The Ebullient Transhumanist and the Sober Theologian
The worldwide transhumanist (H+) movement upgrades technological hopes and expectations to a level of spiritual fervor. When looking through the eyes of the public theologian, we see in H+ a disguised religion replete with faith in techno-salvation and even immortality. This is unrealistic. Whereas...
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| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2019 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Navarra |
| Repository: | Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/58295 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10171/58295 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Artificial Intelligence Intelligence Amplification transhumanism H+ superintelligence Singularity radical life extension cybernetic immortality Gnosticism public theology love sin-and-grace |
| Summary: | The worldwide transhumanist (H+) movement upgrades technological hopes and expectations to a level of spiritual fervor. When looking through the eyes of the public theologian, we see in H+ a disguised religion replete with faith in techno-salvation and even immortality. This is unrealistic. Whereas H+ assumes enhanced intelligence has redemptive power, the more realistic theologian avers that it is love and love alone that has transformative power. The implicit Gnostic assumptions of H+ are too weak to redeem the human condition; they need fortification by a hard-nosed sinand- grace dialectic. Apologetic public theologians can offer the wider public a more realistic assessment of technology’s potential while providing genuine hope in a future vision based on divine promise. |
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