{"id":102,"date":"2013-05-02T13:05:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T17:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/?p=102"},"modified":"2014-01-21T20:45:36","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T01:45:36","slug":"does-enhanced-human-equal-transhuman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/?p=102","title":{"rendered":"Does Enhanced Human Equal Transhuman?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author :\u00a0Armand Vespertine<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Human enhancement and Transhumanism are common topics for futurists, and\u00a0the two terms are often treated as if they\u2019re interchangeable.\u00a0While there is certainly overlap between the two concepts, and by\u00a0definition a Transhuman would have to be the beneficiary of Human\u00a0enhancement, does Human enhancement automatically make you\u00a0Transhuman? If Human beings choose to enhance or otherwise modify\u00a0themselves with future technology, at what point could they no longer\u00a0be thought of as Humans? What difference, if any, is there between an\u00a0enhanced Human and a Transhuman? Does simply receiving an\u00a0enhancement, any enhancement, render you no longer Human?<\/p>\n

In my humble opinion, the answer is obviously no. Most of us in the\u00a0developed world have been vaccinated multiple times in our lives, and\u00a0a vaccine is in fact a form of enhancement. It makes their recipients\u00a0immune to (often fatal)<\/em> diseases, increasing their life expectancy.\u00a0Are people who have been vaccinated any more or less Human than those\u00a0that haven\u2019t? Again, the answer is obviously no. Taking a\u00a0vaccine, drug, gene therapy, implant, nanite injection or anything\u00a0else to improve your health or performance above average, or even beyond what any other Human is capable of, does not necessarily make\u00a0you Transhuman. To illustrate my point, I will use two pop culture\u00a0examples of Human enhancement and post-humanism respectively.<\/p>\n

\"gattaca\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above, you\u2019ll note the picture of Ethan Hawke in Gattaca. As I\u2019m\u00a0sure most of you are aware, Gattaca is a film where the majority of\u00a0the population has been genetically enhanced, and those who aren\u2019t\u00a0are second class citizens. However, I would not consider the\u00a0genetically enhanced people of Gattaca to be Transhuman. The fact that Ethan Hawke\u2019s character is able to pass for genetically enhanced is proof their society puts\u00a0too much stock in genetic determinism. As one character puts it so\u00a0pithily, \u201cMy son wasn\u2019t everything they promised me he\u2019d be,\u201d. I don\u2019t believe in genetic determinism, so I\u2019m\u00a0skepitcal about the ability of genetic modification to solve psychological and social problems. I also believe that genetic\u00a0engineering will be far more limited than some of the more optimistic\u00a0futurists have predicted.<\/p>\n

Most Human traits are polygenic, meaning influenced by many different\u00a0genes. Individual genes can also regulate multiple functions. The\u00a0implication is that in most cases you\u2019ll have to alter many\u00a0different genes to produce a noticeable result, and since those genes\u00a0affect other functions as well you\u2019ll likely get severe side effects. The Human body, along with all other living things, is\u00a0holistic; a combination of interdependent systems. You can\u2019t\u00a0change one thing without affecting everything else. The more radical\u00a0genetic alterations are made, the more likely there will be severe\u00a0side effects. Elective gene therapy, both in embryos and adults, will likely be severely limited in the alterations that can be safely\u00a0made. I doubt gene therapy could make anyone superhuman.<\/p>\n

So what could? I think a major requirement for being post-human would\u00a0require an individual to no longer be genetically Human, meaning they\u00a0cannot produce a fertile offspring with a Human being. That being\u00a0said, genetic enhancement would only make you post-human if it made\u00a0you unable to breed with other Humans. I\u2019m not a geneticist,\u00a0but I\u2019m fairly certain that such radical genetic alterations\u00a0would be fatal.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say that you received gene therapy to block myostatin production,\u00a0making you like young Liam Hoekstra, who naturally possesses the\u00a0gene. Well he\u2019s still Human, and you would be too. Muscles\u00a0don\u2019t make you more or less Human, either genetically or\u00a0philosophically. No matter what genetic enhancements a person had, so long as they could produce children with a Human being then they\u00a0would still be genetically Human. (I don\u2019t want to get into the\u00a0complex issue of how certain artificial methods of reproduction could\u00a0create chimeras, so I\u2019m going by the traditional definition of\u00a0species).<\/em><\/p>\n

But is being a genetic member of the species Homo sapiens\u00a0sufficient criteria for being identified as Human? Would someone who\u00a0was just a Human brain in an otherwise wholly cybernetic body still\u00a0be Human, since they could be cloned from a neuron? Genetically\u00a0perhaps, but I believe that such a being would no longer be philosophically Human.<\/p>\n

\"watchmenblue\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above, I\u2019ve put a picture of Doctor Manhattan,\u00a0who in my opinion is unquestionably post-human. His abilities not\u00a0only exceed those of ordinary Human beings, but those that could\u00a0conceivably be offered by genetic or cybernetic enhancements. He\u2019s\u00a0immortal and indestructible, apparently capable of taking a stroll on the surface of the sun. He can reassemble himself on the atomic\u00a0level, so even having his atoms wretched apart can\u2019t kill him.\u00a0Manhattan can \u201cbend matter to his will\u201d, although\u00a0apparently he doesn\u2019t have the ability to constructively alter\u00a0a Human body i.e. cure cancer. This doesn\u2019t really make sense\u00a0to me, especially since he later claims that he has the ability to\u00a0create life. He can teleport himself and others at least as far as\u00a0Mars, though he does claim that he can travel to other galaxies. He\u00a0can duplicate himself, then remerge with his doppelgangers (what\u00a0exactly he\u2019s doing here, I have no idea)<\/em>. He can grow to at\u00a0least the size of a skyscraper, though we never see him shrink\u00a0smaller than about six foot six. Then again, why would he want to? He apparently doesn\u2019t need to eat or drink or sleep, though in\u00a0a conversation with Laurie he implies he can eat. Though we\u2019re\u00a0never told what his senses are like, he does say that he can view\u00a0matter at the sub-atomic level. However, when he\u2019s chasing\u00a0Adrien at New Karnac, he says he\u2019ll have to turn the walls to\u00a0glass in order to see him, so he obviously can\u2019t see through\u00a0walls. Finally and perhaps most importantly, he\u2019s prescient,\u00a0which has made him rather fatalistic.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to adopt Wil McCarthy\u2019s explanation\u00a0of what Doctor Manhattan is; a bubble in the Zero Point Field with John Osterman\u2019s atomic pattern imprinted on it (although\u00a0obviously his physique has been \u201cenhanced\u201d)<\/em>. This ZPF\u00a0bubble draws ambient particles to itself and assembles them into a\u00a0corporeal form based on Osterman\u2019s template. His blue glow is\u00a0possibly caused by his body leaking electrons, backed up by Laurie\u2019s statement that kissing him is like licking a battery.<\/p>\n

As a side note, Doctor Manhattan\u2019s origins remind me of Wowbanger\u00a0the Infinitely Prolonged from the Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the\u00a0Galaxy: Life, The Universe and Everything. Like Manhattan, Wowbanger
\nwas made immortal in a fluke accident, which involved a liquid lunch,\u00a0an irrational particle accelerator, and a pair of rubber bands. In\u00a0both cases, no one\u2019s ever been able to replicate the exact\u00a0conditions of the accident or the results, and many die trying. Life,\u00a0The Universe and Everything predates the Watchmen comics by two or three years, so Douglas Adams did it first.\u00a0His extraordinary powers aside, does Doctor Manhattan meet my criteria\u00a0for being post-human, either genetically or philosophically? Based on\u00a0my assumption on what Doctor Manhattan is, his genetics are\u00a0irrelevant. His blue-prints are encoded not on DNA, but on a bubble\u00a0in the Zero Point Field. His body arranges himself according to that\u00a0template. His genes are merely vestigial, along with most of his\u00a0Human anatomy. I don\u2019t know if Manhattan is genetically\u00a0identical to Osterman, but I will assume that he is, and their\u00a0physical differences (muscles, height, hair, and presumably penis\u00a0size)<\/em> are due to other factors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not mentioned if Manhattan ever had any children, and since that\u00a0would be fairly significant I think it\u2019s safe to assume he\u00a0doesn\u2019t. When the attempt to create other Manhattans with the\u00a0Intrinsic Field Generator failed, surely someone must have tried to\u00a0talk Manhattan into attempting to reproduce the old fashion way,\u00a0either by donating sperm or attempting to impregnate either Jamie or\u00a0Laurie if they were willing. Since Manhattan did everything else the\u00a0government told him, I see no reason why he wouldn\u2019t go along\u00a0with this. The question here is why did it fail?<\/p>\n

Since I presume Manhattan is still genetically John Osterman, the cause\u00a0must be non-genetic. Most likely, the electrons shooting off from\u00a0Manhattan\u2019s glowing blue sperm somehow disrupted either the\u00a0conception or the early development of the zygote. This is a bit of a\u00a0stretch, since we know John\u2019s radiation is not actually harmful\u00a0to adult Humans, but maybe it\u2019s strong enough to kill a zygote.\u00a0Whatever the problem was, if it could somehow be overcome, I predict\u00a0that the child would be John Osterman\u2019s offspring and not\u00a0Manhattan\u2019s. It would be completely Human and inherit none of\u00a0Manhattan\u2019s powers, since those are not genetic. So even though\u00a0John Osterman can still breed with Humans, Doctor Manhattan can\u2019t.\u00a0He\u2019s not just genetically different from us, he has completely\u00a0transcended genetics. Therefore, he is genetically a post-human\u00a0being.<\/p>\n

As for the issue of whether or not he is philosophically Human, the\u00a0answer to that is made clear in both the comics and the film\u00a0adaptation. In both incarnations, Manhattan\u2019s powers are\u00a0depicted as isolating him from Humanity. These powers affect his\u00a0thoughts and behaviours. He can no longer relate with Humans, or understand them. His nudity is supposed to be symbolic of this (in\u00a0the comics his penis was a lot less enviable, but whatever)<\/em>. His\u00a0withdrawal from Humanity is most poignantly expressed when he states\u00a0that there is no relevant difference between a live Human body and a\u00a0dead one. He sometimes confuses the future and the present, such as\u00a0when he told Laurie to say hi to Dan from him, forgetting that Laurie\u00a0hadn\u2019t actually asked him out to dinner yet. He can also forget\u00a0fairly simple things about Human beings, such as our need for oxygen. I interpret his sometimes cryptic speech as his attempt at\u00a0articulating thoughts which are beyond Human comprehension into Human\u00a0language. In a philosophical sense, I define post-human powers not merely as exceeding Human abilities, but as inevitably changing the\u00a0thoughts and behaviours of their recipients to the point that they no\u00a0longer think or act like a Human, and find that they can longer\u00a0relate to Human beings. I don\u2019t think I can define exactly what\u00a0it means to be Human in a philosophical sense, so I\u2019m not exactly sure what these powers would be.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, a person who receives an enhancement that does not:<\/p>\n