Transhumanism Project

Once defined simply as the �tools we use,� we are becoming increasingly aware that �technology� is better understood as a mode of engaging our natural and communal environments. The emergent technologies of genetics, robotics, informatics, and neuro-biology are converging, placing us on the horizon of transformed lifespans, forms of communities, and our corporeal bodies. Conceptions of the human, once imagined only in science fiction, are becoming actualities almost daily. In effect, we are fast becoming �techno-humans� and, in the process, discovering that technologies have social and moral implications. Thus, when we debate the roles of technology in our lives, we are actually debating who we are as humans, what we wish to be, and why we wish to achieve this.
These questions are at the heart of humanistic inquiry, meaning that we must negotiate them while we use and evaluate the technologies that prompt them. However, because our techno-evolution is outpacing individual and communal abilities to reflect on these questions, they have become increasingly complex and pressing. This challenges our basic notions of the �self,� stretching them to their limits and making our critical decisions about the emerging �techno-human� much less certain. This project suggests a means for negotiating the existential challenges posed by our hyper-technological age.