Power, Ego, Death. From Superman to Posthumanism
Usually, articles and news translations about neuroprosthetics, genome editing, and the invention of new nootropics are published here. This is experimental philosophical material that partially explains “why I am writing all this.” What is the meaning of technological development during a global crisis? Is there a place for the ideas of a superman when most of the population lives in poverty and financial inequality is gaining momentum? And where is the boundary between the superiority of the individual and evolution? Let's try to figure it out.
Each of us is reading these lines only because our ancestors had sufficient resources for survival and reproduction. We were lucky to go through billions of accidents to become humans, the highest species among other living organisms. But the evolutionary race is not over. Its tools are told community materials. And about possible prospects – the materials of this article.
The idea of the superman
The idea that a specific person is the pinnacle of nature's or God's creation is the foundation of most religions or political movements. The fact that “we are specifically better than others” is used by any community whose goal is to assert its greatness. And in the last century there were all the opportunities for this. Just as today there are individual attempts to assert their power, creating artificial life.
Ego's Jubilation
Having discovered the first fruits of technological progress, humanity rejoiced. We were able to objectively point out why some people are better than others. To point out what space there is for development, and how technology helps us get it.
The idea of the Superman originated in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and found interpretations as the Super Ego in the works of Sigmund Freud, as the idea of a bridge between the animal and something greater in the works of Carl Jung, in the idea of Alfred Adler, in the approach to man as an incredibly complex, individual system. Although our ego states are much broader.
The world served man and the march of industrialization reshaped territories. Roads were laid, cities arose, power plants were erected, changing the courses of rivers. All this existed and developed within the framework of incredible tension known as the “Cold War”. And in the arms race, the boundaries of power and the conquest of space, humanity received the fruits of technological progress. At the cost deprivation in choosing an operating system for the brain.
The Collapse of the Concept of Ultimate Authority
If we turn to the works of Elias Canetti, we will see how closely the categories of “Power” and “Death” are intertwined. From primitive tribes to developed civilizations, the cult of power goes hand in hand with the cult of death.
We see the need and the right to kill kings in the local kingdoms of Africa who consciously come to power, knowing that their lifespan is limited to a decade.
We see how closely the cult of death haunts modern civilization. From the monuments to kings in central squares – Heroes' Square in Budapest, to the Mausoleum with the mummified body of the leader in Moscow.
Printing the faces of presidents and rulers on banknotes of states is an attempt to enter immortality and perpetuate one's memory. Or as Emperor Octavian Augustus did, after whom a separate month is dedicated.
This whole cult of greatness lasted until about the middle of the previous century. New leaders come, states flourish, borders change. But attempts to glorify a specific person are faced with growing waves of negativity. And it is not a matter of protests against the person, but of the existence alternative positions and visionswhose voices are becoming increasingly important.
Triumph of the individual
Accessibility and technological advancement have become a force above political leaders, patriotic convictions, or religious doctrines. The absolute power of power, as the continuity of God's power on earth, has been called into question. And the leaders' guises have not withstood the spotlights that illuminate the smallest dark spots on their reputations. At the same time, the idea of man of the future.
More than human
The idea of a super-being who possesses human qualities and superhuman abilities has been rethought. The psychedelic revolution has become the foundation for the development of a wide range of opinions. And so we have the world of Orwell's totalitarian regime of 1984, and in contrast to it, the concept of Huxley's Brave New World is exalted.
In both worlds, the role of the individual becomes insignificant. His interests, vision, life mean very little. Instead, the system of principles, values and ideas that this person professes gains strength. Both by being aware of them and by going with the flow.
We see the embodiment of these works in real life. Both in totalitarian countries that unleash wars and proclaim the dictate of power, and in liberal countries that revel in hedonism and sexual diversity.
The vision of the ideal man, the idea of the superman, has collapsed. Modern morality, clinging to the fragments of a ghostly past, will only further distort the picturewith a claim to change reality.
The collapse of systems of ideological differences
Science and technology are objective. They describe the world as it is, with its laws and rules. In clear examples, we see the symbiosis of living organisms within the framework of one biological environment. A person is capable, if not to understand, then to be horrified by the small probability by which our planet and life on it exist.
Our division into nations and countries, our state borders, our cultural and social differences are determined solely by how our brain interprets incoming information. The entire set of information that divides humanity existed as a system of protection and division into “strangers” and “us”. And this system is hopelessly outdated. Especially against the background of rethinking such supposedly exclusively human qualities such as intelligence.
Of course, you shouldn't get close to those who see you as an enemy, or embrace a foreign culture that doesn't want to assimilate. But if people of different cultures, political views, ideas, and beliefs are willing to reject dogma for the sake of cooperation and creating something greater, there is no reason to limit or condemn them for this choice.
A Single Superorganism. From Superman to Posthumanism
The vision of a superman as a person capable of defending and proclaiming his interests despite the opinions of others is coming to an end. A person, possessing budget technological solutions, is able to see and proclaim a picture of the world that seems fair to him personally. And it is becoming more and more difficult to prohibit this choice every day. The titans of power are crumbling together with the trust of individuals that previously nourished their bodies. What remains in the end?
Biohacking
Modern research and technology are becoming more and more personalized. Taking hormone tests, studying medical articles about reference values of hormones, entering the market of dietary supplements and gray pharma. There are more opportunities to “add” something new to the body today than ever before.
Against the background of an excess of tools, a separate direction is beginning to form, which has become a legacy not only of healthy lifestyle and psychotherapy as answers to normalizing lifestyle. Biohacking And neurohacking offer consistent solutions on how to “improve your life.” How not only to pump up productivity and efficiency, but also to seek happiness, peace of mind, and fulfillment of “all this for 100 million lifetimes.”
Every person today who has at least some income and access to the Internet is free to pump himself up and saturate himself with the necessary information. Cold water, sunlight and normalizing caffeine consumption are a simple solution to fix the functionality. Physical exercise and access to philosophical treatises are almost free. And each of us can shape our own reality, ignoring the calls of politicians or corporations to lay our lives, resources and time on their altars of power and greatness.
Transhumanism and posthumanism as a solution
A world where biology and technology merge. A world on the brink of a singularity where consciousness on the server or neural network based on artificially grown brains – this is a given reality, not mythical plans. A world where corporate leaders are having a dialogue about conquering other planets. A world where you can find like-minded people on the other side of the planet in a couple of hours.
We can build connections regardless of distance or crisis. After all, wars and conflicts have always raged. And learned men have been forced to hide from emperors and those in power. Survival has always accompanied human history. But today, for the first time, opportunities for development among individuals are gradually beginning to accumulate and influence our way of life.
We are used to being connected 24/7, receiving news and memes as soon as we feel like checking social media. Communication technologies have become almost as close to us as our eyes and ears. This part of our nervous system.
Perhaps we are already becoming that transitional species, the last section of the bridge from man to superman. A new and unified creature, whose nervous system is a symbiosis of social networks and news portals. But with a conscious culture of content consumption.
Brave New World Order
It is not only the presence of instruments of progress that makes us superhuman, but also morality, built on top of the need for a symbiotic connection between organics and cybernetics. Cyberpsychology offers man new horizons, but so far only of a descriptive nature, despite on the development and collapse of neuroprosthetics.
Our world is frozen on the brink of chaos and one step away from singularity. Libraries are being burned, access to resources is blocked, the only source of knowledge is yourself and your device. Self-development ceases to be a “fashionable trend” and completely deprived of everything that infogypsyism imposes on himIt is a necessity for survival and perfection.
Perhaps these lines are being read now by someone who is destined to become Homo Deus.
