By BRIAN CLOWES
(Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. Fo an electronic copy of chapter 24 of The Facts of Life, “Eugenics,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.)
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“There are only two kinds of people in the end: Those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell chose it” — C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce.
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Transhumanism inevitably has profound theological implications. At its core, it rejects the very nature of our humanity, and thus its dignity and nature as God created it in His image and likeness. I refer to the transhumanist movement as the “re-creationist” movement, since it literally strives to eliminate God from the human equation.
As transhumanism promises to eliminate our limitations and bring us closer to perfection and “infinity,” the less we will feel we need God. Transhumanism has revived the atheist Friedrich Nietzsche’s Übermensch, who would rise above the outdated strictures of Christianity and impose his own strictly utilitarian morality on the world. Of course, if we believe that we are perfect, what use do we have for God and His grace?
Moral theologian Fr. Edward Richard says: “Transhumanism has a gnostic element to it. It seems to have a contempt for our humanity as it is ‘confined’ in or limited to the present state of our corporeal existence. Our higher selves are being limited by the capacity of our bodies. There is contempt for the flesh. All of these ideas are characteristic of gnostic and Manichean thought.”
Dignitas Personae warns that “in the attempt to create a new type of human being, one can recognize an ideological element in which man tries to take the place of his Creator.”
Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical Redemptoris Hominis also addresses the threat posed by transhumanism. He wrote: “The development of technology and the development of contemporary civilization which is marked by the ascendancy of technology, demand a proportional development of morals and ethics. For the present, this last development seems unfortunately to be always left behind.”
Transhumanism and the other “trans” movements that preceded it are all manifestations of what we might call a “malignant individuality,” a preoccupation with ourselves to the exclusion of the good of those around us, as well as a complete disregard for the common good of society. This obsession with individuality has spawned such evil and divisive social phenomena as identity politics, where people treat self-fulfillment like a zero-sum game and battle over every little thing to the detriment of all of us.
Of course, we never learn the lesson that the more we are preoccupied by ourselves — or by fighting others — the more we are distracted from what the elitists are doing, and the more easily they can manipulate us.
Transhumanism is the ultimate expression and the fulfillment of the slogan “My body, my choice.”
Transhumanism cannot flourish unless people are legally allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies. Before the transhumanist revolution can succeed, polygamy, legalization of all drugs, voluntary amputations, tax-paid “gender reassignments,” prostitution, surrogate pregnancies, and assisted suicide must all be legalized and freely available.
And, of course, as we move toward the transhumanist utopia, a “sliding scale” system will gradually carry us away from the “outmoded” concept that we are all equal in God’s eyes to a sliding scale rights system. As transhumanist Kyle Munkittrick says, “When African grey parrots, gorillas, and dolphins have the same rights as a human toddler, a transhuman-friendly rights system will be in place.” This inevitably means that transhumanists would rank higher on the scale of “humanity” than mere “fleshists.”
This transhumanist contempt for “stock” humans is already evident. Transhumanist writers often label and stereotype those who disagree with their philosophy just as relentlessly as earlier adherents to the Culture of Death. They simply cannot understand why we Christians cling to our flawed physical and mental human condition.
The great hazard of transhumanism is that it rejects the nature of our humanity and its inherent limitations. As it rejects the nature of man, it also rejects human dignity and reduces people to little more than technological artifacts. It judges us based upon our capabilities and our enhancements, not by what is in our hearts and souls. As always, the Culture of Death can only see with the eyes of the body, not of the soul.
How We Gain Virtue. We develop virtue and character by undergoing trials and by overcoming obstacles and limitations. We are all familiar with the stereotype of the spoiled rich brat who has everything presented to him on a silver platter. What will happen when significant portions of our population have no limitations imposed upon them? Worse yet, what would happen if the entire human race reaches this stage? It is frequently said that absolute power corrupts absolutely. What kind of a world would we have if everyone were corrupted absolutely?
The Christian and transhumanist views of Man contrast violently. St. Paul wrote in his Letter to the Hebrews: “What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet” (Heb. 2:6-8).
Ultimately, all of this is about eternity — but not an eternity on Earth. If we truly believe in salvation, we can say that anyone who would choose to prolong his separation from the Beatific Vision for even one second more than is absolutely necessary is spiritually insane. Jesus Christ, the Measure of all things, always has been and always will be human, like us in all things but sin. He is not “transhuman.” No hyper-technological transhumanist utopia can hope to offer us the joys of Heaven.
Striving for Peace. What do we all crave? Some strive for riches, influence, or fame, but these are all means to the same end. All we really desire is contentment and peace of soul. This is not achieved by having a perfect body, enhanced intelligence, or great longevity. Only faith and family can make us content. Only they will bring us peace.
Wisdom consists, in large part, of living within our limits, whether they are intellectual, physical, or monetary. When we learn to live with what we have, we discover a deep inner contentment that allows us to preserve our soul’s peace in good times and in bad.
Those who struggle incessantly to improve or to change themselves through any of the “trans” movements — transgender, transspecies, transabled, transracial, or transhuman — are changing themselves into something that they fundamentally are not — and so they will never find contentment or peace. Instead of “finding themselves,” as some people like to say, they are losing themselves in a fiction that only goads them on with a desire for more and more change, which can never satisfy them.
How To Resist
A popular poster shows the usual evolutionary progression we are all familiar with, with one twist: The last character in the progression is a robot. The poster reads: “Transhumanism: It’s inevitable.”
Transhumanism is already seeping into our lives. We read about Lance Armstrong and many other athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs. We know about prenatal and preimplantation genetic diagnoses and students taking Ritalin and other drugs to focus themselves during tests. Then, of course, there are plastic surgery, Botox, and prosthetic limbs. Medical technology is growing increasingly sophisticated.
So the question arises as to whether the state should intervene and legislate against certain uses for these technologies. Where can lawmakers draw the line between legitimate and illegitimate uses of technology?
The answer is that they cannot. Evil cannot be controlled, because it is infinitely imaginative at finding a myriad of ways around the law. Only virtue can limit evil, never legislation. Transhumanism cannot be regulated any more than contraception, abortion, euthanasia, or “gay rights” can be. No matter how many laws are enacted, and regardless of how finely they are crafted, evil people will always find a way around them, as we have seen so many times.
Legislatures may be able to ban specific practices, but only a strong understanding of morality will be able to stop transhumanism. Therefore, we must stop it with widespread education, both on a public level and, more important, on a one-to-one level.
As transhumanism becomes more prominent, we can learn lessons from the successes of the Culture of Death in the past. Having found a formula that works, anti-life activists have legalized contraception, abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual “marriage,” and are even now working hard on transgenderism and drug legalization.
Know the differences between therapy and enhancement. Therapy is intended to replace or improve functioning limbs or organs that are damaged or missing. By contrast, enhancements are meant to make us “better than well,” or superior in some way to a “stock” human being.
Be watchful, because evil never sleeps. There is experimentation going on this very minute that would appall us if it were not hidden behind a thick curtain of secrecy.
Be alert to media propaganda pushing transhumanism, warn your children at an appropriate age about transhumanism in video games and movies, and teach yourself and them about this topic. Teach them the faith and the Works of Mercy. Show them that they will be more content in serving others than they ever will be if they just serve themselves.
Fight the “trans” movements that have come before. They are merely the vanguards, the reconnaissance troops for the main objective, which is transhumanism. All of them are nothing more than catering to mental illnesses that will lead to unhappiness and disease for those who practice them. If we can stop or isolate transgenderism, trans-speciesism, trans-ablism, and all of the other associated “trans” movements, transhumanism will have a much harder time gaining traction.
As we have seen, the desires embodied in transhumanism are grossly disordered, not only from a religious point of view, but from the scientific standpoint as well.
This being said, we should not just be “against” things. We should learn about and then teach the beauty of humanity as it is, as a vital part of God’s plan, rejecting such elitist and eugenics philosophies. We need to inform others lest they be caught unprepared for this Brave (and enhanced) New World.
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