We live in a universe that works on physical laws - simple rules that determine how quantum mechanical amplitude evolves over time. The universe is, at its lowest level, rather like a lego kit with a comparatively small number of bricks, or to put it another way, the universe is a lot like Conway's Game of Life. This surprising (and highly counterintuitive) fact has an even more surprising implication: there is no fundamental law that prevents us from improving our lives to arbitrarily high levels of personal well-being. There is no fundamental reason why we cannot create a utopia - to shape the little blocks that the universe is made out of into an arrangement that satisfies our true desires to the maximal extent possible.

Death is not a fundamental fact of existence, it is not a deliberate plan hatched by a careful creator who works in mysterious ways, it is not a punishment or a way to teach us a lesson. It is simply an accident of evolution, and it is perfectly possible (in principle!) to get rid of that particular accident. Likewise human suffering: from the minor annoyances to the agony of losing a loved-one or being betrayed by a friend or partner. Likewise the problems that we humans probably don't even realize that we have, because they are as ubiquitous and invisible to us as water is to a fish. Likewise the extreme suffering of the poorest 1 billion humans.

Transhumanism is simply the idea that we can and should use technology to enable human beings to live the lives that they would, upon reflection, choose. Nick Bostrom put this set of ideas particularly eloquently in his Letter from Utopia:

How can I tell you about Utopia and not leave you nonplussed? What words could convey the wonder? What inflections express our happiness? What points overcome your skepticism? My pen, I fear, is as unequal to the task as if I had tried to use it against a charging elephant.

Have you ever known a moment of bliss? On the rapids of inspiration, maybe, where your hands were guided by a greater force to trace the shapes of truth and beauty? Or perhaps you found such a moment in the ecstasy of love? Or in a glorious success achieved with good friends? Or in splendid conversation on a vine-overhung terrace one star-appointed night? Or perhaps there was a song or a melody that smuggled itself into your heart, setting it alight with kaleidoscopic emotion? Or during worship?

If you have experienced such a moment, experienced the best type of such a moment, then a certain idle but sincere thought may have presented itself to you: “Oh Heaven! I didn’t realize it could feel like this. This is on a different level, so very much more real and worthwhile. Why can’t it be like this always? Why must good times end? I was sleeping; now I am awake.”