Directed evolution (transhumanism)

This article is about the futurist ideology and movement. For the biochemical technique, see Directed evolution.

The term directed evolution is used within the transhumanist community to refer to the idea of applying the principles of directed evolution and experimental evolution to the control of human evolution.^[1] Law professor Maxwell Mehlman has said that "for transhumanists, directed evolution is likened to the Holy Grail".^[1]

Gustave Moreau's Prometheus (1868)

Riccardo Campa of the IEET wrote that "self-directed evolution" can be coupled with many different political, philosophical, and religious views within the transhumanist movement.^[2]

Criticism of the term

Andrew Askland from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, referring to transhumanism, says that directed evolution is problematic because evolution is ateleological and transhumanism is teleological.^[3]

UCLA biophysicist and entrepreneur Gregory Stock has defended the concept, saying in 1999 that "the human species is moving out of its childhood. It is time to acknowledge our growing powers and begin to take responsibility for them."^[4]

Participant evolution

Participant evolution is an alternative term that refers to the process of deliberately redesigning the human body and brain using technological means, rather than through the natural processes of mutation and natural selection, with the goal of removing "biological limitations" and human enhancement.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][excessive citations]} The idea was first put forward by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in the 1960s in their article Cyborgs and Space, where they argued that the human species was already on a path of participant evolution.^[19]

See also

• Eugenics
  • New eugenics
• Morphological freedom
• Human genetic engineering
• "Playing god" objection
• Posthumanism

References

1. Maxwell, Mehlman. "Will Directed Evolution Destroy Humanity, and If So, What Can We Do About It?" (PDF). 3 St. Louis U.J. Health L. & Pol'y 93, 96-97 (2009]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-10.
2. Campa, Riccardo. "Toward a transhumanist politics". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
3. Askland, Andrew (2011). "The Misnomer of Transhumanism as Directed Evolution" (PDF). International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society. 9 (1): 71–78. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-27.
4. Stock, Gregory (1999). Humans: Objects of conscious design. BBC.
5. Sharon, Tamar (11 October 2013). Human Nature in an Age of Biotechnology: The Case for Mediated Posthumanism. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9789400775541 – via Google Books.
6. Clarke, Adele E.; Mamo, Laura; Fosket, Jennifer Ruth; Fishman, Jennifer R.; Shim, Janet K. (1 January 2009). Biomedicalization: Technoscience, Health, and Illness in the U.S. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822391258 – via Google Books.
7. Kline, Ronald R. (25 June 2015). The Cybernetics Moment: Or Why We Call Our Age the Information Age. JHU Press. ISBN 9781421416724 – via Google Books.
8. Gurd, Sean Alexander (1 January 2005). Iphigenias at Aulis: Textual Multiplicity, Radical Philology. Cornell University Press. p. 58. ISBN 9780801443299 – via Internet Archive.
9. Orr, Jackie (8 February 2006). Panic Diaries: A Genealogy of Panic Disorder. Duke University Press. p. 169 – via Internet Archive.
10. Mazan, Tobiasz (17 April 2015). "Transcend the Flesh: Transhumanism debate". Tobiasz Mazan – via Google Books.
11. Blake, Charlie; Molloy, Claire; Shakespeare, Steven (15 March 2012). Beyond Human: From Animality to Transhumanism. A&C Black. ISBN 9781441150110 – via Google Books.
12. Riha, Daniel (28 December 2016). Frontiers of Cyberspace. Rodopi. ISBN 978-9401208581 – via Google Books.
13. Collard, Andrée; Contrucci, Joyce (1 January 1989). Rape of the Wild: Man's Violence Against Animals and the Earth. Indiana University Press. p. 125 – via Internet Archive.
14. Wolf, Milton T. (1 January 1997). Shaw and Science Fiction. Penn State Press. ISBN 0271016817 – via Google Books.
15. "Drugs, Space, and Cybernetics: Evolution to Cyborgs" (PDF). 1961. Archived from the original on 2016-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
16. "Manfred Clynes and the Cyborg". by Chris Hables Gray. Archived from the original on April 19, 2005. Retrieved June 12, 2005.
    which in turn cites an interview with Manfred E. Clynes in
    Gray, Mentor, and Figueroa-Sarriera (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. New York: Routledge.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
    pages 29–34, which in turn cites
    Clynes, Manfred E. & Nathan S. Kline (1960). "Cyborgs and Space" (PDF). Astronautics. September: 26–27 and 74–75.
17. "Cyborg Systems". ISTF Brochures. Retrieved June 12, 2005.
18. "Frequently Asked Questions about Transhumanism". Futurist Transhuman Think Tank. Archived from the original on 2003-02-23. Retrieved June 12, 2005.
19. Clynes, Manfred E. & Nathan S. Kline (1960). "Cyborgs and Space" (PDF). Astronautics. September.