[ExI] Catholic critique of Transhumanism

Eschatoon Magic eschatoon at gmail.com
Sun Oct 19 09:12:41 UTC 2008


I most certainly agree that there should be much more dialogue between
transhumanism and religion. Religion at its best is characterized by
cosmic visions and search for transcendence, meaning and purpose. This
is something good and worth encouraging, and I am persuaded that
honest truth and meaning seekers can appreciate the value of the
transhumanist message if it is presented in a simple, clear and
understandable way.

I disagree with "we must work toward finding ethical answers - answers
consistent with the Catholic moral tradition - before the future
arrives". While I appreciate the visions of some Catholic thinkers
(Teilhard for one), I despise the "Catholic moral tradition" that has
led to burning many people and making many more unhappy. A moral that
consider the right of an embryo more important than the right of a
thinking and feeling human being, and an abstract concept of "will of
god" more important than our own happiness, is a moral that I want
nothing to do with. We must work together, but on OUR terms.

G.

On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 9:05 AM, John Grigg <possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure if this critique of Transhumanism from a Roman Catholic
> perspective was ever mentioned on the list.  Please tell me what you
> think...
>
> an excerpt:
> "Lines of communication need to be opened between Christian bioethicists and
> transhumanists.  Cameron, for example, calls Kurzweil "a man of genius" and
> "no mere academic theorist."  while Kurzweil makes the surprising statement
> that through human-driven evolution, people "grow exponentially in
> intelligence, knowledge, creativity, beauty, and love, all of the qualities
> people ascribe to God without limit," implying that "we can view evolution
> as a spiritual process, moving ever closer to this ideal."  Men of this
> intellectual stature need forums in which they can communicate with each
> other.  (To be fair, Cameron is already in contact with WTA president Nick
> Bostrom and others, but he's one of the only pro-life leaders doing so).
>
>>>
>
> http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/guests/ericpavlat/superhuman.asp
>
> John Grigg
>
>
>
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>



-- 
Eschatoon Magic
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Eschatoon
aka Giulio Prisco
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Giulio_Prisco



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