Deus Ex

Transhumanism spans a huge swath of intellectual territory, straddling bioethics, philosophy, science fiction, engineering, and computer science. Throw in conspiracy theories and cyberpunk nihilism and you have all the ingredients for Deus Ex.

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Complete entry

Posted by EmbraceUnity  on  02/20  at  05:57 PM

What a coincidence, I just spent the last week playing The Nameless Mod. I love Deus Ex! I don't remember the Omar though.

Posted by Aleksei Riikonen  on  02/20  at  09:57 PM

Haven't played Deus Ex. I'm sure it was a good computer game back in the day, probably presented the content in a stylistically successful way etc., but I haven't heard any descriptions of it that'd make me think it'd have intellectually novel content.

Were I to enter a work of fiction into "transhumanist canon", I'd choose The Golden Age by John C. Wright (too bad that since writing that book, Wright has become a nutcase).

Posted by Kyle Munkittrick  on  02/20  at  11:39 PM

@Aleksei: Always looking for more stuff to add. Thanks!

Posted by Tobias F.  on  02/21  at  06:27 AM

Well, if we are talking about transhumanist computer Games, I always remember Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

It is the story of societies on their journey through a slow singularity. You can implement the cyborg Buddha and make your people happy. Later you can use the interfaces to implement thought control to prepare for a war.
The transhumanist attitude is mainly displayed in the inventions flavor texts. You can invent the Man-Machine-Interface ( as in Brain enhancements), and read part of a discussion about someone using this technology to instill loyalty in his subordinates.

It captures a mood of risky progress to a better world wonderfully.

btw. I haven't played Deus Ex myself (only watched Kikoskia's LP).

Posted by Brian S.  on  02/23  at  03:16 AM

Having re-installed DX just last week, and having spent the last few hours searching for new info on Deus Ex 3, imagine my surprise seeing this on the fron page.

Anyway, I thought this bit taken from the main game forums(http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=86841) sounded really cool:

"Sociology is touched upon in the game, particularly in relation to the augmentations. Essentially, DX3 explores the beginnings of human augmentation and the transhumanism movement is a major influence in the game. There are people who think it's "playing God" to modify the body whatsoever and there are people (Transhumanists) who think it's the natural evolution of the human species to utilise technology. You're caught in the middle of this storm and must decide which path you take. The visual stigma augmentated people bear adds fuel to the huge societal rift between them and natural humans that's at the centre of Deus Ex 3's vision of the future. Consider, for example, the endemic racism of 1950s/60s America for imagery, attitudes and problems augmented people face in DX3."

Posted by Kyle Munkittrick  on  02/23  at  12:39 PM

@Brain S.

Thanks for the link!

I must admit, I'm really excited they're making DX3 a prequel, to show society coping with the new tech and prejudice against the minority who are enhanced. This quote has me all the more jazzed.

I'm hoping they show earlier A.I.s as well. Daedalus and Icarus (and Wintermute, if you find him) were all so high functioning and powerful. It'd be cool if they integrated earlier, more rudimentary A.I. into the gameplay.

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