmentation into the human body to make it "better". This is "justified" by a desire, want, wish and predilection to "improve" and "overcome" certain aspects of being human they view as "limitations". The end goal is to extend life forever, and "cure" the "disease" of death.
What is really going on with this mindset at a deeper level?
Life, Death and Immortality
The universe has biological life within it (at least here on our planet). Biological life has death has a counterpart. Death is part of life. This is a necessity, a "law" for biological existence. Without death, it wouldn't be life.
That's how life functions. Life emerges into existence, and then eventually dies out of existence. A life is not a timeless existence. Each life exists for finite periods of time. That is life.
Yes, the symbols life and death can also be used for non-biological existence. The "life" of a rock that slowly erodes and eventually "dies", the "life" of a sun that "dies" out. But I am talking about biological life, related to transhumanism and immortality.
Life having an end provides meaning and purpose. Meaning and purpose is found in a goal, a purpose, a destination, an end. The means to an end. A purpose driven model.
When you live a life without possible end, the pursuit of qualitative substantive meaning tends to get lost. This is demonstrated in many science fiction allegories where immortality or largely extended lifespans results in a decay of moral concern for others.
Immortality is not a good thing for consciousness beings. We lose our respect for life and lose ourselves in the process. We wander lost without substantial meaning and purpose of foundational principles in life, such as truth, and specifically moral truth which requires contemplation, reflection and consideration of life.
You have a limited time to live, learn and make use of what you learn. That is a powerful drive and motivator to maximize your efforts and potential. The hour glass runs out. The candle burns out. Death comes to all.
Life, Meaning and Purpose
If there is no death, there is no end to life, there is no real life anymore, and it's not life, it is an eventual static, stagnant end of history with little change. There is little real meaning to life. The life of others lose value. Deeper meaning becomes lost.
Life is wondrous, amazing, and also short-lived in time, which provides motive for deriving meaning and purpose while you are still here, to do something with what you have because eventually it will be gone.
Reflection and contemplation on life and of the limited time we have means the eventual cessation of life, which is known as death. It can be scary and wrought with fear to think about, when you are so attached to what you currently have that you can't bear losing it. Attachment is often the root of suffering (not always). We must learn to let go of some things that provide an escape from reality or keep us conditioned into falsity. Death is a reality. Escaping death is problematic for keeping us grounded, psychologically healthy and moral being.
Those who desire immortality have a deep fear death whether they realize it or not. They are attached to life yet reject death as part of it. They fear the necessity of death because they will lose what they have; they will lose their life, the ultimate thing to lose. They want things to be different and dream of making it so, so as to avoid the death they fear. Self-preservation has taken over.
Transhumanism
Those who desire trans-humanism, dislike being human in the end. They perceive limitations of being human. They want to be something else, to go beyond being human. Being human isn't enough for them.
Transhumanism can also be regarded as the transition to being "posthuman" compared to the current human being. Trans means "beyond", to "cross-over", to go beyond being human and cross-over to being something else, to be "more than human".
They are not content with what they currently are or biologically have. Just as it is with a human having a life and death that they are not content with and are seeking immortality to change that reality of life and death, they are also not content with other aspects of themselves as a human being and seek to change that reality.
They don't have a real problem with their body from an accident that imposed an limitation, like missing a leg, arm, eye, etc. that can benefit from technological supplementation. "Lose your ability to walk? Ok. Let's help you walk again with technology for a new leg!"
No, instead they want augmentation because being human isn't enough, it's "limited". Having a lifespan isn't enough, it's "limited".
*"I can't run as fast as someone else. I'm not as strong as someone else. I'm not as smart as someone else. It's not fair!!!"
"Well then, get a technological leg, arm and brain enhancement to make you 'better'! It's the "self-directed" "evolutionary" "improvement" of the human condition!"
No loss was incurred. They are just not happy, content or satisfied with their current human functionality, and seek to "enhance" certain aspects of themselves through technology that they view as insufficient, limiting, etc. They want more "powers and abilities beyond those of standard humans". They have a deep sense of lack, loss, at a psychological level, despite not having lost anything. But going this route results in the loss of what it means to be human.
Escapism Through Augmentation
Society is more and more desiring an escape from the reality we live in, obsessing over alleged virtual reality "augmentation" of reality, when it's actually an unreality mask that is imposed over the reality they seek to escape, such as Pokemon-Go and other VR devices.
Games are used as an escape from reality, as people prefer the stimulation of a virtual world to that of their boring lives, or the stresses within it. They don't like or want to deal with the life they have, nor improving the condition and quality of their lives. It's easier to simply escape. I know it, I've done it.
"Augmented reality" doesn't augment, increase, enhance, enrich or "grow" reality. It covers it up, masks it to add something that is not there: a virtual unreality to supplant the normal reality that is too stressful or too boring for them to find a solution to. Virtual reality isn't a bad thing in itself: computers are a virtual reality environment that allows us to do things more effectively. This technology, however, is external, and we make use of this technology to supplement our existing biological living conditions, not replace it by injecting it into us.
Transhumanism wants to replace the human being. People want to inject technology into their body to enhance the condition in reality because they are not satisfied with their biological abilities, or how they were born, or condition in life as a human being. It's not the same technological methodology being employed as helping someone overcome a loss of their leg, arm, etc. There was no loss in reality, only a lack create in psychology.
The whole transhumanist psychological mindset is rooted in fear and insecurities about how they view themselves individually, humanity as a whole, and life and death itself, as undesirable. They dream of making themselves "more", "better", "improved". They dream of the unreality of immortality to escape from this reality of life and death that they view as a limitation. They desire more power and abilities beyond what they are born with as a natural human being. Eventually, there will be more robotics and technology, than there won't be anything "human" left to call human really. It's the death of humanity, death of the human being.
Religious ideology also has issues with fear of death, which is why they invented imaginary scenarios, from the phantasmal light-projector within consciousness, of beliefs in immortality, such as "heaven everlasting", an "eternal life" somewhere else, and living in "paradise", which are only symbolic metaphors about creating a better, improved, corrected, moral way and path of living in the time that you live here, now and into the future of your existence. These imagined beliefs help to overcome the fear of death, since you believe you're not going to die, but "live on" in some imaginary other place/world/dimension/etc.
If you want an interesting view of how we are socially and psychologically devolving (not evolving) into a "posthuman" lower form of being human, please see this video for interesting topics being discussed. I don't agree with a lot of it, but it has much of interest to share, and valid knowledge to be gained about our current condition and where we are headed as lost individuals roaming a world that is becoming a mere banner of substantial meaning and purpose in life: Michael Tsarion - The Posthuman World.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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