Humanity is dead. And we have killed them.

Post-humanism offers an interesting, though frightening, perspective on humanity. Post-humanist concepts are often associated with science, technology, and the future of the human race.  The rate of technological advancement is accelerating, and the increasing symbiosis between human and machine has led many to speculate on the effects of such relationship. Artificially intelligent systems, like IBM's Watson and Google's Alpha Go, have sparked our interest of the mythical "Singularity" event while whistle-blowers, like Edward Snowden, remind us that "Big-Brother" is already watching. It seems rational to fear the capabilities of technology. One day technology may offer us a cure to cancer and the next day it may offer us weapons of mass destruction. Though it seems that post-humanism focuses on technology and its effects on humanity, I believe post-humanism describes a darker existential implication that is in direct conflict with societies' modern values and ideals.

http://watson2016.com/_images/watson_on_jeopardy.jpg

Modern western society is founded upon the products of the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Values from religious tradition have had an influence on modern society, but science has allowed society to transition to more secular principles and philosophies. Friedrich Nietzsche in his book, The Gay Science, famously said, "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.", meaning he felt that religious ideals were no longer a credible source of moral judgment. A void was created by secular ideas which allowed man to dethrone it's creator and become the apex of existence. Our modern values are based on this humanist philosophy. Current ethical and philosophical views are dependent on the intrinsic value and agency of human beings.

 


  






                                                                                                              https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Descent_of_the_Modernists,_E._J._Pace,_Christian_Cartoons,_1922.jpg/250px-Descent_of_the_Modernists,_E._J._Pace,_Christian_Cartoons,_1922.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/35/cf/9a/35cf9a125205a2d57ce0a9694b65aa87.jpg

Post-humanist ideas are in direct conflict with the foundations of modern society because post-humanism rejects the uniqueness and sanctity of humanity. The post-humanist rejects the humanist's claim on man's nature specifically that human's are autonomous, rational and capable of freewill. What would happen if this assumption is proven false, in other words, what would happen if humans are not free agents? Neuroscientist, Sam Harris, makes a strong argument against the existence of freewill, and he himself acknowledges the dangerous implications of such idea. The argument entails a deterministic view of reality where everything from your genetic code to the events in your early childhood influences every decision you make, even those which appear to be free. According to Harris, all decisions are based on processes in the brain and a person's decision could be predicted by analyzing their brain's activity.

If we are all prone to certain behavior patterns based on circumstances completely outside of our control, are we really responsible for our actions? Is a violent criminal responsible for his actions? Are we any different from an animal acting on instinct, or worse, are we any different from a machine running a program? If we are capable of programming machines with intelligence on par with our own, it would imply that our own intelligence functions in a similar way or that our intelligence is not as special as we believe. Without the idea of freewill, concepts like justice and fairness hold no value. Social contracts will not be valid as they are dependent on the free-choice of individuals. The foundations of our society would be ripped out completely.

Post-humanism's monstrous idea is not of artificial intelligence taking over the world, but the possibility that we are deterministic machines ourselves. Maybe our freewill is an illusion and, in reality, we have no control over our lives. Maybe we are not special, and an intelligence greater than ours is on the horizon. Maybe humanist ideals are no longer a credible source of moral judgment.

"How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?" — Nietzsche, The Gay Science

http://www.troll.me/images/conspiracy-keanu/

what-if-im-the-only-human-and-everyone-else-are-just-robots-thumb.jpg