Table Of ContentInhumanThoughtsPODPBK.qxd 8/4/09 3:46 PM Page 1
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Philosophy • Sociology ID
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L INHUMAN
“Asher Seidel’s Inhuman Thoughtsis even more provocative than its
title. . . . Seidel’s argument for posthumanity is airtight. . . . Seidel’s pro-
posal is extremely useful as a tool for thinking . . . about the proper
THOUGHTS
grounding for an ethical theory.” —Metapsychology Online
Inhuman Thoughts is a philosophical exploration of the possibility of
increasing the physiological and psychological capacities of humans to
the point that they are no longer biologically, psychologically, or socially
human. The movement is from the human through the trans-human to
the post-human. The tone is optimistic; Asher Seidel argues that such an
evolution would be of positive value on the whole.
I
Seidel’s initial argument supports the need for a comprehensive ethical N
theory, the success of which would parallel that of a large-scale scientific H
revolution, such as Newtonian mechanics. He elaborates the movement U
from the improved-but-still-human to the post-human, and philosophically M
examines speculated examples of post-human forms of life, including
A
indefinitely extended lifespan, parallel consciousness, altered perception,
N
asociality, and asexuality.
T
Inhuman Thoughtsis directed at those interested in philosophical ques- H
tions on human nature and the best life given the possibilities of that O
nature. Seidel’s overall argument is that the most satisfactory answer to U
the latter question involves a transcendence of the present confines of G
human nature. H
T
S
Asher Seidel is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at
Miami University.
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LEXINGTON BOOKS
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF POSTHUMANITY
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Inhuman Thoughts
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Inhuman Thoughts
Philosophical Explorations
of Posthumanity
Asher Seidel
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Adivision of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham •Boulder •New York •Toronto •Plymouth, UK
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Published by Lexington Books
Adivision of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.lexingtonbooks.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright ©2008 by Lexington Books
First paperback edition 2009
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seidel, Asher, 1943–
Inhuman thoughts : philosophical explorations of posthumanity / Asher Seidel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Human beings. 2. Human evolution. 3. Humanity. I. Title.
BD450.S3854 2008
128—dc22 2007052128
ISBN: 978-0-7391-2328-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-7391-2329-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-7391-4325-4 (electronic)
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
Preface vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Revolutionary Ethics 11
3 On Human Improvement 25
4 Facing Immortality 41
5 Parallel Consciousness 65
6 Mindful Seeing 79
7 Alone and Without Love 93
8 Temporarily in Conclusion 109
Selected Bibliography 125
Index of Proper Names 129
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Preface
My overall thesis is that human beings, as presently constituted, will likely al-
ter their nature profoundly in the sometime future. By “their nature” I intend
their physiological, psychological, and sociological circumstances. By “the
sometime future” I mean something further than the foreseeable future. How
much further I cannot say; however, it might aid intuition to choose reference
points such as one thousand years, twenty thousand years, one hundred thou-
sand years (it should be noted that, in our present biological form, we have
existed as a species for approximately one hundred thousand years). It is part
of my overall thesis that there are various changes for the better that are wor-
thy of our consideration.
I do not spend considerable time defending this thesis. Such defense as I
present it is distributed throughout the work, with some focus in the conclud-
ing chapter. Should the reader desire reason for entertaining my thesis, the
reader is urged to peruse initially the final chapter.
In another manner, the thesis is supported throughout the work by the elab-
oration of my vision of the movement from the improved-but-still-human to
the post-human. The logic of this support is direct: if something is better,
there is prima facie reason for preferring it. Much of what I present is in ser-
vice of showing that the described artificial-evolutionary path suits humanity
better than remaining as the species we have been.
There is scant philosophical literature on the topics I investigate. I know of
only one philosophical book in the area, and that is an introductory text.1
There are other works addressed to the general topic, but they are not by
philosophers. Typically, the authors are journalists,2 or specialists in one or
more of the areas covered by the journalists.3 There is additionally a techni-
cal literature on the biology of extended lifespan.4Hence, I cannot offer much
vii
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viii Preface
comment on the philosophical literature which directly addresses the topic.
Anyone philosophically inclined to explore this area is on his or her own.
Many historical philosophers spoke to the topic of human betterment. To
name a few: Plato, Spinoza, Marx, Nietzsche. Any philosopher offering a nor-
mative theory is implicitly, if not explicitly, on the topic. Nevertheless,
thoughts on the betterment of humans as humans is one thing; thoughts on the
betterment of humans through transcendence of the biological human is an-
other, the latter typically reserved in the tradition for either theology or sci-
ence fiction. Only recently have other voices, such as those referenced in the
preceding paragraph, emerged.
I do not proceed to a confident conclusion (and various sub-conclusions are
likewise presented as merely probable or possible) because the matters dis-
cussed herein are not the sort about which one ought to be reasonably confi-
dent. This is primarily a speculative work, with elaboration of such speculative-
theoretical notions as scientific ethics, immortality, parallel consciousness,
extended visual perception, and nonsocial post-human life. Such topics are in
large part beyond the pale of more standard philosophical disputations. Caution
is proper.
In the course of developing these thoughts, I have been aided by discus-
sions with various of my colleagues in the Philosophy Department at Miami
University. I have also been helped by such feedback as I received in the pre-
sentation of aspects of this work at several gatherings of the Society for the
Contemporary Assessment of Platonism, which sessions occurred at conven-
tions of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. An
anonymous reviewer for Lexington Books provided helpful suggestions. My
editor, Patrick Dillon, gave me welcome support.
Two of the chapters, “On Human Improvement” and “Facing Immortality,”
have been published, with slight differences in the International Journal of
Applied Philosophy(1999 and 2005), and they appear here with the kind per-
mission of the editor of that journal.
NOTES
1. Brian Cooney, Posthumanity:Thinking Philosophically about the Future(Lan-
ham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004).
2. For example, Joel Garreau, Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of En-
hancing Our Minds,Our Bodies—and What It Means to Be Human(New York: Dou-
bleday, 2005); Ramez Naam, More Than Human:Embracing the Promise of Biolog-
ical Enhancement(New York: Broadway Books, 2005); and Simon Young, Designer
Evolution:A Transhumanist Manifesto(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2006). I believe
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Preface ix
the strongest counter to my overall thesis is presented by Francis Fukuyama, Our
Posthuman Future:Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution(New York: Far-
rar, Straus and Giroux, 2002).
3. See, for example, Hans Moravec, Robot:Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) and Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual
Machines:When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence(New York: Viking Penguin,
1999).
4. Stanley Shostak, Becoming Immortal:Combining Cloning and Stem-Cell Ther-
apy(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002).
