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Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today's Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship
We're constantly invited to think about the future of technology as a progressive improvement of tools: our gadgets will continue to evolve, but we humans will stay basically the same. In the future, perhaps even alien species and intelligent robots will coexist alongside humans, who will grapple with challenges and emerge as the heroes. But the truth is that radical technological change has the power to radically shape humans as well. We must be well informed and thoughtful about the steps we're already taking toward a transhuman or even posthuman future. Can we find firm footing on a slippery slope? Biblical ethicist Jacob Shatzer guides us into careful consideration of the future of Christian discipleship in a disruptive technological environment. In Transhumanism and the Image of God , Shatzer explains the development and influence of the transhumanist movement, which promotes a "next stage" in human evolution. Exploring topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics, medical technology, and communications tools, he examines how everyday technological changes have already altered and continue to change the way we think, relate, and understand reality. By unpacking the doctrine of the incarnation and its implications for human identity, he helps us better understand the proper place of technology in the life of the disciple and avoid false promises of a posthumanist vision. We cannot think about technology use today without considering who we will become tomorrow.
192 pages, Paperback
Published April 9, 2019
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May 20, 2019
Summary: An exploration of how developing technologies raise questions of what it will mean to be human as we are formed by, or even integrated more closely into our technological devices, along lines some have envisioned as a transhumanist or even post-humanist future.
A basic axiom of this book is that we shape our technology, and then our technology shapes us. There is a constant tendency once we fashion a technology to optimize its use. In introducing this subject, Jacob Shatzer considers the ways we have kept time, with ever more precise devices. Shatzer argues that the shaping quality of our technological devices has implications for our moral formation. These shape how we relate to other people and to our physical environment. They shape our sense of control over our world, our perception of our capacities.
The rise of transhumanism takes this further as we think about using devices to enhance our intelligence, physical strength, and sensory inputs. Going further, transhumanism leads to posthumanism, where our technological developments hold out the hope of transcending the limitations of our physical bodies, including the ultimate limitation of death. He traces the steps in the unfolding of a transhumanist future. First there is the idea of morphological freedom--that we have a right to alter our physical form to enhance our ability to achieve our potential. On the face of it, this seems unobjectionable, except that it may be premised on faulty notions of freedom and what it means to be human. Second, there is the idea of becoming "hybronauts," in which we utilize technology to augment our perception of reality, whether through wearable technology, or even some of the functions of our smartphones. Where all this is going is a fusion of human and artificial intelligence, with everything from a host of robots attending to different functions of our lives to the copying or uploading of our brains, predicated on the idea that our minds are simply a complex network of data, that may be stored biologically, or digitally. Are such assumptions reductive of what it means to be humans in the image of God? Yet we must face the fact that the directions in which we have shaped our technology are shaping us toward such a life, that we have technological liturgies, as it were, that condition us toward such a future in how we think or act.
Shatzer does not suggest a Luddite approach. He sees technology as double-edged, offering both aspects that enhance human flourishing, and aspects that dehumanize. He believes the Christian faith offers practices and images that enable to resist the dehumanizing aspects of our technology. He explores the question of "what is real?", and contends that the incarnation, and our embodied existence must be robustly maintained, and that the storyteller may play a pivotal role in delivering us from the virtual reality world detaching us from the body. He explores the question of "where is real?" in a virtual world where one loses place. He describes placemaking practices from gardening, homemaking, and hospitality, and the importance of the love of real neighbors. He asks, "who is real?" and notes our increasing attachments to virtual and robotic technology (think Pokemon and Tamagotchis) and our virtual communities of "friends." He stresses the importance of the practice of the Lord's supper, and the figure of the real friend. Finally, he considers the question, "am I real" and the ways we construct, project, and manage our online selves. Shatzer contrasts our efforts at self-construction with the humility of entering the kingdom as children, entrusting our identity to Christ.
One of the important aspects of this book is that Shatzer seeks to help us identify the technological "liturgies" that are shaping us toward a transhuman future. These are liturgies that propose an expansion of our control, a transcendence of limits of knowledge and existence, and control over our identify. What is most troubling though, and also something our social media prepares us for, is the sharing of everything. What happens when networking extends to our thoughts, when nothing is private for us and nothing is concealed from us? Shatzer helps us recognize how our technological liturgies, far from leading to flourishing, threaten to change in dehumanizing ways, what it means to be human.
Any of us who has acquired a smartphone has experienced the formative power of this technology, which we may be tempted to check hundreds of times a day. Shatzer's final chapters explore the questions we must ask, the small steps we can take, the practices we can embrace beginning with sharing meals together that remind us of our embodied nature, our relationships with neighbors and friends, and create places for remembering our story.
Setting limits, setting tables, saying prayers, cultivating friendships, telling stores. I found myself asking, "Are these enough?" Perhaps the issue is, how many of us will just focus on what our technology will do, and how many of us will keep asking and prioritizing in our practice the question of "what kind of humans we are making." Shatzer's book helps us ask these important questions.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
A basic axiom of this book is that we shape our technology, and then our technology shapes us. There is a constant tendency once we fashion a technology to optimize its use. In introducing this subject, Jacob Shatzer considers the ways we have kept time, with ever more precise devices. Shatzer argues that the shaping quality of our technological devices has implications for our moral formation. These shape how we relate to other people and to our physical environment. They shape our sense of control over our world, our perception of our capacities.
The rise of transhumanism takes this further as we think about using devices to enhance our intelligence, physical strength, and sensory inputs. Going further, transhumanism leads to posthumanism, where our technological developments hold out the hope of transcending the limitations of our physical bodies, including the ultimate limitation of death. He traces the steps in the unfolding of a transhumanist future. First there is the idea of morphological freedom--that we have a right to alter our physical form to enhance our ability to achieve our potential. On the face of it, this seems unobjectionable, except that it may be premised on faulty notions of freedom and what it means to be human. Second, there is the idea of becoming "hybronauts," in which we utilize technology to augment our perception of reality, whether through wearable technology, or even some of the functions of our smartphones. Where all this is going is a fusion of human and artificial intelligence, with everything from a host of robots attending to different functions of our lives to the copying or uploading of our brains, predicated on the idea that our minds are simply a complex network of data, that may be stored biologically, or digitally. Are such assumptions reductive of what it means to be humans in the image of God? Yet we must face the fact that the directions in which we have shaped our technology are shaping us toward such a life, that we have technological liturgies, as it were, that condition us toward such a future in how we think or act.
Shatzer does not suggest a Luddite approach. He sees technology as double-edged, offering both aspects that enhance human flourishing, and aspects that dehumanize. He believes the Christian faith offers practices and images that enable to resist the dehumanizing aspects of our technology. He explores the question of "what is real?", and contends that the incarnation, and our embodied existence must be robustly maintained, and that the storyteller may play a pivotal role in delivering us from the virtual reality world detaching us from the body. He explores the question of "where is real?" in a virtual world where one loses place. He describes placemaking practices from gardening, homemaking, and hospitality, and the importance of the love of real neighbors. He asks, "who is real?" and notes our increasing attachments to virtual and robotic technology (think Pokemon and Tamagotchis) and our virtual communities of "friends." He stresses the importance of the practice of the Lord's supper, and the figure of the real friend. Finally, he considers the question, "am I real" and the ways we construct, project, and manage our online selves. Shatzer contrasts our efforts at self-construction with the humility of entering the kingdom as children, entrusting our identity to Christ.
One of the important aspects of this book is that Shatzer seeks to help us identify the technological "liturgies" that are shaping us toward a transhuman future. These are liturgies that propose an expansion of our control, a transcendence of limits of knowledge and existence, and control over our identify. What is most troubling though, and also something our social media prepares us for, is the sharing of everything. What happens when networking extends to our thoughts, when nothing is private for us and nothing is concealed from us? Shatzer helps us recognize how our technological liturgies, far from leading to flourishing, threaten to change in dehumanizing ways, what it means to be human.
Any of us who has acquired a smartphone has experienced the formative power of this technology, which we may be tempted to check hundreds of times a day. Shatzer's final chapters explore the questions we must ask, the small steps we can take, the practices we can embrace beginning with sharing meals together that remind us of our embodied nature, our relationships with neighbors and friends, and create places for remembering our story.
Setting limits, setting tables, saying prayers, cultivating friendships, telling stores. I found myself asking, "Are these enough?" Perhaps the issue is, how many of us will just focus on what our technology will do, and how many of us will keep asking and prioritizing in our practice the question of "what kind of humans we are making." Shatzer's book helps us ask these important questions.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
April 27, 2019
With the growing matrix of social media, artificial intelligence, robotics, and prosthetic enhancements, people should be asking all types of questions. And they are, just not always the right ones. Some are asking “What more can be done?” while others are inquiring “What should be done?” Jacob Shatzer, assistant professor and associate dean in the School of Theology and Missions at Union University, ordained Southern Baptist minister and author, addresses more of the “What is going on, why, and how are we to rightly engage?” queries in his new 192 page softback: “Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today's Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship.” Shatzer focuses on technological advances, the thinking going on among transhumanists and posthumanists, and searches out ways for Christians to decrypt the ought from the is. He writes for a broad spectrum of interested people, and those who should be interested.
The main concept running through “Transhumanism and the Image of God” is that we humans make tools, and then tools make us. We construct technological tackling and it in turn molds our perceptions and directions. Which means that technologies are “shaping us. And shaping people, after all, is just another way of talking about discipleship” (8). Therefore, “part of responsible, wise, faithful of tools is analyzing the ways that certain tools shape us to see the world in certain ways, and then to ask whether those ways are consistent with the life of a disciple of Christ” (7). Thus, the author argues “that Christians must engage today’s technology creatively and critically in order to counter the ways technologies tend toward a transhuman future…Human making is happening, and technology is a powerful part of that making, sneaking its values into us at almost every turn” (11).
The first half of the book pointedly examines the issue. In these first five chapters the author explains what transhumanism is and how it undergirds a posthumanist aim. He unpacks the various pedigrees and personalities that formed transhumanism and where they are (from Google to Facebook and beyond). He looks into several of their tenets, where they are beneficial and how they are problematic. Shatzer also attends to the transhumanist notion of morphological freedom, which “means the ability to take advantage of whatever technology a person wants to in order to change their body in any way they desire” (56). This momentum continues, progressing to the place where the human and machine merge bringing humans to augmented reality as well as to potential mind clones.
The author perceives that many of these aspects are already in their early stages, and we are unthoughtfully employing them from our smartphones to our newest cutting-edge gadgets. Therefore, Shatzer helpfully works through each item, and after explaining them and their advantageous uses, thoughtfully works around how we should think about these advances and changes, and where we should go; “If we want technology to serve the community, then, it must be useful to move people toward the ultimate good not defined by technology itself” (35). He further moves, in the last five chapter, to guiding the reader to a more critical position by asking important questions, such as what is real, where is real, who is real, and am I real? I appreciated how the author exposes the clearly gnostic underpinnings that flow through our technological advances – the desire to transcend the body because it is expendable – and he grounds our rightful concerns and corrections in the incarnation: “The doctrine of the incarnation shows us why full, embodied humanity is the goal, and the importance of this doctrine warns us of danger in embracing a version of humanity that rejects “in the body.” Jesus’ physical presence is foundational” (122). The book, and especially the concluding chapter, offers multiple suggestions on ways to manage technological uses in a reader’s life.
“Transhumanism and the Image of God” is neither shrill nor panic-stricken. The author helps the readers to keep their heads about them while seriously engaging technology, transhumanists and posthumanism. Clear and comprehensible, Shatzer makes a solid case, and gives sound counsel. This volume is ideal for Christians involved with IT (which is almost everyone I know!). If you have a smartphone, iphone, android, ipad, laptop, tablet, etc. you should pick up a copy and make it a reading priority. I highly recommend this book.
My thanks to IVP Academic for sending, at my request, a copy of the book used for this review. They asked nothing in exchange other than my honest opinion. And so all of the thoughts and remarks are mine, freely given and freely bestowed.
The main concept running through “Transhumanism and the Image of God” is that we humans make tools, and then tools make us. We construct technological tackling and it in turn molds our perceptions and directions. Which means that technologies are “shaping us. And shaping people, after all, is just another way of talking about discipleship” (8). Therefore, “part of responsible, wise, faithful of tools is analyzing the ways that certain tools shape us to see the world in certain ways, and then to ask whether those ways are consistent with the life of a disciple of Christ” (7). Thus, the author argues “that Christians must engage today’s technology creatively and critically in order to counter the ways technologies tend toward a transhuman future…Human making is happening, and technology is a powerful part of that making, sneaking its values into us at almost every turn” (11).
The first half of the book pointedly examines the issue. In these first five chapters the author explains what transhumanism is and how it undergirds a posthumanist aim. He unpacks the various pedigrees and personalities that formed transhumanism and where they are (from Google to Facebook and beyond). He looks into several of their tenets, where they are beneficial and how they are problematic. Shatzer also attends to the transhumanist notion of morphological freedom, which “means the ability to take advantage of whatever technology a person wants to in order to change their body in any way they desire” (56). This momentum continues, progressing to the place where the human and machine merge bringing humans to augmented reality as well as to potential mind clones.
The author perceives that many of these aspects are already in their early stages, and we are unthoughtfully employing them from our smartphones to our newest cutting-edge gadgets. Therefore, Shatzer helpfully works through each item, and after explaining them and their advantageous uses, thoughtfully works around how we should think about these advances and changes, and where we should go; “If we want technology to serve the community, then, it must be useful to move people toward the ultimate good not defined by technology itself” (35). He further moves, in the last five chapter, to guiding the reader to a more critical position by asking important questions, such as what is real, where is real, who is real, and am I real? I appreciated how the author exposes the clearly gnostic underpinnings that flow through our technological advances – the desire to transcend the body because it is expendable – and he grounds our rightful concerns and corrections in the incarnation: “The doctrine of the incarnation shows us why full, embodied humanity is the goal, and the importance of this doctrine warns us of danger in embracing a version of humanity that rejects “in the body.” Jesus’ physical presence is foundational” (122). The book, and especially the concluding chapter, offers multiple suggestions on ways to manage technological uses in a reader’s life.
“Transhumanism and the Image of God” is neither shrill nor panic-stricken. The author helps the readers to keep their heads about them while seriously engaging technology, transhumanists and posthumanism. Clear and comprehensible, Shatzer makes a solid case, and gives sound counsel. This volume is ideal for Christians involved with IT (which is almost everyone I know!). If you have a smartphone, iphone, android, ipad, laptop, tablet, etc. you should pick up a copy and make it a reading priority. I highly recommend this book.
My thanks to IVP Academic for sending, at my request, a copy of the book used for this review. They asked nothing in exchange other than my honest opinion. And so all of the thoughts and remarks are mine, freely given and freely bestowed.
April 7, 2020
Shatzer, Jacob. Transhumanism and the Image of God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsityPress, 2019.
Jetsons Fallacy: humans can remain unchanged with hyper-advanced technology and robots. As Shatzer argues, “Radical technological change will radically shape humans as well” (Shatzer 1). His thesis is a bit deeper, though. Technology can change us at our deepest root, and this includes discipleship as Christians.
He gives a neat illustration: time. We tell time differently than humanity used to. We move backwards from watches to clocks to hourglasses to candles to calendars. “Hours were marked by natural time and days by religious time” (4). If you would have asked a man in 100 AD what time it was, he wouldn’t have said “4:32 PM.” Would he even have known what that was? Here is the kicker: technology changes the way we experience time.
Time also has a public nature. A common time allows people to “synch” with each other. More concretely, it is also embedded in power relations and market relations.
Posthumanism is the futurist’s goal. Transhumanism aims at posthumanism. As one puts it, “We aren’t evolving. We are upgrading” (Peter Novak). You might say, “I don’t plan on becoming a robot.” That’s good, and you probably won’t. However, technology disciples us.
Observations:
“Each tool pushes us toward the goal that the tool is best made for” (7). We say “when you are a hammer, everything is a nail.” What about if you are a smartphone? Everything is a status update. All of this is to say that technologies have the power to shape. This is what Heidegger called “gestell,” or en-framing.
Technology and Moral Formation
Binocularity: the way we shape our tools and the way they shape us (18). Take Google, for instance. Shatzer points out that “studies are beginning to show that our technology is changing us on a neurological level: our brains are changing” (19; cf. Greenfield, Mind Change). As Mary Aiken notes, technologies always come into contact with predispositions and behaviors: they amplify and escalate (Aitken, Cyber Effect, 22).
What is Transhumanism?
Definition: transhumanism seeks “to improve human intelligence, physical strength, and the five senses by technological means” (Michael Plato, “The Immortality Machine”). Posthumanism is the product. Transhumanism is the highway (Shatzer 41). Posthumanism seeks to get beyond the limits of being human.
My Body, My Choice: Morphological Freedom
We need to make a distinction between therapy and enhancement. Wearing glasses to fix eyesight is not the same thing as enhancement. I am fixing a defect. Enhancement is when I augment my body to escape the limits of being human. Futurists argue that this is a basic right along the following lines:
They begin by saying we have a right to life and right to happiness (Sandberg, “Morphological Freedom,” 56ff).
From this follows the right to freedom. Because I have to survive, I have to act freely in my own interest. And since different people have different conceptions of happiness, I get to do what I want.
This means I have a right to my own body. This means I get to augment it.
The futurists throw a bone to those who might not be on board: not everyone has to accept this right.
The Hybronaut
Augmented reality: it is the overlaying graphics on the real world (Platoni, We Have the Technology, 204). Shatzer points out that we don’t simply act on tools: our consciousness reacts to tools as well (Shatzer 75). “Human minds and bodies are essentially open to episodes of deep and transformative restructuring” (Platoni). This is similar to what the German philosopher and mathematician Edmund Husserl called “overlapping consciousness.”
How so? When we use a new device, we create an interface between our minds and neural activities and the device. It “creates a circuit between the agent and the and the world that is different from previous circuits” (Shatzer). You can do this with something as simple as a stick. Your brain as a result can better distinguish between “near-space” and “far-space.”
Shatzer introduces a crucial distinction here: body image and body schema. A body image is a conscious construct that informs thought and reasoning about the body” (76). A schema is a suite of neural activity as a response to new technology.
Meeting Your Mind Clone
Goertzel: extend technology into the domain of consciousness (“Artificial General Intelligence and the Future of Humanity,” 128). We have always prized our consciousness as something that is “inner” to us. Futurists such as Yuval Harari are quite candid that view is on the way out. But is it really possible to create the type of artificial intelligence that will react to new scenarios in a way different from typical computer programming? Yes, but it will be what you think. It will start out as some sort of network or interface between human brains and artificial intelligences (Shatzer 94).
The goal isn’t simply to change human brains. It is to create a global brain or intelligence. According to Shatzer, “This idea stems from the observation that the various minds on the earth are gradually becoming more connected into a greater mind” (94). This will lead to a mental explosion, which Ray Kurzweil calls “the singularity.”
Uploading Your Mind: Can Brains be Digitized?
Mind uploading: starting with a human mind and ending with a digitized one (98). In a rather surprising move, one of the transhumanists gives a very Christian account of the mind-brain dualism. Our mind is the totality and manner in which our thoughts take place. Our brain is the underlying mechanics (Koene, “Uploading to Substrate-Independent Minds,” 152). In other words, our brains traduce our minds.
The logic is very simple: if our brains and minds are separate, can’t we simply upload our mind to a different brain? This is why Koene says our minds are “substrate-independent.” How, if indeed possible, this plays out is beyond me. What is interesting, though, is that it generates a new vocabulary and grammar:
Mindware:
Mindfile
Mindclone
The main problem with all of this is it reduces the human mind to a function (Shatzer, 105). Functions, moreover, can be measured on a material scale.
Shatzer ends with counter-liturgies, practices that we can do to stop technology’s discipling of us. We aren’t getting rid of technology, which is probably impossible. We are simply limiting the ways it can shape our spirits (and our brains).
Quotes:
“Futurists don’t want a technological future; they want a technosocial one” (Vallor, quoted on 9).
Technology has its own trinity: access, data, and speed (22).
Jetsons Fallacy: humans can remain unchanged with hyper-advanced technology and robots. As Shatzer argues, “Radical technological change will radically shape humans as well” (Shatzer 1). His thesis is a bit deeper, though. Technology can change us at our deepest root, and this includes discipleship as Christians.
He gives a neat illustration: time. We tell time differently than humanity used to. We move backwards from watches to clocks to hourglasses to candles to calendars. “Hours were marked by natural time and days by religious time” (4). If you would have asked a man in 100 AD what time it was, he wouldn’t have said “4:32 PM.” Would he even have known what that was? Here is the kicker: technology changes the way we experience time.
Time also has a public nature. A common time allows people to “synch” with each other. More concretely, it is also embedded in power relations and market relations.
Posthumanism is the futurist’s goal. Transhumanism aims at posthumanism. As one puts it, “We aren’t evolving. We are upgrading” (Peter Novak). You might say, “I don’t plan on becoming a robot.” That’s good, and you probably won’t. However, technology disciples us.
Observations:
“Each tool pushes us toward the goal that the tool is best made for” (7). We say “when you are a hammer, everything is a nail.” What about if you are a smartphone? Everything is a status update. All of this is to say that technologies have the power to shape. This is what Heidegger called “gestell,” or en-framing.
Technology and Moral Formation
Binocularity: the way we shape our tools and the way they shape us (18). Take Google, for instance. Shatzer points out that “studies are beginning to show that our technology is changing us on a neurological level: our brains are changing” (19; cf. Greenfield, Mind Change). As Mary Aiken notes, technologies always come into contact with predispositions and behaviors: they amplify and escalate (Aitken, Cyber Effect, 22).
What is Transhumanism?
Definition: transhumanism seeks “to improve human intelligence, physical strength, and the five senses by technological means” (Michael Plato, “The Immortality Machine”). Posthumanism is the product. Transhumanism is the highway (Shatzer 41). Posthumanism seeks to get beyond the limits of being human.
My Body, My Choice: Morphological Freedom
We need to make a distinction between therapy and enhancement. Wearing glasses to fix eyesight is not the same thing as enhancement. I am fixing a defect. Enhancement is when I augment my body to escape the limits of being human. Futurists argue that this is a basic right along the following lines:
They begin by saying we have a right to life and right to happiness (Sandberg, “Morphological Freedom,” 56ff).
From this follows the right to freedom. Because I have to survive, I have to act freely in my own interest. And since different people have different conceptions of happiness, I get to do what I want.
This means I have a right to my own body. This means I get to augment it.
The futurists throw a bone to those who might not be on board: not everyone has to accept this right.
The Hybronaut
Augmented reality: it is the overlaying graphics on the real world (Platoni, We Have the Technology, 204). Shatzer points out that we don’t simply act on tools: our consciousness reacts to tools as well (Shatzer 75). “Human minds and bodies are essentially open to episodes of deep and transformative restructuring” (Platoni). This is similar to what the German philosopher and mathematician Edmund Husserl called “overlapping consciousness.”
How so? When we use a new device, we create an interface between our minds and neural activities and the device. It “creates a circuit between the agent and the and the world that is different from previous circuits” (Shatzer). You can do this with something as simple as a stick. Your brain as a result can better distinguish between “near-space” and “far-space.”
Shatzer introduces a crucial distinction here: body image and body schema. A body image is a conscious construct that informs thought and reasoning about the body” (76). A schema is a suite of neural activity as a response to new technology.
Meeting Your Mind Clone
Goertzel: extend technology into the domain of consciousness (“Artificial General Intelligence and the Future of Humanity,” 128). We have always prized our consciousness as something that is “inner” to us. Futurists such as Yuval Harari are quite candid that view is on the way out. But is it really possible to create the type of artificial intelligence that will react to new scenarios in a way different from typical computer programming? Yes, but it will be what you think. It will start out as some sort of network or interface between human brains and artificial intelligences (Shatzer 94).
The goal isn’t simply to change human brains. It is to create a global brain or intelligence. According to Shatzer, “This idea stems from the observation that the various minds on the earth are gradually becoming more connected into a greater mind” (94). This will lead to a mental explosion, which Ray Kurzweil calls “the singularity.”
Uploading Your Mind: Can Brains be Digitized?
Mind uploading: starting with a human mind and ending with a digitized one (98). In a rather surprising move, one of the transhumanists gives a very Christian account of the mind-brain dualism. Our mind is the totality and manner in which our thoughts take place. Our brain is the underlying mechanics (Koene, “Uploading to Substrate-Independent Minds,” 152). In other words, our brains traduce our minds.
The logic is very simple: if our brains and minds are separate, can’t we simply upload our mind to a different brain? This is why Koene says our minds are “substrate-independent.” How, if indeed possible, this plays out is beyond me. What is interesting, though, is that it generates a new vocabulary and grammar:
Mindware:
Mindfile
Mindclone
The main problem with all of this is it reduces the human mind to a function (Shatzer, 105). Functions, moreover, can be measured on a material scale.
Shatzer ends with counter-liturgies, practices that we can do to stop technology’s discipling of us. We aren’t getting rid of technology, which is probably impossible. We are simply limiting the ways it can shape our spirits (and our brains).
Quotes:
“Futurists don’t want a technological future; they want a technosocial one” (Vallor, quoted on 9).
Technology has its own trinity: access, data, and speed (22).
March 16, 2021
This book has some good things to say, but is mired down by a very limited view of technology-- or probably more generally, humanity's relationship with the Universe. As soon as the author cited James K. A. Smith's thoughts on iPhones I facepalmed hard. Expounding on how 2020-era VR limits spiritual engagement and therefore discipleship doesn't scale to 2200-era VR that will be indistinguishable from reality. Digging deep into how modern robots can't love doesn't cope with rapidly approaching general artificial intelligence that breezes through the Turing test. The book didn't even age well from 2018 to 2020, when people around the planet joined in worship over Zoom. The author seems to entirely miss the reality of the situation.
July 13, 2024
A good intro to the podcast idea of transhumanism and some Christian responses to it.
September 12, 2024
This is a helpful book that highlights how uncritical use of technology shapes us through liturgies of control. I appreciated the biblical practices and images which Shatzer commended for resisting the temptations present in technology.
June 12, 2021
It is a good thing that Christians are publicly thinking through issues of transhumanism and trying to figure out what it means for us as disciples. And we should be encouraged that a major evangelical publisher like IVP is willing to put such a book out.
That said, Shatzer's book was a mixed bag for me.
The good:
Above all, Shatzer does a good job of summarizing transhumanist concerns and grappling with their underlying philosophical content. This gives the reader the freedom to appreciate the principles he draws out while at the same time disagreeing, as I did, with some of his specifics. What I mean is that there is plenty in transhumanist thinking for Christians to reject, but we will be more fraught when we apply Christian discipleship to individual technologies that arise.
The church needs to keep its eye on the horizon. Within the next decade (if not sooner) we will be dealing with things like live, accessible sex robots. Further out, well past my lifetime, we will be dealing with much more when it comes to AI and biological technologies. Adult Christians may be tempted to think that because they will not have to deal with some of these things personally, that we don't need to contemplate them. This is a serious mistake. As we set an example for young believers, we have to work to help form them into disciples that are ready to meet these challenges head-on. A book like Schatzer's works as a solid starting point for thinking ahead.
Schatzer, taking cues from Neil Postman, also does a good job of laying out for Christians the notion that technology is not neutral and that it shapes us as we adopt various technologies.
The bad:
When Schatzer tries to apply his thinking to modern technology, his examples are sloppy and his solutions are anemic.
It is common for cultural critics to be very good at pointing out errors or areas for concern, but then failing to offer much in the way of solutions. Schatzer is in line with the tradition in this respect, but I was disappointed nonetheless. It is unconscionable to write a book that warns of dire changes and consequences ahead and then offers as a solution taking communion and doing potlucks. Both things are obviously good, but taking communion once a week will not protect you against the encroachment of transhumanism on society. It will not prevent us from thoughtlessly adopting technologies that we should reject.
The biggest issue for me was that Schatzer's practical examples were not fleshed out. He suggests that we are being primed for AI because kids get attached to their Tamagotchi keychains. But he doesn't really develop to attempt to analyze the phenomenon in any serious way; he just tells a story about a little girl who buries her Tamagotchi's in her dresser and then asserts that we are being primed. Well, I stepped on my son's perfectly lifeless Bakugan toy a while back and he wrote a whole song commemorating its death by dad crushing. Kids do this kind of thing. Elsewhere Schatzer asserts that we are being primed for AI by Roomba vacuums. But, again, he never really fleshes this out and as a result he doesn't seem to spot the fact that a Roomba isn't really much different from a dishwasher.
Perhaps the most egregious example occurs in his chapter on mind uploading and consciousness transfer. Schatzer foresees these as major problems for Christians. But he doesn't bother to probe the question of whether it is even possible to upload your mind. He doesn't engage seriously with philosophies of consciousness.
In other words, a lot of pearl clutching, but he doesn't justify his concerns as well as he ought. Given that the book is only 180 pages, he could have easily expanded on various points and firmed up his examples a bit.
That said, Shatzer's book was a mixed bag for me.
The good:
Above all, Shatzer does a good job of summarizing transhumanist concerns and grappling with their underlying philosophical content. This gives the reader the freedom to appreciate the principles he draws out while at the same time disagreeing, as I did, with some of his specifics. What I mean is that there is plenty in transhumanist thinking for Christians to reject, but we will be more fraught when we apply Christian discipleship to individual technologies that arise.
The church needs to keep its eye on the horizon. Within the next decade (if not sooner) we will be dealing with things like live, accessible sex robots. Further out, well past my lifetime, we will be dealing with much more when it comes to AI and biological technologies. Adult Christians may be tempted to think that because they will not have to deal with some of these things personally, that we don't need to contemplate them. This is a serious mistake. As we set an example for young believers, we have to work to help form them into disciples that are ready to meet these challenges head-on. A book like Schatzer's works as a solid starting point for thinking ahead.
Schatzer, taking cues from Neil Postman, also does a good job of laying out for Christians the notion that technology is not neutral and that it shapes us as we adopt various technologies.
The bad:
When Schatzer tries to apply his thinking to modern technology, his examples are sloppy and his solutions are anemic.
It is common for cultural critics to be very good at pointing out errors or areas for concern, but then failing to offer much in the way of solutions. Schatzer is in line with the tradition in this respect, but I was disappointed nonetheless. It is unconscionable to write a book that warns of dire changes and consequences ahead and then offers as a solution taking communion and doing potlucks. Both things are obviously good, but taking communion once a week will not protect you against the encroachment of transhumanism on society. It will not prevent us from thoughtlessly adopting technologies that we should reject.
The biggest issue for me was that Schatzer's practical examples were not fleshed out. He suggests that we are being primed for AI because kids get attached to their Tamagotchi keychains. But he doesn't really develop to attempt to analyze the phenomenon in any serious way; he just tells a story about a little girl who buries her Tamagotchi's in her dresser and then asserts that we are being primed. Well, I stepped on my son's perfectly lifeless Bakugan toy a while back and he wrote a whole song commemorating its death by dad crushing. Kids do this kind of thing. Elsewhere Schatzer asserts that we are being primed for AI by Roomba vacuums. But, again, he never really fleshes this out and as a result he doesn't seem to spot the fact that a Roomba isn't really much different from a dishwasher.
Perhaps the most egregious example occurs in his chapter on mind uploading and consciousness transfer. Schatzer foresees these as major problems for Christians. But he doesn't bother to probe the question of whether it is even possible to upload your mind. He doesn't engage seriously with philosophies of consciousness.
In other words, a lot of pearl clutching, but he doesn't justify his concerns as well as he ought. Given that the book is only 180 pages, he could have easily expanded on various points and firmed up his examples a bit.
December 23, 2022
Shatzer provides a great introduction and survey of transhumanism through the lens of the christian worldview. I have two main critiques: (1) I am not sure if Shatzer clarifies enough how the Christian perception of what it means to be human is likewise dynamic (that is our identity is not strictly static), he critiques transhumanism at several points for viewing humanity as changeable — but we are! I think Shatzer would admit this and I am simply being a bit nit-picky. Perhaps, I glazed over an important paragraph where he clarifies on this point. (2) Shatzer routinely appeals to the "liturgy of control" as the overarching lens through which he critiques transhumanism. A powerful lens, which certainly has an appeal (I likewise am fond of Smith), but by the end of the book it felt like this hand had been overplayed and would have benefited from critiquing trans-humanism from another angle. It began to feel a little like Jamie Smith's work in that respect (i.e. the answer to everything is "liturgy").
Overall, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It made me question my own habits and how I am likewise being dragooned into a transhumanist vision of the world. I commend this book to any Christian — it's written at a popular level — especially those interested in thinking through the impact of technology on the world, and especially its impact on "being" human. Finally, the frequent appearances of Neil Postman made me smile.
Overall, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It made me question my own habits and how I am likewise being dragooned into a transhumanist vision of the world. I commend this book to any Christian — it's written at a popular level — especially those interested in thinking through the impact of technology on the world, and especially its impact on "being" human. Finally, the frequent appearances of Neil Postman made me smile.
October 20, 2023
This book is really showing it’s age. Only 4 years old and we have already seen strong development in AI, IoT, an VR. While this may have been groundbreaking in the past, what Shatzer really offers the current readers is a brief survey of the technology most of us are widely familiar with and very little theology on “what it means to be human”, in light of technology or otherwise.
What I expected was a Christian view of essentialism with some grounding in Genesis and a brief discussion on the Imago Dei, building on how this interacts with a ‘Ship of Theseus’ view of the posthuman and how this interacts with the Imago. We receive none of this. Instead, we are given a survey of AI, VR, social media, and cybernetics as they were in 2019, pre pandemic. This survey is interwoven with a criticism of the underlying philosophy of transhumanism and posthumanisn, which are the interesting side-dish to why we are actually here. What Shatzer finishes with is a conclusion that we should share a meal with each other as Christ did with the apostles. Yes, but not what we came for.
Overall, the content of the book has aged and I think the casual enthusiast, or a newcomer to the discussions on AI and humanity would learn something. Anyone who has been in and around these ideas, whether academically, or via Sci-Fi from William Gibson, will be very familiar if the ideas and perhaps better off exploring something else.
What I expected was a Christian view of essentialism with some grounding in Genesis and a brief discussion on the Imago Dei, building on how this interacts with a ‘Ship of Theseus’ view of the posthuman and how this interacts with the Imago. We receive none of this. Instead, we are given a survey of AI, VR, social media, and cybernetics as they were in 2019, pre pandemic. This survey is interwoven with a criticism of the underlying philosophy of transhumanism and posthumanisn, which are the interesting side-dish to why we are actually here. What Shatzer finishes with is a conclusion that we should share a meal with each other as Christ did with the apostles. Yes, but not what we came for.
Overall, the content of the book has aged and I think the casual enthusiast, or a newcomer to the discussions on AI and humanity would learn something. Anyone who has been in and around these ideas, whether academically, or via Sci-Fi from William Gibson, will be very familiar if the ideas and perhaps better off exploring something else.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2022
Transhumanism and the Image of God is a concise, highly readable book with plenty of references to potential further reading. Mr. Shatzer makes thoughtful, well reasoned arguments and avoids outright dismissal of the viewpoints and technologies that he disagrees with.
Although the focus is on transhumanism, many of Mr. Shatzer’s arguments are about digital technologies in general. His references to the work of Sherry Turkle, Neil Postman, and Nicholas Carr, for example, take the reader more in that direction. I would also like to have seen more direct responses to the writings of Ray Kurzweil, among others.
When we first exchanged messages about transhumanism because I was editing a book that deals with it at some length my son Andy Walsh mentioned that the technology that enabled humans to eat cooked food (fire) resulted in an improvement of humans’ brains. This might be considered transhumanism. So everything that might fall under the umbrella of transhumanism might not be evil by itself. Still, we need to think carefully, even prayerfully, about the effects that we are allowing technologies to have on our humanity.
Transhumanism and the Image of God is a good introduction to the subject and a good start at a thoughtful Christian response.
Although the focus is on transhumanism, many of Mr. Shatzer’s arguments are about digital technologies in general. His references to the work of Sherry Turkle, Neil Postman, and Nicholas Carr, for example, take the reader more in that direction. I would also like to have seen more direct responses to the writings of Ray Kurzweil, among others.
When we first exchanged messages about transhumanism because I was editing a book that deals with it at some length my son Andy Walsh mentioned that the technology that enabled humans to eat cooked food (fire) resulted in an improvement of humans’ brains. This might be considered transhumanism. So everything that might fall under the umbrella of transhumanism might not be evil by itself. Still, we need to think carefully, even prayerfully, about the effects that we are allowing technologies to have on our humanity.
Transhumanism and the Image of God is a good introduction to the subject and a good start at a thoughtful Christian response.
May 30, 2020
I really liked this book. It's my 9th book of the year and first nonfiction book--but Transhumanism can seem like science fiction to most. Shatzer does a good job describing transhumanism, its agenda, and its distinction from posthumanism. And while uploading one's mind to the cloud is still a ways away (cloning/copying one's mind is a more immediately attainable goal), Shatzer then breaks down how our daily practices (virtual reality, social media, internet usage, etc) are already shaping us to more readily accept Transhumanism and its next big leaps. Each chapter is concise (~12 pages) but full of extremely valuable information. Throughout the book, he challenges particular aspects of Transhumanism and the liturgies of control it promotes against the backdrop of grounding oneself in Christ. Throughout the book, and especially in the last chapter, Shatzer gives practical advice for taking steps to find our identity and flourishing in Christ and push back on the individualistic messages of control and constant improvement reinforced through Transhumanistic practices. It's a good read.
December 30, 2019
This book may be one of the most important books I've read this year. While it doesn't address the scientific details within the transhumanism movement, it provides a concise, accessible, and well-researched analysis of the underlying philosophical principles of transhumanism. Furthermore, Shatzer provides an insightful yet concerning look into how technology shapes us both as individuals and as a larger community of people. If you're looking to better understand how to approach technological developments in light of the Christian faith, this book is a must read.
December 31, 2024
To be honest . . . I only read about 3/4 of the book. I had problems getting into the book. Once in it I found it fascinating. Till about 3/4 of the way in I lost interest. I must say I learned a lot. Mostly that the transhumanist agenda is pervasive in our society and world. Much more than I thought. As a follower of Jesus I would say this book is definitely worth reading.
May 26, 2019
I thought I would dislike this but was happily wrong. He writes very well and doesn’t get to far into the weeds. If I were to read it again, I would read the introduction and then the conclusion first. This would hep me read the core more effectively, marking things better.
September 4, 2025
Three stars only because I read it in 2025 not 2019–now this book could be labeled “outdated.” No fault of the author. I just read it when much of what is mentioned is already happening or been surpassed.
February 19, 2021
3.5. Helpful insights on how technology and social media are changing relationships and self.
February 28, 2024
Some really strong work here, but drifted into grumpiness with a lack of critical reflection. Particularly uncritical around the Transhumanists Manifesto and their imbibing of meaning into devices.
April 15, 2025
Amazing, thought-provoking, convicting. Transhumanism is here.
September 18, 2024
Being an aspiring sci-fi author with only a vague understanding of transhumanism, I decided to change that. This was an excellent introduction! Especially for a Christian.
Shatzer does a great job outlining transhumanism: what it is, what its pitfalls and consequences are, and why Christianity is innately opposed to it. The introduction alone was impactful enough to change my entire perspective on technology and how I use it.
Especially interesting was the central premise: technology is never neutral - it molds us into a particular image. And as you can imagine, the results aren't pretty. Smartphone addiction. Artificial reality. Changing notions of self. Even spurning your flesh-and-blood grandchild in favor of a robot companion (no joke, this was a real test conducted on the elderly).
Another fascinating takeaway was how transhumanism, at its core, is a worldview. Perhaps even a religion. It may seem far fetched to say that, but when you have passionate statements from leading transhumanists heralding the Singularity and other phenomena as the salvation of mankind, it's increasingly hard to deny. Transhumanism appears to have both a soteriology (plan of salvation), and an eschatology (understanding of the end times). Seems to me like atheism is finally breaking and turning into the very thing that it claimed to jettison. Read this book and decide for yourself!
This book piqued my interest. I'll definitely be reading more on transhumanism.
Shatzer does a great job outlining transhumanism: what it is, what its pitfalls and consequences are, and why Christianity is innately opposed to it. The introduction alone was impactful enough to change my entire perspective on technology and how I use it.
Especially interesting was the central premise: technology is never neutral - it molds us into a particular image. And as you can imagine, the results aren't pretty. Smartphone addiction. Artificial reality. Changing notions of self. Even spurning your flesh-and-blood grandchild in favor of a robot companion (no joke, this was a real test conducted on the elderly).
Another fascinating takeaway was how transhumanism, at its core, is a worldview. Perhaps even a religion. It may seem far fetched to say that, but when you have passionate statements from leading transhumanists heralding the Singularity and other phenomena as the salvation of mankind, it's increasingly hard to deny. Transhumanism appears to have both a soteriology (plan of salvation), and an eschatology (understanding of the end times). Seems to me like atheism is finally breaking and turning into the very thing that it claimed to jettison. Read this book and decide for yourself!
This book piqued my interest. I'll definitely be reading more on transhumanism.
August 9, 2019
An excellent primer on Transhumanism and its discontents for the Christian: Calm and comprehensive, as Philosopher Albert Borgmann says on the front cover.
Shatzer describes the ideology and motivations well, recognising ever ancient desires for control and immortality. He speaks of 'a liturgy of control' and provides plenty of components of this liturgy.
Before offering the Christian liturgy of The Table as the means of reformation. This is good, practical and revolutionary advice that also never gets old or goes out of style.
Shatzer describes the ideology and motivations well, recognising ever ancient desires for control and immortality. He speaks of 'a liturgy of control' and provides plenty of components of this liturgy.
Before offering the Christian liturgy of The Table as the means of reformation. This is good, practical and revolutionary advice that also never gets old or goes out of style.
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