" Yet the Amish do not categorically condemn technology in Luddite fashion" . Nor are they technologically naive. Rather, Amish communities selectively sort out what might help or harm them. They categorically prohibit some technology -- television, for example. Yet most groups accept the newest binoculars and camping gear without reservation. More significantly, the Amish modify and adapt technology in creative ways to fit their cultural values and social goals. Amish technologies are diverse, complicated, and ever-changing."
Something between the extreme Ludite position and the starry-eyed Transhumanist one might be the ideal. But that sort of prudence is not what we are seeing among our business and political leaders. Rather, as Bill Gates has made clear in a number of proclamations, we are watching a small group of wealthy people try to "fast track" a vaccine which they plan to force upon everyone. Does the Covid-19 virus really justify our throwing both democracy and safety to the winds in order to usher in a new and presumably improved transhumanist world?
Another DreamPerhaps transhumanism is the wrong dream. We need a dream of equality, mutual respect and cooperation. Something like the dream Martin Luther King Jr. told us about. Or the reign of love envisioned by Jesus. We need a dream grounded in mutually sustaining and enriching relationships, or, in biological imagery, in symbiosis. Humanity might aspire to be a coral reef rising out of, and providing a home for, a plethora of colorful swimming creatures. But we don't need the dream of a small elite group of humanity that specializes in the exploitation of others being imposed on the rest of us. True, the dream of transhumanism displays a bit of glitter at first glance. But I do not think it is what we need to guide us at this turning point in human history.
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