Last modified on August 13, 2019, at 16:30

Atheism and transhumanism

The atheist Julian Huxley coined the term transhumanism.[1]

According to the Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrum, transhumanism has its roots in an atheistic/secular humanism/evolutionary worldview.[2] The atheist, evolutionist and eugenicist Julian Huxley coined the term transhumanism.[3]

Julian Huxley wrote:

“ The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself – not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way – but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.[4] ”

The pseudoscientific sector of the transhumanism movement which desires to transcend being human through technology and become posthuman in order achieve a type of non-theistic immortality is completely unrealistic and is engaging in wishful thinking.[5] See also: Atheism and irrationality and Atheist cults

The atheist worldview cannot explain the existence of consciousness

See: Atheism and irrationality

The atheist worldview cannot explain the existence of consciousness either and the theistic worldview can offer a reasonable explanation.[6]

Mind uploading and cryonics are unfeasible

See also: Atheism and cryonics and Atheism and irrationality and Atheism and death

Advocates of mind uploading (Mind uploading is the notion that someday mankind may be able to scan and upload their minds to a mechanical storage mediums) are generally strong advocates of cryonics as well.[7] For a number of reasons, mind uploading is an entirely unfeasible hypothesis.[8] See also: Atheism and cryonics

Endeavoring to upload the human brain and achieve a technological singularity

See also: Atheism and the problem of consciousness

Ray Kurzweil is endeavoring to achieve an atheistic version of heaven.[9]

An article entitled The 25 Most Influential Living Atheists describes the atheist Ray Kurzweil thusly:

“ Ray Kurzweil sees technology as fulfilling all aspirations previously ascribed to religion, including immortality. He argues that computing machines will soon outstrip human cognitive capacities, at which point humanity will upload itself onto a new, indestructible digital medium (an atheist version/vision of “resurrection”).[10] ”

Ray Kurzweil declared:

“ I wanna tell you about our future, I estimate around 2025, that we will have expanded our intelligence a billion fold by merging with the Artificial Intelligence we are creating.

But that's such a profound expansion that we borrow this metaphor from physics and call it a singularity.

We'll be a hybrid of biological and non-biological intelligence," he says. "But the non-biological part of ourselves will also be part of our consciousness.[11]

”

Kurzweil updated his prediction of a "singularity" and said that he expects it to happen by 2045.[12][13]

The article Top 10 atheist inconsistencies declares:

“ Some atheists like Ray Kurzweil advocate transhumanist doctrines that prophesy of a near future - in as few as 20 years, according to him - in which a singularity event will occur. With the singularity event, humans will be able to use science to achieve immortality. Kurzweil speaks of this singularity event with the same fervor in which the proverbial Southern Baptist minister raves about the Rapture. Fantasizing about post-singularity humanity, Kurzweil proclaims that, being able to live for eternity, we will eventually be able to know everything that can possibly be known.

But does he believe it's possible that there just might be another being in this vast universe who has achieved all knowledge before he has? No, that is ludicrous.[14]

”
Luke Muehlhauser (pictured on the left) and Brad Voytek (pictured on the right).

The atheist Luke Muehlhauser, who was previously the Executive Director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (which was formerly called the Singularity Institute) wrote:

“ When humanity builds machines with greater-than-human intelligence, they will also be better than we are at creating still smarter machines. Those improved machines will be even more capable of improving themselves or their successors. This is a positive feedback loop that could, before losing steam, produce a machine with vastly greater than human intelligence: machine superintelligence. Such a superintelligence would have enormous powers to make the future unlike anything that came before it.

Event horizon: All social and technological progress thus far has come from human brains. When technology creates entirely new kinds of intelligence, this will cause the future to be stranger than we can imagine. So there is an ‘event horizon’ in the future beyond which our ability to predict the future rapidly breaks down.[15]

”

Muehlhauser concedes that a technological singularity may never occur.[16] See also: Atheism and the problem of consciousness

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A HISTORY OF TRANSHUMANIST THOUGHT, Nick Bostrom, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University
  2. ↑ A HISTORY OF TRANSHUMANIST THOUGHT, Nick Bostrom, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University
  3. ↑ A HISTORY OF TRANSHUMANIST THOUGHT, Nick Bostrom, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University
  4. ↑ A HISTORY OF TRANSHUMANIST THOUGHT, Nick Bostrom, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ The Argument from Consciousness for the Existence of God by John Piippo, 3/20/2012
  7. ↑ Mind uploading - Thought experiments as knowledge
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ The 25 Most Influential Living Atheists
  10. ↑ The 25 Most Influential Living Atheists
  11. ↑ What is the Singularity? Steve Aoki & Ray Kurzweil made a tune that explains!, Techbubble.info
  12. ↑ Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2045, Futurism.com
  13. ↑ Panel - Lawrence Krauss, Ben Goertzel, Steve Omohundro - the Perils of Prediction, YouTube Video, quoting Ben Goertzel
  14. ↑ Top 10 atheist inconsistencies
  15. ↑ Singularity FAQ - written by Luke Muehlhauser
  16. ↑ Singularity FAQ - written by Luke Muehlhauser