It was quite unlike any other acceptance speech of the UEFA Presidents award. In a rather philosophical address before the Champions League draw in Monaco, former football player and actor Eric Cantona claimed: Soon the science will not only be able to slow down the ageing of the cells, soon the science will fix the cells to the state, and so we become eternal.
But what was he actually talking about and does it hold up? In the context, the statement seemed out of place, perhaps even slightly mad. Theres pathos in seeing aged sportsmen too once sublime athletes now reduced to a snails pace and going grey. And this gets to the heart of the human condition it is defined by limitations, most notably ageing and death. Cantona though, wears his age gracefully if unconventionally, much like he played the game.
But there was more than madness in Cantonas words. The point he is making is important. As a species, we are on the cusp of creating technologies that may fundamentally alter our capacities, promising radical potentialities and perhaps even immortality.
The emerging technologies that make this thinkable include nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC). Transhumanism is the faith in these converging technologies to give rise to human enhancement.
There is indeed work going on to reverse ageing with some believing we may be able to halt it altogether. And increasingly potent artificial intelligence (AI) may aid this process. In his book Superintelligence, philosopher Nick Bostrom suggests AI may soon exceed human-level intelligence resulting in an intelligence explosion. Such a scenario makes anything thinkable, and he believes it could happen in a few decades.
We have seen great strides in science and technology over the past century, some of which have resulted in increased global average life expectancies. At the same time, there are increasing numbers of existential threats, such as nuclear weapons and climate change. This points to a limitation of human reason that does not elude Cantona: Only accidents, crimes, wars, will still kill us. But unfortunately, crimes, wars, will multiply.
The problem is a duality to human reason. We can interrogate the world with the scientific method that enables us to create technologies which empower us instrumental reason. How to use these advances remains a problem, a question of moral reason.
Indeed Cantonas suggestion that wars and crimes will multiply emphasizes that instrumental reason can progress while moral reason regresses. Technical progress does not ensure moral progress, as was powerfully demonstrated by the two world wars of the 20th century and the many ensuing conflicts since. The climate crisis and our current political malaise also illustrate this.
Cantonas speech opened with a quote from Shakespeares King Lear: As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods,/ They kill us for their sport. The quote is also prescient. Much transhumanist literature is dedicated to the idea of humans becoming gods. But what kind of gods?
The current gods of transhumanist progress are defense agencies and tech giants. As AI guru Ben Goertzel points out: AI is currently used for selling, spying, killing and gambling. We may therefore be set to become inhuman, not posthuman gods.
A telling part of Cantonas speech is the reaction to it. The word most commonly used to describe it is bizarre. What makes it bizarre is not the content, as much as the context. In such a scenario ex-players are expected to offer up platitudes rather than philosophies of human existence.
So, as we are developing such powerful technologies, what is the context? It is advanced capitalism, and it does involve selling, spying, killing and gambling. Such is the all-encompassing nature of this system that we barely recognize it as a context at all it is a given.
Capitalism also embraces instrumental rationality it fulfills its demand for palpable progress and growth. It does not have much time for questions of morality. Markets bypass moral questions by asking is there a buyer, is there a seller and what is the price.
Mathematics and science are the formalized methodologies of instrumental rationality. It is no surprise then that humans themselves are increasingly subject to this process of quantification. Surveillance provides data, the new oil that boosts information capitalism. Humans are now the mines. This is the bizarre world of transhumanist development in the context of advanced capitalism.
In its most hubristic and unquestioning form, bolstered by unapologetic and brash advanced capitalist logics, transhumanism poses myriad threats: from automation unemployment to the end of democracy, to the risk that humans will branch into different species, making questions of inequality infinitely more urgent. Even if immortality arrives it will be accompanied by crimes, wars and accidents as Cantona states.
But there are alternative ways to think about the future. Posthumanism also deals with our uncertain future, but focuses especially on moral questions. It aims to think ethically beyond the human, emphasising a responsibility towards the wider nature of which we are a part. Posthumanists are bonded by the compassionate acknowledgement of their interdependence with multiple, human and non-human others.
It is time we asked ourselves what aspects of being human we most value. For me, compassion, kindness, appreciation of nature, art and humor are paramount those aspects most strongly connected with the moral aspect of human reason. Instrumental reason will continue at pace, and perhaps to the cost of these human idiosyncrasies imperfect, inexact, unquantifiable.
As a Liverpool fan (sorry Eric), I was happy with the Champions League draw and Van Dijks award, but in the grand scheme of things Cantonas speech was the most important moment of the event. It reminds us that a radically different future looks to be on the way, and our current social systems and cultural beliefs mean that we are in no position to take advantage of it.
Cantona finished with simply Thank you. I love football. To that, I can only say, thank you, Eric. I love football too.
By Alexander Thomas, PhD Candidate, University of East London. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Go here to read the rest:
How Far Away Is Immortality? - Science 2.0
- Rise of the Posthuman Technocracy : Waking Times - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Sympathetic Sci-Fi - The New Yorker - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Noted philosopher to deliver Tanner Lectures on 'Posthuman, All too Human' - Yale News - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Are You Living in a Simulation? - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The Ethics of Innovation: Creativity, Machines, and Artificial Intelligence - Kootenay News Advertiser - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Will we control innovation or will it control us? - The Daily Courier (subscription) - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Prairie Pop: NPR's Codrescu breaks down Dadaism's ongoing influence - Little Village - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Btonsalon Center for Art and Research - E-Flux - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- I Love Acid's 10th anniversary compilation comes on a 303-shaped USB stick - FACT - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- '10 Years of I Love Acid' compilation comes on a 303-shaped USB ... - Mixmag - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Things Are Super Weird Right Now, but It's Not a Glitch in the Matrix, Says Harvard Physicist - ScienceAlert - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- The Ninja Tune forum has shut down after 19 years - FACT Magazine - FACT - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- At the Spencer, surprises from new Asian artists - Pitch Weekly - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- BAK, basis voor actuele kunst - E-Flux - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Musk and Bostrom's computer simulation theory isn't as crazy as it first sounds - The Plaid Zebra (blog) - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Why Reality Is Not A Video Game And Why It Matters - New Hampshire Public Radio - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Why We Are Not In A Computer Simulation Run By Posthumans - NPR - NPR - March 10th, 2017 [March 10th, 2017]
- Milano Arch Week - E-Flux - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Our Posthuman Future - Wikipedia - June 18th, 2017 [June 18th, 2017]
- Why We're Probably Living in a Computer Simulation - Inverse - June 24th, 2017 [June 24th, 2017]
- Inaugural Issues of the Journal of Posthuman Studies Now Available! - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Nam June Paik Art Center - E-Flux - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- An Interview With Rick Rosner on Women and the Future (Part 4) - The Good Men Project (blog) - July 10th, 2017 [July 10th, 2017]
- Pulitzer Prize Winner Jorie Graham's Collection of Poetry, 'Fast', Will Haunt You, Beautifully - PopMatters - July 29th, 2017 [July 29th, 2017]
- Inevitably Posthuman? - The Weekly Standard - July 29th, 2017 [July 29th, 2017]
- July 31, 2017 - Nam June Paik Art Center - Our Bright Future-Cybernetic Fantasy - E-Flux - August 4th, 2017 [August 4th, 2017]
- Posthuman advertising: does AI spell the end of media and marketing as we know it? - Marketing magazine Australia (registration) - August 6th, 2017 [August 6th, 2017]
- Posthuman age - DAWN.com - August 7th, 2017 [August 7th, 2017]
- 9th Beyond Humanism Conference Wrap Up - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - August 12th, 2017 [August 12th, 2017]
- Hall Center for the Humanities events to explore the posthuman condition - KU Today - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- News With Views | Reality Is Often Stranger Than Fiction ... - February 6th, 2018 [February 6th, 2018]
- doppelgnger | The Posthuman Marxist - February 23rd, 2018 [February 23rd, 2018]
- Posthuman Review People with Meeples - March 7th, 2018 [March 7th, 2018]
- Orlan and Stelarc: Manifesting Posthuman Performance ... - March 7th, 2018 [March 7th, 2018]
- Harms Way: Posthuman Album Review | Pitchfork - March 19th, 2018 [March 19th, 2018]
- Design Diary 1 Posthuman Saga Intro Mighty Boards - May 7th, 2018 [May 7th, 2018]
- The Posthuman Project (2014) YIFY - yts.am - May 28th, 2018 [May 28th, 2018]
- Ancient Lies & Shiny New Tech: Transhumanists Posthuman Plan - June 19th, 2018 [June 19th, 2018]
- The Posthuman 1st Edition - amazon.com - July 22nd, 2018 [July 22nd, 2018]
- The Posthuman Project - yts.am - August 29th, 2018 [August 29th, 2018]
- Posthuman Ethics, Pain and Endurance | Utrecht Summer School - September 6th, 2018 [September 6th, 2018]
- Posthuman: Sanctuary on Steam - September 25th, 2018 [September 25th, 2018]
- How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics ... - December 13th, 2018 [December 13th, 2018]
- Posthuman - SCP Foundation - March 22nd, 2019 [March 22nd, 2019]
- Ex Machina Now on Digital HD + Blu-Ray - April 20th, 2019 [April 20th, 2019]
- Producers are losing millions in royalties every year here's what you can do about it - DJ Mag - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- HiX-Men Moment of the Week: Mutants are finally treating Magneto like the god he (thinks he) is - Comics Beat - October 24th, 2019 [October 24th, 2019]
- X-Men #1 is Already Better Than All of HoXPoX [X-ual Healing 10-16-19] - Bleeding Cool News - October 24th, 2019 [October 24th, 2019]
- 'The Expanse' Season 4 Review: Hard science, biological conflicts laced with emotions and action makes space d - MEAWW - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Moscows Garage Museum Starts Pioneering Online Art Venueand Its More Than a Museum on the Internet - ARTnews - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Best of 2019: Harm's Way Pick 5 Favorite Albums of Year - Revolver Magazine - December 27th, 2019 [December 27th, 2019]
- WIRE Buzz: Stoned Kevin Smith weeps to Onward; The Willoughbys trailer; more - SYFY WIRE - March 26th, 2020 [March 26th, 2020]
- Posthuman Saga is the post apocalyptic board game youve been waiting for - Big Boss Battle - March 26th, 2020 [March 26th, 2020]
- Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu - Locus Online - April 6th, 2020 [April 6th, 2020]
- These Are the Must-See TV Shows Premiering in April - HYPEBEAST - April 6th, 2020 [April 6th, 2020]
- The Atmospheric Indie Exploration Title In Other Waters Has Been Released! - Happy Gamer - April 6th, 2020 [April 6th, 2020]
- Article Posthuman cyborg love? The adaptation of the human body into machine-based offers in the sexual domain submitted, ..to be published... - May 15th, 2020 [May 15th, 2020]
- Jaws Is the Perfect Blockbuster - The Ringer - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- The Vocoder's Cyborg Flights in Electronic Music and Hip-Hop - Reverb News - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- Covid-19 might have injected a new life into the conspiracy theory scene, but the fire was already ablaze - Daily Maverick - July 12th, 2020 [July 12th, 2020]
- Posthuman | Literary Theory and Criticism - July 18th, 2020 [July 18th, 2020]
- Posthuman | Transhumanism Wiki | Fandom - July 18th, 2020 [July 18th, 2020]
- Caitlin Cherry on digital abstraction and Black femininity - Artforum - July 26th, 2020 [July 26th, 2020]
- Posthuman | Tardis | Fandom - July 30th, 2020 [July 30th, 2020]
- Last and First Men review eerie sounds and unearthly images from a posthuman world - The Guardian - August 4th, 2020 [August 4th, 2020]
- Updating the Human Algorithm - lareviewofbooks - August 4th, 2020 [August 4th, 2020]
- posthuman | The Chicago School of Media Theory - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- What does it mean to be posthuman? | New Scientist - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- Curated by Tan Yue, Study of Things. Or a Brief Story About Fountain, Brick, Tin, Coin, Stone, Shell, Curtain, and Body. at Guangdong Times Museum,... - August 8th, 2020 [August 8th, 2020]
- Beyond Fermis Paradox VII: What it the Planetarium Hypothesis - Universe Today - September 2nd, 2020 [September 2nd, 2020]
- Bring Me The Horizons Oli Sykes: Yungblud is a new breed of rockstar - NME.com - September 6th, 2020 [September 6th, 2020]
- Reviewed: The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante - RTE.ie - September 18th, 2020 [September 18th, 2020]
- Bring Me The Horizon share behind-the-scenes look at Obey video shoot - NME.com - September 18th, 2020 [September 18th, 2020]
- There's a 50-50 Chance We Really Are Living in a Simulation, Scientists Say - IGN Southeast Asia - October 21st, 2020 [October 21st, 2020]
- Are the Posthumans Here Yet? - JSTOR Daily - October 21st, 2020 [October 21st, 2020]
- Bring Me The Horizon explain delay in "bigger than intended" EP series - NME.com - January 5th, 2021 [January 5th, 2021]
- The sci-fi thriller on Amazon Prime Video with a big twist at the end - CNET - November 29th, 2021 [November 29th, 2021]
- Posthuman Ensemble - Announcements - e-flux - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- 'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War' Ending Explained: Is Togusa compromised? - MEAWW - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Posthuman - Wikipedia - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]