Approaching Transhumanism: On How Human Beings Transform in the 21st Century

• Authors: Wendykowska, Emilia

Abstracts

EN

The following article is to introduce the reader into a cultural and intellectual movement whose aim is to identify the need for improvement in human life in the sphere of physicality as well as mentality with the aid of modern technologies – transhumanism. With the dramatic change in the perception of technology, transhumanist welcome the opportunity to improve cognitive skills, help to perpetuate human happiness, or increase longevity. Although the opponents of the transhumanist thought dismiss it as “the world’s most dangerous idea,” the adversaries advocate that the alternation of human form is both practical and reasonable. With the use of modern technology, enthusiasts of transhumanism try to prove that the human body needs to be re-invented in order to transcend the natural limitations. In my work I will try to tackle the problem of human body being currently subject to gradual transition from Homo Sapiens to Robo Sapiens, the process of ‘becoming’ a cyborg. By incorporating bodily augmentation, contemporary artists such as Stelarc or Neil Harbisson cast a light on the change of physical form, as well as the definition of being human. Evoking much controversy, transhumanism brings a completely new dimension to the understanding of the current human condition.

Keywords

EN

transhumanism; posthumanism; Stelarc; transformation; Neil Harbisson

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Analyses/Rereadings/Theories: A Journal Devoted to Literature, Film and Theatre
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2

Dates

published

2014

Contributors

author

Wendykowska, Emilia

other

Emilia Wendykowska is a graduate of English Philology at the University of Łódź. She is mainly interested in gender studies, posthumanism as well as postcolonialism, which is visible in both of her theses. While her BA thesis is a comparative study of female characters in Hemingway’s The Sun also Rises and Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night (2011), her MA dissertation tackles the problem of gender and sexuality in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (2013)

Identifiers

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/11089/22213