Transhumanists say no to death

By Judie Brown

The latest children's book, penned by a transhumanist, is really going well beyond the reality that we know as human beings. The book, entitled Death Is Wrong, is explained thusly:

If you have ever asked, "Why do people have to die?" then this book is for you. The answer is that no, death is not necessary, inevitable, or good. In fact, death is wrong. Death is the enemy of us all, to be fought with medicine, science, and technology.

Really? Oh yes, and here is why. Transhumanism is defined on the Oxford dictionary website as "the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology."

Among the most recent headlines addressing these folks and their stranger-than-fiction creed, we find the suggestion that researchers can program bacterial cells to make computer-like decisions. The article discusses microbiology and its efforts to remove the stigma associated with cloning by taking different avenues to arrive at the same result and just calling it something else.

In addition, philosophers have been discussing the how and when of endowing personhood on entities that would exist in the "posthuman" age that they predict will eventually become a reality. And to make it more enticing and plausible, they describe a "sperm-bot" creation which is "a new type of miniature probe developed from mechanical parts and human cells and capable of swimming through the often highly viscous fluids in the human body."

These examples, provided from various resources, are not only real and have already happened, but should be food for thought among those of us who revere the meaning of the human individual as created by God and understand that, in a world of science where God is dead, anything and everything is up for grabs.

This is what makes Death Is Wrong such a grave concern. The Slate website, of all places, published an article by Joelle Renstrom that brings the concerns this book raises into clear focus. Lest you think otherwise, Renstrom, a transhumanist herself, studies and comments on the myriad places where science and science fiction intersect, so she is no stranger to the ideas posed in this little book. As a college professor, she teaches much of this bizarro-world type technology herself. But of this children's book she has some serious concerns, opining:

Kids will likely eventually find out about transhumanism and the singularity, given their increasing prominence in everything from science classes to video games. I've introduced many college students to these concepts in the research seminar I teach on artificial intelligence. They accept that technology will drastically change life, and most say there's no point in resistance or fear because it's inevitable. I don't disagree. The difference is that college students are far better equipped than kids to contextualize these ideas and consider their implications-they recognize death's wrongness as an idea, not a fact.

Renstrom and her ideology come blazing through in this quote along with her words of caution regarding why young children should not be exposed to ideas as facts, but this entire subject presents to us-as pro-life advocates-another question which is far more fundamental to the future of mankind.

What is it going to take to help our fellow human beings see, understand, and reject the tenets of those among us who are doing their level best to kill the God of our creation-the King of heaven and earth-and take the rest of us with them? Let us recall, with great sobriety, the words of C. S. Lewis: "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in hell chose it."

© Judie Brown