Nietzsche and European Posthumanisms

The current issue of the Journal of Evolution and Technology, a peer-reviewed electronic journal published by the IEET, features a set of essays in response to Stefan Sorgner’s “Nietzsche, the Overhuman, and Transhumanism” (JET March 2009).

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Posted by David Pearce  on  01/10  at  12:09 PM

Contrast the transhumanist affirmation:
"(7) We advocate the well-being of all sentience, including humans, non-human animals, and any future artificial intellects, modified life forms, or other intelligences to which technological and scientific advance may give rise."
(The Transhumanist Declaration : http://humanityplus.org/learn/philosophy/transhumanist-declaration )

with Nietzsche's:
"To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities - I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not - that one endures."
(The Will to Power, p 481)
or
"You want, if possible - and there is no more insane "if possible" - to abolish suffering. And we? It really seems that we would rather have it higher and worse than ever. Well-being as you understand it - that is no goal, that seems to us an end, a state that soon makes man ridiculous and contemptible - that makes his destruction desirable. The discipline of suffering, of great suffering - do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?"
(Beyond Good and Evil, p 225 )

There are clearly affinities between elements of Nietzsche thought and contemporary transhumanism. But much of Nietzsche's writing harks back to our terrible Darwinian past rather than our glorious posthuman future....
"I do not point to the evil and pain of existence with the finger of reproach, but rather entertain the hope that life may one day become more evil and more full of suffering than it has ever been."

Posted by CygnusX1  on  01/10  at  03:09 PM

"Everyone knows an Ant, can't, move a rubber tree plant, (presently), but he has, high hopes'

So what's new here? Yes Nietzsche is an existentialist and moreover an idealist, and good for that! The downside is he is a staunch materialist : so much for the posthuman ideals of separating consciousness and mind from the weak human body. And if the similarities between his philosophical ideals and transhumanism are simply coincidental, then I AM a monkey's uncle!

I'm not sure that the Sorgner essay says anything of substance at all? It all appears to be a very brief monologue in stating the complete obvious.

What can and should be highlighted, once more, is a fundamental connection between transhumanism and existentialism, (and not simply Atheism). Let's roll out some Satre, discover who we really are, what drives us towards our dreams and ideals of the meaningful life, the afterlife, and extended longevity, and show us what we need to understand to achieve what we want to become. (It's about identity crises you know!).

Posted by Richard Carlson  on  01/10  at  04:54 PM

I applaud the author for this article even though I do not necessarily agree with his conclusions that Nietzsche would support genetic engineering or that transhumanist perspective of the future is consistent with his view of the Uebermensche.

For example, Nietzsche's view of Darwinian evolution was that it resulted in the contemptible Last Man and not the Overman whose species overcoming was never envisioned in terms of techno-scientific manipulation, but facilitated by innate capacity, education, will to power.

In fact the often uncritical acceptance of reason by Transhumanism that assigns it an almost self-reliant metaphysical status strays from Nietzsche view in which it is contingent upon hermeneutic strategies that involve matters of metaphor, perspective etc.

Moreover, the value neutral view of science that many transhumanist hold in most cases fails to grasp its relationship to structures of power and free market capitalism does not invoke the same spirit of his transvaluation of values as Nietzsche made in the Genealogy of Morals, nor does Transhumanism seem to be able to provide the same critique that Nietzsche made of the Industrial revolution, namely that its technology was being exploited by the vulgar will of the wealthy to gain riches that did not trickled down to the poor. And of course there is the problem of the eternal recurrence of the same that does not appear to align with the linear view of technological progress in transhumanism.

However, IMO there is little doubt that important aspects of the genealogy of transhumanism can be found in his conception of the Uebermensch and the exploration of the tension between the two themes may indeed facilitate some creative possibilities in thinking about the cultural issues transhumanism raises.

For instance Arthur Kroker in his book, The Will to Technology and the Culture of Nihilism does a masterful job of translating Nietzsche's Will to Power into the Will to Technology that appears to be driving the advent of the posthuman future.

I would like to add that the blogzine Posthuman Destinies (www.sciy.org) examines the advent of the posthuman in terms of Nietzsche and Foucault but also cross culturally through the works of Sri Aurobindo whose early 20th century vision has much to owe to both Nietzsche and Indian philosophy. There are too many cultural, ethical, moral and epistemological issues that surround the transhuman to ignore the tension between its often Utopian future aims with earlier historical visions that first articulated the view of humanity as a transitional species.

rc

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