Transhumanism

This article is probably off-topic, but tolerated because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

A Sexy Cyborg Girl, benefits of Transhumanism!

Transhumanism (with various substrains with more specific names; SJWs as H+, ancaps as Extropians, extreme Neckbeards as rationalists is a movement that promotes or at least discusses the enhancement of the human race through science and technology. A transhuman society would have changed itself to the point where it would challenge the standard meaning of "being human" -- removing or changing some of the disadvantages of being human (sub-century lifespan, vulnerable to hostile bacteria) and improving what are the good parts of being human (thinking faster than the speed of chemicals, ceaseless endurance, capable of having an always-on smartphone in your head you can remove or disable at will).

It's usually associated with an anticipated event called 'the Singularity' where artificial intelligence (AI) is made that can design and build smarter AIs, which in turn design and built even smarter AIs, spiralling up until an A.I. with the computing power on the level of a low level D&D deity is "born". It's called 'the Singularity' because the original author said things are going to get so weird so fast there's no way to tell what any human culture will be like after this event, and it will serve as an unobservable "event horizon" just as with astronomical singularities like black holes. Some Transhumanists are convinced this event will usher in an ideal future, and some egotists amongst them will tell you at great length they know exactly what the future will look like post-Singularity. tl;dr The Singularity is to transhumanists exactly like the End Times is for Islamic loonies.

Transhumanism threads on /tg/ sometimes get deleted by janitors, because the threads too often turn into pseudo-evangelical hugboxes that have nothing to do with tabletop games. When the Eclipse Phase RPG was published, the H+ fancreatures rallied as this was a way to cloak their preaching as talking about the game setting and fluff.

Don't confuse transhumanism for cyberpunk. Transhumanism is an ideology about going beyond what nature has given us; Cyberpunk is about a world where advanced technology has failed to stop a dystopian society. They have a lot of overlap but they are not the same genre, cyberpunk corporations are often transhuman but the technology is rarely available to all, and the industries which make some transhuman may well sentence everyone else to live in a crapsack world.

What Transhumanists want you to know

As seen by recent developments (chips in heads that allow remote control of a computer, robotic exoskeletons that allow the paraplegics to walk etc), transhumanism is rooted in realistic projections of the development of technology. However, most transhumanists are often criticized for excessive amounts of idealism and enthusiasm, even technological fetishism that doesn't care about the consequences of its actions. The line of debate is usually split between those who believe a human, scientific, involvement in the further evolution of the human race is inevitable and necessary and those retard luddites like Blajbara, the Islamic Apologist moron who first wrote the original, extremely biased version of this page, who finds the idea of changing humanity horrific. Counter-arguments against TH usually run along the lines of "playing god", and present various bad scenarios that could happen; for instance extermination of the human race ala Terminator or a genetic divide ala Gattaca, although these are incredibly unlikely. Others present Transhumanism as a threat to democracy as the result of said divide... somehow. Transhumanists try to argue against this by claiming their work will prevent the human stupidity that causes most of our problems, but many of them forget that our knack for making new technology is what caused most of those problems in the first place. And that's before you consider that we're not even close to figuring out how we could manage to do half of the shit they're trying to accomplish. Can't exactly give yourself superpowers when you have no clue what most of our genes do, after all.

This disregard for the logistics of gene tampering is viewed as a major weakness. It doesn't take much observation to point out that around ninety percent of its followers are either teenagers trawling 4chan or academics who haven't noticed that having a degree in one subject doesn't make you a master in another unrelated subject, along with a fringe element of retarded /pol/ack neonazis presumably tagging along on the off-chance it gets rid of that pesky untermensch. If transhumanists could sacrifice the rest of the planet to get their immortal robot bodies would they do so? Maybe a few, because there are urban techies who prefer a better possible future to current shithole reality, but there are more likely many more who just want to make life better for everyone. This makes them excellent villains with morally murky goals: rich, resourceful, tough, glamorous, appealing, unique, and ambitious.

One thing of note is the arguable doctrinal difference between the Transhumanists and Singularitans. While there is a great deal of overlap, the two groups at their core can be differentiated by how much they put stock into the more...theological side of the issue. A transhumanist can basically be any person who simply believes in improving natural human characteristics via technology, a singularitan on the other hand is someone who (also) believes that a rapidly evolving AI will eventually result in an uncomprehensible posthuman civilization. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem, but Singularitans tend to be really preachy about their beliefs, probably enboldened by the perceived certainty that science gives to their metaphysical doctrine, although the same could be said about other whiny cults like Islam. A further point of irony is the fact that many traditional religions also have transhumanist and singularitan elements (divine intelligence removing all physical and mental flaws while creating a perfect world incomprehensible to those not "ascended"). To sum up - transhumanism = becoming a marvel superhero, singularitarianism = reject parents' religion for their own that they agree with.

Transhumanist methods or areas of research mostly include genetics, nanotechnology, robotics and cybernetics, amongst others.

While classic transhumanists are concerned with the alteration of the human condition, transhumanists that are not just want titanium endoskeletons/machinegun hands/heat vision/immortality.

Basically, if you've ever wanted to be a Primarch, an Astartes, a cyborg, or a mutant, Transhumanism is the philosophy for you.

Games

• Transhuman Space is a setting in GURPS and a game of its own.
• Eclipse Phase where your body and attributes are just another inventory item.
• Shadowrun, for a world that is well on its way toward robotic/brain-in-a-jar body rebuilding and on the cusp of experiencing the Singularity: true A.I.'s have appeared but they aren't (yet) able to cascade themselves into better and better iterations.
• Deus Ex series, with Invisible war showing glimpses into Post-human world.
• Sins of a Solar Empire, the Advent are transhuman to the t.
• Post-Human Republic who despite their name are actually transhuman.
• Hic Svnt Dracones, an example of transfurryism of all things.