The idea of transhumanism 鈥� that we can enhance human capabilities and ultimately escape death by turning ourselves into machines 鈥� is hundreds of years old, and as controversial as ever. Irish writer Mark O鈥機onnell鈥檚 , a travelogue of strange journeys and bizarre encounters among transhumanists, has just won the .听Simon Ings asked O鈥機onnell how he managed to give transhumanism a human face 鈥� despite his own scepticism.
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Has transhumanism ever made personal sense to you?
Transhumanism鈥檚 critique of the human condition, its anxiety around having to die 鈥� that鈥檚 something I have some sympathy with, for sure, and that鈥檚 where the book began. The idea was for the door to some kind of conversion to be always open. But I was never really convinced that the big ideas in transhumanism, things like mind-uploading and so on, were really plausible. The most interesting question for me was, 鈥淲hy would anyone want this?鈥�
A lot of transhumanist thought is devoted to evading death. Do the transhumanists you met get much out of life?
I wouldn鈥檛 want to be outright prescriptive about what it means to live a meaningful life. I鈥檓 still trying to figure that one out myself.
I think if you鈥檙e so devoted to the idea that we can outrun death, and that death makes life utterly meaningless, then you are avoiding the true animal nature of what it means to be human. But I find myself moving back and forth between that position and one that says, you know what, these people are driven by a deep, Promethean project. I don鈥檛 have the deep desire to shake the world to its core that these people have. In that sense, they鈥檙e living life to its absolute fullest.
What most sticks in your mind from your researches for the book?
The place that sticks in my mind most clearly is Alcor鈥檚 cryogenic life extension facility.
In terms of just the visuals, it鈥檚 bizarre. You鈥檙e walking around what鈥檚 known as a 鈥減atient care bay鈥�, among these gigantic stainless steel cylinders filled with corpses and severed heads that they鈥檙e going to unfreeze once a cure for death is found. The thing that really grabbed me was the juxtaposition between the sci-fi level of the thing and the fact that it was situated in a business park on the outskirts of Phoenix, next door to Big D鈥檚 Floor Covering Supplies and a tile showroom.
They do say the future arrives unevenly鈥�
I think we鈥檙e at a very particular cultural point in terms of our relationship to 鈥渢he future鈥�. We aren鈥檛 really thinking of science as this boundless field of possibility any more, and so it seems bit of a throwback, like something from an Arthur C. Clarke story. It鈥檚 like the thing with Elon Musk. Even the global problems he identifies 鈥� rogue AI, and finding a new planet that we can live on to perpetuate the species 鈥� seem so completely removed from actual problems that people are facing right now that they鈥檙e absurd. A handful of people who seem to wield almost infinite technological resources are devoting themselves to completely speculative non-problems. They鈥檙e not serious, on some basic level.
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Are you saying transhumanism is a product of an unreal Silicon Valley mentality?
The big cultural influence over transhumanism, the thing that took it to the next level, seems to have been the development of the internet in the late 1990s. That鈥檚 when it really became a distinct social movement, as opposed to a group of more-or-less isolated eccentric thinkers and obsessives.
But it鈥檚 very much a global movement. I met a lot of Europeans 鈥� Russia in particular has a long prehistory of attempts to evade death. But most transhumanists have tended to end up in the US and specifically in Silicon Valley. I suppose that鈥檚 because these kinds of ideas get most traction there. You don鈥檛 get people laughing at you when you mention want to live forever.
Who among the transhumanists most impressed you?
The one person I really found myself grappling with, in the most profound and unsettling way, was Randal Koene. It鈥檚 his idea of uploading the human mind to a computer that I find most deeply troubling and offensive, and kind of absurd. As a person and as a communicator, though, Koene was very powerful. A lot of people who are pushing forward these ideas 鈥� people like Ray Kurzweil 鈥� tend to be impresarios. Randal was the opposite. He was very quietly spoken, very humble, very much the scientist. There were moments he really pushed me out of my scepticism 鈥� and I liked him.
Is transhumanism science or religion?
It鈥檚 not a religion: there鈥檚 no God, for instance. But at the same time I think it very obviously replaces religion in terms of certain basic yearnings and anxieties. The anxiety about death is the obvious one.
There is a very serious religious subtext to all of transhumanism鈥檚 aspirations. And at the same time, transhumanists absolutely reject that thinking, because it tends to undermine their perception of themselves as hardline rationalists and deeply science-y people. Mysticism is quite toxic to their sense of themselves.
Will their future ever arrive?
On one level, it鈥檚 already happening. We鈥檙e walking round in this miasma of information and data, almost in a state of merger with technology. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e grappling with as a culture. But if that future means an actual merger of artificial intelligence and human intelligence, I think that鈥檚 a deeply terrifying idea, and not, touch wood, something that is ever going to happen.
Should we be worried?
That is why I鈥檓 now writing about a book about apocalyptic anxieties. It鈥檚 a way to try to get to grips with our current political and cultural moment
[book_info title=鈥漈o Be a Machine: Adventures among cyborgs, utopians, hackers, and the futurists solving the modest problem of death鈥� author=鈥滿ark O鈥機onnell鈥� publisher=鈥滸ranta/Doubleday鈥� title_link=鈥漢ttp://grantabooks.com/to-be-a-machine鈥漖
