Transhumanism and the Body The World Religions Speak
This collection of original articles, a sequel of sorts to the 2009 Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension (Palgrave Macmillan), is the first sustained reflection, by scholars with expertise in the faith traditions, on how the transhumani
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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND ITS SUCCESSORS
The fast-developing array of human enhancement therapies and technologies are increasingly impacting our lives and our future. Human enhancement is done using a variety of emerging technologies, such as genetic engineering, information technology, regenerative medicine, robotics, and nanotechnology. The convergence of these technologies may provide for significant enhancement of human mental and physical abilities deemed desirable and the amelioration of aspects of the human condition regarded as undesirable. The most ardent advocates believe that some of these developments could permit humans to take control of their own evolution and alter human nature and the human condition in fundamental ways, perhaps to an extent that we arrive at the “posthuman,” the “successors” of humanity. It is prudent to carefully consider economic, ethical, legal, political, psychological, religious, social, and other implications of these enhancement possibilities. This series is designed to forward these much-needed conversations among academics, public policy experts, and the general public. The series will include titles addressing the topic from humanistic and social science perspectives, two areas that are strengths of Palgrave Macmillan. Sharp disagreements over the social value, morality, and feasibility of human enhancements and future scenarios for life on our planet have emerged. While individual authors in the series will inevitably argue their case, the series as a whole will not take an advocacy position. Rather, it will provide a forum for experts to wrestle with the far-reaching implications of the enhancement technologies. Transhumanism and the Body: The World Religions Speak Edited by Calvin Mercer and Derek F. Maher
10.1057/9781137342768 - Transhumanism and the Body, Edited by Calvin Mercer and Derek F. Maher
Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Sydney - PalgraveConnect - 2016-01-08
Series Editors: Steve Fuller and Calvin Mercer
10.1057/9781137342768 - Transhumanism and the Body, Edited by Calvin Mercer and Derek F. Maher
Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Sydney - PalgraveConnect - 2016-01-08
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Steve Fuller and Calvin Mercer
Very few will doubt that humanity is at a crossroads in its history. Never have so many humans inhabited so much of the planet, precariously poised between mastery and extinction. To be sure, we have been here before. The population explosion that coincided with the nuclear arms race in the second half of the twentieth century forced humanity to countenance at once the prospect of one ideological world order, a resourcestripped planet, and “mutually assured destruction.” However, an important difference between those heady Cold War days and our own times is the room for maneuver. We see ourselves—rightly or wrongly—as having many more options available to us to deal with the future, however apocalyptic we might
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