Transhumanism - Engineering the Human Condition: History, Philosophy and Current Status

by Roberto Manzocco

This book is designed to offer a comprehensive high-level introduction to transhumanism, an international political and cultural movement that aims to produce a “paradigm shift” in our ethical and political understanding of human evolution. Transhumanist thinkers want the human species to take the course of evolution into its own hands, using advanced technologies currently under development – such as robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cognitive neurosciences, and nanotechnology – to overcome our present physical and mental limitations, improve our intelligence beyond the current maximum achievable level, acquire skills that are currently the preserve of other species, abolish involuntary aging and death, and ultimately achieve a post-human level of existence. The book covers transhumanism from a historical, philosophical, and scientific viewpoint, tracing its cultural roots, discussing the main philosophical, epistemological, and ethical issues, and reviewing the state of the art in scientific research on the topics of most interest to transhumanists. The writing style is clear and accessible for the general reader, but the book will also appeal to graduate and undergraduate students.

318 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 11, 2019

Reviews

[Stu Napier · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content is broad but I couldn't gel with the writing. For a topic which is so heavily theoretical, I was confused as to the author's choice to write in a style which wouldn't be out of place in a local newspaper opinion column. There's better books on the topic out there, but if you're just getting started with it then this book would probably suffice.

[Gonçalo Gato · Rating 2 out of 5]

Infelizmente, este livro dececionou-me pela falta de estrutura e ligação entre capítulos. Várias mudanças de apresentação de factos. Há capítulos super detalhados e outros completamente menosprezados. Existem ideias bastante interessantes que foram simplesmente depositadas na obra sem haver o cuidado de explorar determinados pontos. Enaltece-se a opinião de fanáticos que têm uma visão completamente distorcida da realidade.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Comprehensive presentation of transhumanism by themes. The historical aspect is satisfactory as an introduction. The philosophical, however, is almost completely overlooked. While not adopting a partisan voice, the author is definitely a transhumanist willing to gently go around weakly justified and even insane ideas, while framing it as positive 'imaginative' vitality of the movement.

This might be an useful book for someone seeking to be exposed to the almost full extent of transhumanism topics and interests, from which you can take many references and key-words for further research, but is far from a scholarly book.

[Dominic Geraghty]

Very useful summary of the elements comprising the transhumanism movement. Adds intrigue to the the possibility of connecting AI and natural intelligence, and supports Kurzweil's Singulariry hypothesis.