John Templeton Foundation :: Milestones [November 2006]

“Welcome to the Anthropocene,” read a 2003 editorial in the journal Nature. Since the late 18th century humans have engaged in large-scale environmental engineering and scientists are beginning to accept that Earth has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which humans rival nature in environmental impact.

We may also be about to embark upon large-scale genetic and neurological engineering of ourselves. This new chapter in evolution is the result of accelerating developments in the fields of genomics, stem-cell research, genetic enhancement, germ-line engineering, neuro-pharmacology, artificial intelligence, robotics, pattern recognition technologies, and nanotechnology. These developments necessarily raise profound questions at the intersection of science and religion about what it means to be human and whether and how we should seek to protect our humanity.

In his book Life, liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenges of Bioethics, University of Chicago bioethicist Leon Kass warns: “Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenics and neurophysic ‘enhancement’, for wholesale redesign…For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come to pay attention”

In the name of enhancing our humanity, advocates in favor of this biotech future unite around the term “transhumanism”. Visionaries such as Raymond Kurzweil at Carnegie Mellon University, Marvin Minsky at MIT, and Lee Silver of Princeton University promote the agenda. They present Transhumanism as both a desirable goal and a techno-historical necessity.

Oxford University professor Nick Bostrum heads up the World Transhumanism Association —www.transhumanism.org—and has authored its manifesto, which declares in part 1, “…We foresee the feasibility of redesigning the human condition, including such parameters as the inevitability of aging, limitations on human and artificial intellects, unchosen psychology, suffering, and our confinement to the planet earth.”

“Many people, especially those committed to a religious outlook, intuitively recoil from the transhuman vision and find within that vision an affront to human dignity,” notes project director Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, a professor of history and member of the Arizona State University Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. “It is precisely the belief that humans are created by God in the image of God that leads many people —including religious scientists— to resist the transhuman vision as a new hubris that will destroy humanity by ‘redefining’ it, and further endanger life on our vulnerable planet. Those who advocate transhumanism promote a utopian vision rooted in a host of unstated assumptions about the meaning of being human. To face the challenges of transhumanism with appropriate depth, an interdisciplinary approach is urgent.”

“Facing the Challenges of Transhumanism” is the focus of the 2006 Templeton Research Lecture project at Arizona State University under the leadership of Dr. Tirosh-Samuelson and a distinguished interdisciplinary committee of ASU faculty. This Templeton Lecture series will examine and evaluate the claims of transhumanism through public lectures, symposia, conferences and an interdisciplinary faculty seminar over a four-year period. What is important about the ASU approach to the debate is the sustained effort of a diverse group of scholars to consider the scientific and technological challenges, the philosophical questions, the social and legal issues, the environmental impact, and the religious implications.

“The transhumanist vision reflects the interests, life-style, and political preferences of affluent, secular, Caucasian males in Western post-industrial societies,” notes Dr. Norbert Samuelson, professor of religious studies at ASU.

Samuelson went on to explain: “In the tradition of Aristotle, the telos of human existence is the attainment of happiness, but happiness for transhumanism consists primarily in seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. The secular-utilitarian ethics that supports transhumanism emphasizes individual autonomy, so that the ultimate guiding principle behind all moral decisions is individual rights.

“The moral values of transhumanism stand in sharp contrast to the traditional values of western religious faiths. To the extent that scientists think about philosophical question at all, they tend to assume that this Stoic view of pleasure and pain is both the foundation upon which science develops and the proper consequences of what science teaches.”

Proponents argue that transhumanism is simply the logical extension of everyman’s natural tendency to want the best possible life for himself and posterity. Transhumanism offers the possibility of overcoming pain and suffering, enhancing human mental and physical capacities, extending human life, perhaps even conquering the necessity of individual degeneration and death.

In the ancient Greek theater, Sophocles’ chorus boasted of our amazing human prowess: “Numberless wonders, terrible wonders walk the world but none the match for man…ready, resourceful man! Never without resources, never an impasse as he marches on the future—only Death, from Death alone he will find no rescue.” In this generation or the next, however, Death too may fall before our amazing human prowess.

As the pace of scientific discovery and innovation accelerates, there is an urgent cultural need to reflect thoughtfully about these epic changes and challenges in a constructive dialogue involving the world’s religious and theological traditions. One of the greatest challenges of our age is to bridge the compartmentalized departments of the modern university, engaging in an integrative dialogue among all of the sciences, humanities, and religious disciplines. This is the goal of the Templeton Research Lectures that provide up to $500,000 over three to four years for interdisciplinary projects at major research universities around the world.

William Grassie is founder and former executive director of the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science and manages the Templeton Research Lectures.

Asking The Big Questions

The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life’s biggest questions, ranging from exploration into the laws of nature and the universe to questions on the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness and creativity.

The public is cordially invited to A Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Alan Turing’s Seminal Paper “On Computable Numbers” at MIT.

Thursday, November 30, 2006
Debate 4:30–5:30 pm “Are we limited to building super-intelligent robotic ‘zombies’ or will it be possible and desirable for us to build conscious, creative, volitional, perhaps even ‘spiritual’ machines?”
David Gelernter vs. Ray Kurzweil, moderated by Rodney Brooks

Lecture 6:15–7:15 pm “The Contributions of Alan Turing to Artificial Intelligence”, B. Jack Copeland

Ray & Maria Stata Center, room 32-123
32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

www.MITpublicevent.org
info@MITpublicevent.org

To subscribe to any of the Foundation’s various free e-mail newsletters, including Milestones, go to our JTF Newsletter Subscriptions page.

What does it mean to be Human?

A Templeton Research Lecture Query

Asking The Big Questions