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Title:
Religion and transhumanism : the unknown future of human enhancement / Calvin Mercer and Tracy J. Trothen, editors.
Author:
Mercer, Calvin R., editor.
Publication Information:
Santa Barbara : Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2015]
Call Number:
BL2747.6 .R425 2015
Abstract:
"Transhumanism" or "human enhancement" is an intellectual and cultural movement that advocates the use of emerging technologies to change human traits. Although they may sound like science fiction, the possibilities suggested by transhumanism are very real, and the questions they raise have no easy answers. If these enhancements--especially major ones like the indefinite extension of healthy human life--become widely available, they would arguably have a more radical impact on humankind than any other development in history. This book comprises essays that explore transhumanism and the issues that surround it, addressing numerous fascinating questions posed by scholars of religion from various traditions. How will "immortality" or extreme longevity change our religious beliefs and practices? How might pharmaceuticals enhance spiritual experiences? Will "post-human" technologies be available to all persons, or will a superior "post-human race" arise to dominate the human species? The discussions are as intriguing as the future they suggest.
ISBN:
9781440833250
Physical Description:
xiv, 452 pages ; 25 cm
Contents:
Introduction: making the unknown known / Calvin Mercer -- Section 1: Theological anthropology: what it means to be human -- Transhumanism and the meaning of life / Anders Sandberg -- More human than the human: toward a :transhumanist: Christian theological anthropology / Matthew Zaro Fisher -- Cindi, six, and her: gender, relationality, and friendly artificial intelligence / Jeanine Thweatt-Bates -- Section 2: Soteriology: salvation now and forever -- "The relief of man's estate": transhumanism, the Baconian Project, and the theological impetus for material salvation / Joseph Wolyniak -- A Salvation paradox for transhumanism: saving you versus saving you / Patrick D. Hopkins -- Diagnosing death in the transhumanism and Christian traditions / Todd T.W. Daly -- Cyborg, sage, and saint: transhumanism as seen from an East Asian theological setting / Heup Young Kim -- Section 3: Eschatology: for what do we hope: -- Becoming God by the numbers: an evolutionary journey toward the divine / Philip A. Douglas -- The religion of technology: transhuanism and the myth of progress / Michael S. Burdett -- Extreme longevity: insights from the three Chinese spiritual traditions / Geoffrey Redmond -- Utopianism and eschatology: Judaism engages transhumanism / Hava Tirosh-Samuelson -- Rapture of the geeks: singularitarianism, feminism, and the yearning for transcendence / Amy Michelle Be Baets -- Section 4: Extreme enhancement ethics: theological, bioethical, and philosophical questions -- Transhumanism and Catholic natural law: changing human nature and changing moral norms / Brian Patrick Green -- The risks of transhumanism: religious engagements with the precautionary and proactionary principles / Daniel McFee -- Christian theology and transhumanism: the "created co-creator" and bioethical principles / Stephen Garner -- Remaking human nature: transhumanism, theology, and creatureliness in bioethical controversies / Cellia Deane-Drummond -- Critical transhumanism as a religious ethic of otherness / Steven A. Benko and Amelia Hruby -- Section 5: Body matters -- Return of the corporeal battle: how second-century Christology struggles inform the transhumanism debate / Lee A. Johnson -- Flesh made data: the post human project in light of the incarnation / Brent Waters -- Morphological freedom and the rebellion against human bodiliness: notes from the Roman Catholic tradition / Cory Andrew Labrecque -- The fleshless future: a phenomenological perspective on mind uploading / Hannah Scheidt -- Section 6: Corporeal diversity and religious eperience -- Does transhumanism face an uncanny valley among the religious:? Donald M. Braxton -- The trans-athlete and the religion of sport : implications of transhumanism for elite sport's spiritual dimension / Tracy J. Trothen -- Spiritual enhancement / Ron Cole-Turner -- Conclusion: Transhumanism and religion: glimpsing the furure of human enhancement / Tracy J. Trothen.
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