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Transhumanism: The History of a Dangerous Idea
Transhumanism is a recent movement that extols man’s right to shape his own evolution, by maximizing the use of scientific technologies, to enhance human physical and intellectual potential. While the name is new, the idea has long been a popular theme of science fiction, featured in such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, the Terminator series, and more recently, The Matrix, Limitless, Her and Transcendence. However, as its adherents hint at in their own publications, transhumanism is an occult project, rooted in Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, and derived from the Kabbalah, which asserts that humanity is evolving intellectually, towards a point in time when man will become God. Modeled on the medieval legend of the Golem and Frankenstein, they believe man will be able to create life itself, in the form of living machines, or artificial intelligence. Spearheaded by the Cybernetics Group, the project resulted in both the development of the modern computer and MK-Ultra, the CIA’s “mind-control” program. MK-Ultra promoted the “mind-expanding” potential of psychedelic drugs, to shape the counterculture of the 1960s, based on the notion that the shamans of ancient times used psychoactive substances, equated with the “apple” of the Tree of Knowledge. And, as revealed in the movie Lucy, through the use of “smart drugs,” and what transhumanists call “mind uploading,” man will be able to merge with the Internet, which is envisioned as the end-point of Kabbalistic evolution, the formation of a collective consciousness, or Global Brain. That awaited moment is what Ray Kurzweil, a director of engineering at Google, refers to as The Singularly. By accumulating the total of human knowledge, and providing access to every aspect of human activity, the Internet will supposedly achieve omniscience, becoming the “God” of occultism, or the Masonic All-Seeing Eye of the reverse side of the American dollar bill.
402 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2015
55 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
David Livingstone
6 books100 followersDavid Livingstone was born in Montreal in 1966 of a Jamaican-Canadian father (a school teacher) and French Canadian mother. At age seven, he asked his parents who Plato and Socrates were. Told they were truthseekers, he was shocked. "You mean people don’t know what the truth is?" He resolved to find it out.
Livingstone studied history as an undergraduate but dropped out in 1992 when he realized he was being indoctrinated. "When I read that the Indo European [Aryan] race emerged from the Caucuses, out of nowhere, I got suspicious, and began the 13 years of research that led to my first book, The Dying God: The Hidden History of Western Civilization."
While writing that book, Livingstone paid his bills by planting trees in British Columbia and upholstering furniture in Montreal. Raised as an agnostic, he accepted Islam in 1992 after making a study of the major world religions. He married in 2000 and has three children.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Livingstone studied history as an undergraduate but dropped out in 1992 when he realized he was being indoctrinated. "When I read that the Indo European [Aryan] race emerged from the Caucuses, out of nowhere, I got suspicious, and began the 13 years of research that led to my first book, The Dying God: The Hidden History of Western Civilization."
While writing that book, Livingstone paid his bills by planting trees in British Columbia and upholstering furniture in Montreal. Raised as an agnostic, he accepted Islam in 1992 after making a study of the major world religions. He married in 2000 and has three children.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 5, 2021
String together a clutch of factoids, stir in a bunch of conspiracy theories, sprinkle on top a handful of problems regarding transhumanism, and then serve up as fact...
I gave it one star because the grand conspiracy reminded me a bit of a Shea & Wilson's Illumunatus! Trilogy - though sadly lacking in the latter's sex, violence and underlying satire.
I gave it one star because the grand conspiracy reminded me a bit of a Shea & Wilson's Illumunatus! Trilogy - though sadly lacking in the latter's sex, violence and underlying satire.
May 17, 2023
This book is a compilation of a bunch of different subjects that all tie into the theme of transhumanism. If anything, I am very interested in reading a lot of the books quoted here.
December 13, 2016
This book was written by David Livingstone, the Canadian blogger, not the Scottish missionary to whom the book has been erroneously accredited. Not sure how to report this to Goodreads.
August 23, 2023
I have rated this book 5 full stars, although to be fair I'm very interested in the subject matter and I may be looking past what other readers might be turned off by in order to facilitate the recognition of what is an excellent answer to the proposition of this book. That is: What is transhumanism, and where did this dangerous idea come from?
Let's start with "the bad." Some may be very turned off by Livingstone's rather brave approach to leave no stone unturned. This may have two negative effects on the reader:
1. They will dislike the sheer exhaustive nature of this book, rather than seeing it for the comprehensive tome that it is, and...
2. They may well be very offended by the inclusion of a famous person they like (i.e. an author, scientist, or pop star/etc) that has been included as a "transhumanist," rather than viewing their inclusion as a legitimate entry that--regardless of our feelings about their work/impact--may actually be very relevant to the thesis of Transhumanism. I know this happened to me more than once while I read this book.
Additionally, the "dangerous" or otherwise negative nature of the transhumanism exhibited by individual entries here might be debated as well. But I think Livingstone did very well to be as inclusive as he was here. While some entries might seem a little bit extraneous, it makes for a more interesting read than other books on the topic which paint in much broader strokes or focus on detailing a specific time period. This book does it all.
Personally I was very impressed with this book and many individuals he mentioned might not have felt transhumanist prior to my reading this book but after reflecting on the author's evidence I can say that I have realized that he was right to include them. For one example, I never realized that the Beatnik or Psychedelic movements had so much overlap with transhumanist themes and I was quite resistant to the idea at first. But, much like anything, we have to realize that we won't always agree with every aspect of our personal favorite auteurs' mindsets or muses. We also should learn to be less offended at a studious author like Livingstone "killing our darlings" in such a way as the mere mention of connecting some of these figures to the concept of transhumanism is not necessarily a terrible thing in of itself. But it does make for some fairly deep contemplation as one might realize just how deep this could, or does indeed, go.
In any case, I don't really believe in the 5-star rating system it's just a way to convey enthusiasm for a given book really. Books like this deserve better than that because they bring our attention to important subject matter that seems to get glazed over elsewhere and this book is absolutely not for someone looking for a light fun read that doesn't challenge them on some level. But with that said, if you are looking for a fairly exhaustive book chronicling the existence of transhumanism throughout many different time periods and socio-political/artistic movements, including many that are not completely obvious to people who have spent some time with this subject ...I honestly don't think you'll do better than This Book. Cheers fellow curious readers!
Let's start with "the bad." Some may be very turned off by Livingstone's rather brave approach to leave no stone unturned. This may have two negative effects on the reader:
1. They will dislike the sheer exhaustive nature of this book, rather than seeing it for the comprehensive tome that it is, and...
2. They may well be very offended by the inclusion of a famous person they like (i.e. an author, scientist, or pop star/etc) that has been included as a "transhumanist," rather than viewing their inclusion as a legitimate entry that--regardless of our feelings about their work/impact--may actually be very relevant to the thesis of Transhumanism. I know this happened to me more than once while I read this book.
Additionally, the "dangerous" or otherwise negative nature of the transhumanism exhibited by individual entries here might be debated as well. But I think Livingstone did very well to be as inclusive as he was here. While some entries might seem a little bit extraneous, it makes for a more interesting read than other books on the topic which paint in much broader strokes or focus on detailing a specific time period. This book does it all.
Personally I was very impressed with this book and many individuals he mentioned might not have felt transhumanist prior to my reading this book but after reflecting on the author's evidence I can say that I have realized that he was right to include them. For one example, I never realized that the Beatnik or Psychedelic movements had so much overlap with transhumanist themes and I was quite resistant to the idea at first. But, much like anything, we have to realize that we won't always agree with every aspect of our personal favorite auteurs' mindsets or muses. We also should learn to be less offended at a studious author like Livingstone "killing our darlings" in such a way as the mere mention of connecting some of these figures to the concept of transhumanism is not necessarily a terrible thing in of itself. But it does make for some fairly deep contemplation as one might realize just how deep this could, or does indeed, go.
In any case, I don't really believe in the 5-star rating system it's just a way to convey enthusiasm for a given book really. Books like this deserve better than that because they bring our attention to important subject matter that seems to get glazed over elsewhere and this book is absolutely not for someone looking for a light fun read that doesn't challenge them on some level. But with that said, if you are looking for a fairly exhaustive book chronicling the existence of transhumanism throughout many different time periods and socio-political/artistic movements, including many that are not completely obvious to people who have spent some time with this subject ...I honestly don't think you'll do better than This Book. Cheers fellow curious readers!
August 13, 2020
good book
March 30, 2025
Good for using references. It is best to learn about the idea from the man who hates the idea, and is a bit mad.
February 8, 2026
Sucks. Reads like somesome explaining a whole family tree in detail...forever. It should have just been a tree diagram; not a book. It needed to dwell more.
December 23, 2019
fugging illuminati
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews