March 11, 2007
A critical view of transhumanism:
ABC Radio's All in the Mind just had an edition on transhumanism, where evolutionary psychologist Prof Leda Cosmides gives a critical commentary on the movement which seeks to to extend human abilities and lifespan through technology.
The programme is particularly interesting, as transhumanism is still on the scientific fringe, and it's rare to see one of the scientific mainstream make a serious attempt at a critique.
Cosmides takes the movement to task for what she sees as an oversimplification of psychology to fit with technological developments, and a naivety in assuming that human instincts can be engineered without wider consequences.
If you want more of a background to transhumanism, George Dvorsky recently published a transhumanist dictionary, as we reported recently on Mind Hacks.
Link to All in the Mind on 'Prospects for a Transhuman mind?'.
