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Bible, Theology & Philosophy
Transhumanism
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“Shatzer challenges the notion that our technological tools are in and of themselves neutral and that their impact depends entirely on how we use them. The reality and significance of our (especially digital) technologies are that they ‘are shaping us.’” - Baptist Standard

Discussion

Mon, 11/04/19

Link to the book…

Amazon says I’m supposed to tell you that this is a paid link… but it’s really not, unless you buy the book, in which case a little bit goes to SI. Which would be swell, if you want to read it.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Mon, 11/04/19

I read the book a couple of months ago. Not sure what I think about everything in it, but I recommend it. Transhumanism is a topic that we need to be grabbling with and that we need to be thinking through Biblically, but is a topic that is probably rarely (if ever) broached in our churches. It will be soon, though, and we need to be prepared with answers.

Mon, 11/04/19

Agree. The time to start preparing believers to grapple with these questions is well ahead of when they become everyday “normal.” In retrospect, we weren’t ready to deal with the cheap information explosion that is the internet… we weren’t ready for the constant information connection that is the smart phone. … and technological body modification is, I think, going to be much more disruptive than even these.

“Disruptive” isn’t the same thing as “evil,” but it’s perilous… I do think the author is correct in the central premise that technology isn’t neutral in the sense that we’ve grown accustomed to assuming. The old cliche is that when you only have a hammer, everything is a nail. When you have instant global communications and instant access to terabytes and terabytes of data everywhere every moment, everything is a—what? I don’t know, but my point is that the technology changes how we think and behave, how we view ourselves, how we process meaning. It always does more than just solve the problem we invented it for.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.