I am working on a book on human enhancement through technology. It covers various technologies, including drugs for cognitive enhancement or strategies to extend the human lifespan. The core question for me is theological: what do these technologies mean in light of the classic Christian hope that our lives are to be transformed in Christ?
Part of the book deals with transhumanism, which is a movement that promotes the use of these technologies to enhance human capacities. Today I was looking especially at the antecedents of transhumanism. The word "transhuman"--considering all its cognates in Latin--seems to originate in Dante's Divine Comedy, Paradiso, I.70 (more on that in a later post). What's really interesting is that if we include the Greek equivalent--hyperanthropos--the earliest uses go all the way back to about 150CE.
I ran across an interesting article by Paul Monaghan, who writes about aesthetics and theater. Here's an extended quote from an article by Monaghan:
"I want to introduce another term here, the hyperanthropos or ‘more-than-man’. The first known use of the word itself is in a comic dialogue called Kataplous (chapter 16) by Lucian of Samosata in the second century A.D., in connection with Prometheus, the Titan god who taught mankind how to live independently of the gods by giving them fire, and who is strongly associated with Ananke and suffering in human life. But I am using the term hyperanthropos as a useful shorthand for a concept that had appeared in one form or the other from Homer and Hesiod onwards, was dominant in Greek culture, and has continued to play an important role in Western metaphysics. The hyperanthropos was, and is, either part man, part god (for example, the Homeric Heroes), or a man who is raised well above ordinary men by reason of his intellect (philosophers), physical abilities (athletes), or the great benefits he provides mankind (such as Prometheus). The protagonist in Greek tragedy was a hyperanthropos who had been ‘separated out’ from the Chorus, and whose actions had enormous ramifications for that community of ordinary (often very ordinary) men and women. Socrates himself was seen as a protagonist and hyperanthropos by Plato, and Plato has been regarded as such throughout the centuries, along with the ancient Greeks in general."
But what Monaghan doesn't say is that around the same time, a charismatic Christian named Montanus, later regarded as a heretic for (among other things) recognizing the leadership of women, used the same word--hyperanthropos--to describe ordinary believers.
Transhumanists themselves tend to credit Julian Huxley with creating the word "transhumanism." The fact that it goes back not just to Dante but to Lucian of Samosata and to the early Christian Montanus is more than just a correction. It show that the hope for human enhancement is intertwined with--even rooted in--the longing for a more profound transformation. Transhumanists like to associate their vision of human transformation with Prometheus but not with Christ.
