Zen and Transhumanism

[Bearshirt Buddhist]

There is a word for using genetic manipulation to make superior human beings. That word is eugenics and people are rightly leery of it. I am not persuaded by the argument from inevitability that we have to just accept it; and I do not believe it will make us better. To think eugenics will end wars is to assume wars are caused by our genes, and not, say, inequality, shortage of the basic necessities of life in some parts of the world, competition for control of resources, unjust economic systems, standing armies and weapons technology, all the messy business of human beings existing within societies, cultures and histories. Buddhism strikes me as much more useful here than genetics.

Transhumanism, what I have read of it - not a great deal, to be clear - also takes a very reductive view of human beings. We are software, code that can simply be reprogrammed, or copied and uploaded to any sufficiently complex computer. This is the manipulative, controlling aspect of the rational mind almost deified. It is imo untrue, an inaccurate description of this wonderful mysterious thing of being a human, and because it oversimplifies it is dehumanizing.

Gassho
Theo

Sat today

[Jundo]

There is a word for using genetic manipulation to make superior human beings. That word is eugenics and people are rightly leery of it. I am not persuaded by the argument from inevitability that we have to just accept it; and I do not believe it will make us better. To think eugenics will end wars is to assume wars are caused by our genes, and not, say, inequality, shortage of the basic necessities of life in some parts of the world, competition for control of resources, unjust economic systems, standing armies and weapons technology, all the messy business of human beings existing within societies, cultures and histories. Buddhism strikes me as much more useful here than genetics.

Transhumanism, what I have read of it - not a great deal, to be clear - also takes a very reductive view of human beings. We are software, code that can simply be reprogrammed, or copied and uploaded to any sufficiently complex computer. This is the manipulative, controlling aspect of the rational mind almost deified. It is imo untrue, an inaccurate description of this wonderful mysterious thing of being a human, and because it oversimplifies it is dehumanizing.

Gassho
Theo

Hi Theo,

This is my personal opinion, no infallible "Zen teacher" view, and opinions can vary. I lost family in the Nazi death camps, so "eugenics" hits close to home.

Random mutation and undirected "survival of the fittest" evolution left us in our current state, whereby we evolved to be hunters in the jungle who now live with the same drives, instincts and violent dispositions in modern cities and towns. Our DNA made us animals, and we need to soften our animal natures a bit. Nature did it by hit and miss (if a mutation didn't work, well, the mutant just was still born or eaten by a stronger predator), I think that we can do at least as well, testing treatments the same way we do any medical treatment. Furthermore, I am speaking ... not about building any kind of superman or eliminating all violence from the world ... but very minor tweaks to human nature to eliminate our worst tendencies.

For example, if it could be shown that a specific genetic alteration to most child predators or an implant (that would release a neutralizing electrical or pharmaceutical treatment when sexual or violent urges arise in a known predator) would eliminate the vast majority of child sexual abuse recidivism, preventing many thousands of children from being harmed each year while also reducing our need for prisons, would you oppose their use? I believe that such medical treatments could be offered to the convicted criminals as a voluntary alternative to prison, while children would again be safe to play in our parks and walk to school alone or, sadly, in their own homes.

Peace, Jundo

STLah

[Bearshirt Buddhist]

Hi Jundo

Yes, I should have realized that was a possibility and written with a gentler tone of voice. It's personal for me too, as I have a disabled daughter and this has made me aware how awash we still are in eugenic assumptions about which lives have value and which do not. I just feel that genetic manipulation is the wrong place to look, not that we should not seek solutions to the problems you name (we certainly should).

All the best
Theo

Sat today