Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Good Game: Dave Callan gives the transhuman extinction the nod

As is the trend at the moment, transhumanism gets the usual thumbs up and this time on the ABC program Good Game in a segment by Dave Callan (discussing the game 'Infamous').

I'm not quite sure what definition he might be using - maybe it's a 'you're human, but you have cool powers built into you now' sort of dealio. Possibly even that is a type of extinction - the Deus Ex video game examined the difference between the haves and have nots.

But unless I'm wrong transhumanists think you can modify the human mind as well - and that's fine, because the magical human spirit or ghost that lives inside the skull is still there, you've just modified the brain bit which has nothing to do with being really being human, because magic.

Okay, a less than neutral description. But folk only notice a contrast they haven't seen before when it's an extreme one.

Anyway, I am charitable on whether he's supporting that definition or just the 'regular stone age brain but with supa powers' definition. Though I guess the title suggests he's giving the nod to the mind alteration part, which if you think about there not being any particular ghosty bit to being human, is just making someone, piece by piece, not be human anymore.

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