(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
It was once a human being is written as an introduction to the topic of posthumanism, but the book's loose and open form means that the author does not have to devote too much space to delimitations of it mail humane, av Transhumanism og humanism. Instead, he encounters these tangled and ambiguous concepts through his own life experience and history.
Grue begins his story at the end of the 1990 century, where posthuman techno-dystopias began to become a common phenomenon. The Baroque movie Matrix offered a half-genius and half-naive mix of elements that popularized the resolution of the human in the face of intelligent robots, computer-manipulated illusions, implants and biotechnology. Here, man is no longer at the center of an intelligible world. Posthumanism is a magic mirror in which contemporary people see themselves as something else, something eerie and alien. We are no longer clearly delineated by animals, machines, impersonal systems or demonic forces.
vulnerability.
The encounter with posthumanism becomes a tale of Grue's own attempt to orientate himself. He writes candidly about his own situation as a disabled person and a wheelchair user due to a congenital muscle disease, which he previously described in the award-winning book I live a life similar to theirs (2018). Posthumanism also becomes an opportunity to think about what it means for to be a typical human being – to be different. For Grue, it is not just about otherness, but also a recognition of our physical and spiritual fragility, which is what makes us human. As Grue himself states in the introduction, this is a humanistic book about posthumanism, and it is carried by an ego strong enough to embrace its own weakness. In this way, the high-flying and fantastic perspectives are rooted in a recognizable and down-to-earth experience. At the same time, the text offers a good deal of sarcastic and witty examples.
That the author's own position as a disabled person also brings with it a painful sensitivity to the ideological blindness of the human image is clearly seen in his reading of the euthanasia and eugenics movements in the 20th and 30s. The mere idea of mercy killing by the disabled becomes a historic nightmare that haunts him: a disturbing mixture of sentimental compassion and brutal cold-bloodedness – a morbid and murderous ideal of health. From the dark roots of the early 20th century via a boom under Nazism, the idea of optimizing man has led to a judgment of the suboptimal as unworthy. In the 21st century, this perfectionism may have become less morbid, but the idea of human perfection continues unabated. The notion that just the perfect is good enough is carried on with experimental fantasies, biotechnology, prosthetics and informatics under the name of transhumanism.
Simple answers, clear goals
Grue clearly states that where posthumanism is problematic and multidimensional, transhumanism is characterized by a dogmatic belief in simple answers and clear goals, which he dares to summarize as follows: “We can escape human vulnerability through the redeeming power of technology. Which is laid out: We can stop being human. ”
For example, the high priest of transhumanism, Ray Kurzweil, believes that the first immortal human being may already be born, and sees death as a disease – an evil we are obligated to abolish. As a religion of salvation, this ideology is strangely individualistic, notes Grue; It is not so much a question of creating a better society, but of providing costly methods of omnipotence and life extension to a small group of astonishingly naive and reactionary intellectuals: presented as postulates and imminent targets. ”
If the transhumanists create caricatures of the superhuman, the depiction of the superheroes of popular culture is more marked by the outsiders' unusual flaws and disabilities: they are mutants and freaks. Also the villains often have implants or defects that make them different.
Flaws, illnesses, injuries and disabilities are often not presented realistically, but become symbols of something else, Grue points out: They turn into ideology and caricatures. We expect any flaw to be the starting point for a heroic tale of exceptional self-conquest, as we see with exhibitionist disabled people making careers with motivational talks. The posthumanist is closely associated with an attraction to the exotic; if you use a prosthesis, you are a cyborg! The will to make all deviations spectacular can be an escape from a more ordinary and tolerant humanity that we all long for.
Freakshow
The many extreme and sensational manifestations of posthumanism and transhumanism can easily turn this kind of review into a subcultural freak show, a kind of theoretical B-movie characterized by fanatics, fantasies and fixed ideas. Grue gains a lot in thematizing this particular problem and also avoids cheap ironization. In addition, the presentation is lifted by the book's closing chapters, which deal with a far more subtle posthumanism – as it appears in literature and essayism. He shows how writers such as Don DeLillo, Michel Houellebecq and David Foster Wallace embody human or non-human perspectives on human life. For the pre-suicidal Wallace, this means an experience that takes less and less into consideration the human need for meaning and context. Nothing is more inhuman than human society viewed without filters. A dark sharpness and a morbid wit become the only supporting element of a journey through a delirious reality, where the world appears chaotic, grotesque and surreal.
The idea that just the perfect is good enough is carried on
experimental fantasies, biotechnology, dentures and computer science
under the name of transhumanism.
With the confusion and displacement of the human, we long for simplification, Grue points out, and gives a kick to popular science presentations that offer the reader "facts" about human nature. Grue also offers an ambivalent discussion of Yuval Hararis Homo Deus, which he describes as a form of posthumanist theory-kitsch in TED-talk format. He criticizes Harari for being deterministic, for wanting to reduce man's chaotic ambiguities and fundamental freedom. Although Harari's future goddess is not to be taken quite literally, he creates a new one-dimensional narrative, which is more seductive than daring or critical. Grue's own discussion, on the other hand, remains hesitant, reserved and doubtful – an example of what he refers to as a posthumanist essayist. Here, humanism and posthumanism become two sides of the same thing, because what is more human than to think that we can transcend humanity? And what's more self-centered than ever å try to see themselves from the outside – are the mirror images ever so distorted and fragmented?
