Transhumanism in fiction

Leave a Comment / Transhumanism, Transhumanism in fiction / By

Many of the tropes of science fiction can be viewed as similar to the goals of transhumanism . Science fiction literature contains many positivities of technologically enhanced human life, a few times in utopian (especially techno-utopian ) societies. However, science fiction ‘s posthuman often poses with a cautionary twist. The more pessimistic scenarios include many dystopian tales of human bioengineering gone wrong.

Examples of “transhumanist fiction” include novels by Linda Nagata , Greg Egan , Zoltan Istvan , and Hannu Rajaniemi . Transhuman novels are often philosophical in nature, exploring the impact such technologies might have on human life. Nagata’s novels, for example, explore the relationship between the natural and artificial, and may be beneficial, they may also be hazardous, so should not be lightly undertaken. [1] Egan’s Diaspora explores the nature of ideas such as reproduction and questions if they make sense in a post-human context. Istvan’s novel The Transhumanist Wagerexplores how far one person would go to achieve an indefinite lifespan via science and technology. [2] Rajaniemi’s novel, while more action oriented, still explores themes like death and finitude in post-human life.

Fictional depictions of transhumanist scenarios are also seen in other media, such as movies ( Transcendence ), television series (the Ancients of Stargate SG-1 ), manga and anime ( Ghost in the Shell ), role-playing games ( Rifts and Eclipse Phase) ) and video games ( Deus Ex or BioShock ).

Transhumanist literature

Notable transhumanist authors

See also: Category: Transhumanists
  • Neal Asher
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Iain M. Banks
  • Stephen Baxter
  • Greg Bear
  • Gregory Benford
  • Marshall Brain
  • David Brin
  • Octavia Butler
  • Ted Chiang
  • Arthur C. Clarke
  • Philip K. Dick
  • Cory Doctorow
  • Jacek Dukaj
  • Greg Egan
  • Warren Ellis
  • Peter F Hamilton
  • Michel Houellebecq
  • Aldous Huxley
  • Zoltan Istvan
  • Stanisław Lem
  • CS Lewis
  • Richard K. Morgan
  • Rowing Naam
  • Yuri Nikitin
  • Richard Powers
  • Adam Renzema
  • Alastair Reynolds
  • John Scalzi
  • Dan Simmons
  • David Simpson
  • Olaf Stapledon
  • Neal Stephenson
  • Bruce Sterling
  • Charles Stross
  • John C. Wright

Transhumanist novels

Main page: Category: Transhumanist books

In television and film

See also: Category: Transhumanism in television series and Category: Transhumanism in film
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • The 4400
  • 2B
  • Akira
  • alphas
  • Andromeda
  • Avatar
  • Battlestar Galactica
  • Beneath the Planet of the Apes
  • Bicentennial Man
  • Bio Booster Armor Guyver
  • Brainstorm
  • Caprica
  • Chappie
  • Childhood’s End
  • Crest of the Stars
  • Cyborg
  • Dark Angel
  • Dark City
  • District 9
  • Doctor Who
  • Elysium
  • Ex Machina
  • Fringe
  • Galatea 2.2
  • Galaxy Express 999
  • Gattaca
  • Ghost in the Shell
  • Heroes
  • H + (a web series)
  • Humans
  • The Lawnmower Man
  • Limitless
  • Lucy
  • The Matrix franchise
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
  • Mobile Suit Gundam
  • Mutant X
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion
  • Ninja Robots
  • Orphan Black
  • The Outer Limits episodes:
    • ” The Sixth Finger “
  • Pacific Rim
  • Powder
  • Prometheus
  • RoboCop franchise
  • Seveneves
  • Stargate SG-1
  • Star Trek: The Original Series :
    • ” Where No Man Has Gone Before “
    • ” Charlie X “
    • ” Miri “
    • ” What Are Little Girls Made Of? “
    • ” Space Seed “
    • ” Metamorphosis “
    • ” Spock’s Brain “
    • ” Is There in Truth No Beauty? “
    • ” Plato’s Stepchildren “
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation
    • ” Hide and Q “
    • ” The Nth Degree
    • ” Q Who “, ” The Best of Both Worlds ” and ” I, Borg “
  • Star Wars
  • Strange Days
  • Terminator Salvation
  • Texhnolyze
  • Transcendence
  • Tron franchise
  • Episodes of The X Files
    • ” Killswitch “
  • Watchmen
  • X-Men

In comics or graphic novels

See also: Category: Transhumanism in comics and Category: Transhumanism in anime and manga
  • Battle Angel Alita / Gunm
  • The webcomic Dresden Codak stars has a transhuman cyborg named Kimiko Ross who has made her body over the race of the strip stories.
  • The comic Transmetropolitan is about a transhuman society, many centuries in the future that includes many cyborgs, human beings, and genetically modified mutants.
  • The dystopian graphic novels Upgrade and Monkey Room by Louis Rosenberg Convey satirical views on the human market Towards singularity.

In musicals

  • Be More Chill

In video games

See also: Category: Transhumanism in video games and Category: Cyborg video games
  • BioShock series
  • Wolfenstein series
  • Crysis series
  • Deus Ex series
  • Halo
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
  • SOMA
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops III
  • Read Only Memories

In table-top games

  • The role playing game Eclipse Phase takes transhumanism to a post-apocalyptic horror setting in which you ‘ve gone rogue, introducing itself with the slogan “Your mind is software. Program it. – Your body is a shell. Change it. – Death is a disease. Cure it. – Extinction is approaching. Fight it. “
  • The GURPS Supplement Transhuman Space deals with a future transhumanist of our solar system, describing a role playing game setting “in the year 2100”.
  • Another prominent and long-lived example is the Warhammer 40,000 universe– Games Workshop’s longstanding tabletop strategy franchise, which includes several video games and dozens of novels. While usually focusing on concepts like the loss of technology and the death of knowledge, and nowhere near what could be called a “utopia”, the Warhammer 40,000 is a transhumanism and even posthumanismare both quite widespread. Cybernetic and genetic modifications, human-machine interfaces, self-aware computer “spirits” (advanced AIs), ubiquitous space travel and even true posthuman. The main Protagonists of Many novels and campaigns, the Imperial Space Marines are literal textbook transhumans: Normal human Men Who-have-been so vastly augmented and changed by technology That They Are No follow Homo sapiens but some other, new species. But unlike many transhuman or posthuman, warhammer 40,000is bleak, violent and filled with war and even with the existence of posthuman gods (like the Emperor of Mankind or his Primarchs) the world is still on the edge by threats-including those of actual, supernatural gods, namely the Chaos Gods, the Two Orkish deities, Gork and Mork, and their fungal offspring and the C’Tan, the star eating gods who tricked the Necrons into becoming what they are now.

See also

  • biopunk
  • Postcyberpunk
  • Cyborgs in fiction
  • Utopian and dystopian fiction
  • Genetic engineering in science fiction
  • Superhumans in fiction
  • Uplifting in science fiction

References

  1. Jump up^ “Review of The Bohr Maker, Tech Heaven and Deception Well by Linda Nagata” . Aleph.se . Retrieved 2012-05-09 .
  2. Jump up^ Giulio Prisco (May 15, 2013). “book review | The Transhumanist Wager”. kurzweilai.net.

Related posts:

  1. Transhumanism Transhumanism (abbreviated as H + or h + ) is an international intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellect and physiology. [1] [2] Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and risks of emerging technologies That Could Overcome Fundamental human limitations as well as ethical [3] limitations of using Such technologies. [4] Reviews The most common...
  2. Outline of transhumanism Transhumanism – international intellectual and cultural movement That affirms the possibility and desirability of Fundamentally transforming the human requirement by Developing and making Widely available technology to Eliminate aging and to Greatly Enhance human intellectual, physical, psychological and Capacities. [1] Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and risks of emerging and hypothetical Technologies That Could Overcome Fundamental human limitations, as well as study the ethical matters Involved in Developing...
  3. Culture series The Culture series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks . The stories center on the Culture , a utopian , post-scarcity space society of humanoids , aliens , and very advanced artificial intelligences living in anarchist habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main theme of the novels is the dilemmas that an idealistic hyperpowerdealing with civilizations that do not share its ideals, and whose behavior it finds repulsive. In...
  4. Transhumanist politics Transhumanist politics is a group of political ideologies that express the belief in improving human beings through science and technology. [1] Transhumanists claim that the transhumanist movement aims to improve humanity with technology and science (for example, through life extension , moral enhancement and the abolition of suffering ). American adjunct professor and author Jeanine Thweatt-Bates considers it possible to define transhumanist politics have one set of...
  5. Posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction , futurology , contemporary art , and philosophy that literally means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human [1] . The concept addresses issues of ethics and justice, language and trans-species communication, social systems, and the intellectual aspirations of interdisciplinarity. Posthumanism is not a confluence with transhumanism (the nanobiotechnological enhancement...
  6. Posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction , futurology , contemporary art , and philosophy that literally means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. [1] The concept addresses issues of ethics and justice, language and trans-species communication, social systems, and the intellectual aspirations of interdisciplinarity. Posthumanism is not a confluence with transhumanism (the nanobiotechnological enhancement...
  7. Inhumans The Inhumans are a fictional race of superhumans appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics ....
  8. Cyborg A cyborg (short for ” cyb ernetic org anism “) is a being with Both organic and Biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline . [1] The term cyborg is not the same thing as bionic , biorobot or android ; it Applies to an organism That HAS restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of Some artificial component or technology is subsequently...
  9. metahuman In DC Comics ‘ DC Universe , a metahuman is a superhuman . [ citation needed ] The term is roughly synonymous with both mutant and mutated in the Marvel Universe and posthumanin the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In DC Comics, the term is used loosely in most instances to be human-like being with extranormal powers and abilities, be aliens, mutant, or magical in nature. A significant portion of these is a genetic variable...
  10. Transhuman Space Transhuman Space ( THS ) is a role-playing game published by Steve Jackson Games as part of the “Powered by GURPS ” ( Generic Universal Role-Playing System ) line. Set in the year 2100, humanity has begun to colonize the Solar System . The pursuit of transhumanism is now in full swing, and more people struggle to reach a fully posthuman state....

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *