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TRANSHUMANISM THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS

IDEA

By Francis FukuyamaFor th e last sev eral decades, a strang e l iberation m ovem ent ha s grown w ithin the dev eloped world. Its

crusaders aim m uch higher th an c iv i l r ights cam paigners, feminists, or gay -r ights advocates. They want

nothing less than to l iberate th e hu m an race from its biological constraints. As "tran shum anists" see it ,

hu m ans m ust w rest th eir biological destiny from ev olution's blind process of ran dom v aria tion a nd

adaptation and m ov e to the next stage as a species.

It is tempting to dismiss tran shum an ists as som e sort of odd cult, nothin g m ore than science fiction taken t oo

seriously : Witness their ov er-the-top Web sites and r ecent press releases ("Cy borg Th inkers to Address

Hum anity 's Future," proclaim s one). The plans of som e tra nshum anists to freeze them selv es cry ogenically

in h opes of being r ev iv ed in a future a ge seem only to confirm the m ov ement's place on th e intellectua l

fringe.

But is the fundam ental tenet of transhum anism -- tha t we w ill someday use biotechnology to makeourselv es stronger, sm ar ter, less prone to violence, and longer-liv ed -- really so outlan dish?

Tran shum anism of a sort is implicit in mu ch of the research a genda of contem porar y biom edicine. The new

procedures and techn ologies em ergin g from r esearc h labora tories an d hospitals -- wh ether m ood-alter ing

drugs, substances to boost m uscle mass or selectiv ely erase mem ory , prenata l genetic screening, or g ene

th erapy -- can as easily be used to "enh an ce" th e species as to ease or a m eliora te illness.

Alth ough the ra pid adv ances in biotechnology often leav e us v agu ely u ncomfortable, the intellectua l or

m oral th reat they represent is not alway s easy to identify. Th e hum an r ace, after all , is a pretty sorry mess,

with our stubborn diseases, phy sical l im itations, a nd short l iv es. Th row in hum anity 's jealousies, v iolence,

and constant anx ieties, an d the tran shum anist project begins to look down righ t r easonable. If it w ere

technologically possible, w hy wouldn't w e wa nt t o transcend our cur rent species? The seem ing

reasonableness of the project, par ticularly wh en considered in small in crem ents, is part of its danger.

Society is unlikely to fall suddenly under th e spell of the tra nshum anist worldv iew. But it is very possible

tha t we w ill nibble at biotechnology 's tem pting offerings without realizing th at th ey com e at a frigh tful

moral cost.

The first v ictim of transhu m anism m ight be equa lity . The U.S. Declaration of Independence say s that "all

m en ar e created equa l," an d the m ost serious political fight s in the history of th e United Stat es ha v e been

ov er wh o qua lifies as fully hu m an. Women a nd blacks did not mak e the cut in 1 7 7 6 w hen Th om as Jefferson

penned the declara tion. Slowly and painfully , adv anced societies ha v e realized that sim ply being hu m an

entitles a person to polit ical and legal equa lity . In effect, we ha v e drawn a r ed l ine around th e hum an being

an d said tha t it is sacrosanct.

Underly ing th is idea of the equality of righ ts is the belief that w e all possess a h um an essence tha t dwa rfs

FUKUYAMA P AARHUS UNIVERSITET

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m anifest differences in skin color, beauty , and ev en intell igence. This essence, and th e v iew tha t indiv iduals

therefore ha v e inherent v alue, is at th e heart of polit ical l iberalism . But m odify ing th at essence is the core

of the tra nshum anist project. If we start tr ansform ing ourselves into something superior, wh at r ights will

these enh anced creatu res claim, a nd w ha t righ ts will they possess wh en compared to those left behind? If

som e m ov e ah ead, can a ny one afford not to follow? Th ese questions are tr oubling enough with in rich ,

dev eloped societies. A dd in th e im plica tions for cit izens of the w orld's poorest coun tr ies -- for wh om

biotechn ology 's ma rv els likely will be out of reach -- an d the th reat t o th e idea of equa lity becom es ev en

m ore menacing.

Tran shum anism 's adv ocates think th ey u nderstand what constitutes a good hu m an being, and they a re

ha ppy to leav e behind the l im ited, m ortal, n atur al beings they see around them in fav or of som ething

better. But do they really com prehend ultima te hum an g oods? For all our obvious fau lts, we h um ans ar e

m iracu lously com plex products of a long ev olutionary process -- products w hose wh ole is mu ch m ore th an

th e sum of our par ts. Our good cha ra cteristics are intim ately connected to our bad ones: If we weren 't

violent an d aggr essiv e, we wouldn't be able to defend ourselv es; if we didn't hav e feelings of exclusiv ity , we

wouldn't be loy al to those close to us; if we nev er felt jealousy , we w ould also nev er feel lov e. Ev en our

m ortality play s a crit ical function in a llowing our species as a w hole to surv iv e and adapt (and

tr an shum an ists ar e just about the last gr oup I'd like to see liv e forev er). Modify ing a ny one of our key

char acteristics inev itably entails modifyin g a complex, interlinked package of traits, and w e will nev er be

able to anticipate the u ltima te outcome.

Nobody knows wh at tech nologica l possibilities will em erge for h um an self-m odification. But w e can a lready

see the stirr ings of Prometh ean desires in how w e prescribe drug s to alter t he beha v ior and persona lities ofour chi ldren. The environmental m ov ement has taugh t us hu m il ity and respect for the integrity of

nonhu m an n atur e. We need a similar hu m ility concerning our h um an n atur e. If we do not dev elop it soon,

we m ay unw itt ingly inv ite the transhum anists to deface hum anity with their genetic bul ldozers and

psy chotropic shopping m alls.

Artiklen b lev o prindeligt bragt i tidss kriftet Foreign Policy i septe mb er 2004

Aarhus Univ ersitet

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