Defeating death?
On the axis: Death · the mortal condition
What if death were no longer a fate but a disease to cure: should we push back our limits endlessly through technology, or is there a wisdom in consenting to our mortal condition?
Justification
Transhumanism breaks with the wisdoms of acceptance: death is neither an indifferent nothingness, as for , nor the horizon that would give life its worth, as for , but the greatest of harms and a technical problem. Aging is recast as a curable disease. It is revolt carried to its conclusion: to refuse finitude as an injustice to be fought, not a fate to be tamed.
We will no longer tolerate the tyranny of aging and death.'A Letter to Mother Nature' (1999)
Bostrom, 'The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant' · de Grey, Ending Aging
Justification
Where bioconservatism sees in human nature a limit to be respected, transhumanism treats the body and mind we are given as a contingent starting point, shaped by blind evolution. Nothing sanctifies this inheritance: to forbid medicine, genetics or cognitive enhancement from extending our capacities in the name of "nature" would be a superstition. Enhancement is merely the deliberate continuation of what culture and technology have always done.
More, 'Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy' · Bostrom, 'In Defense of Posthuman Dignity'
Anchors: Transhumanism · Jonas · Williams
leads to: Enhancing human nature