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Transhumanism is the social and philosophical movement focusing on improving the human species by researching technologies for human-enhancement. Examples are anti-aging nanobots, augmentation of human sensory and improving cognitive capacity. The idea is to integrate technological advancements (semi-)permanently into the bodies of humans. 

This concept adheres to a vision where a distinctly advanced human species exist through emersion with enhancement technology. Some used examples as of today include (but are not limited to): 

1. Cryogenic preservation. 

Cryogenic preservation or suspension makes it possible for human beings to preserve their brain or body. This is especially interesting in the case of far stage sicknesses. The body part or the whole body is put in liquid nitrogen. The preservation of the body allows the patient to eventually wake up in a world where there is a solution found for the sickness. The people who have participated in this technology are now legally dead. However, according to scientists, they are experiencing it as a deep slumber or unconsciousness which anyone experiences during a faint. However, according to neurobiologist Michael Hendricks, this notion brings false hope about being able to escape death and the capitalization of this false hope is not acceptable. 

• Mind uploading 

Mind uploading entails the expansion of the cognitive abilities of humans by scanning brain contents to a computer or a cloud. This is also called WBE = whole brain emulation. 

Neurotechnologist Ed Boyden from the MIT has dedicated his goals to identifying the proteins and molecules in the brain circuit to simulate the currents in our brain. The first samples have already been reality. The neural activity of a worm with 320 neurons has been mapped. The following procedures would be to convert the neural map into code. How this will develop with a human brain containing billions of neural links is unknown, however, the worm case indicates that it is theoretically possible to map our brains and convert them into a singular consciousness like the cloud. 

The most relevant questions that arise with transhumanism is to what extent we want to proceed with these kinds of experiments and how anyone is going to govern these developments. Do we need it or is it a utopic fantasy of a group of very qualified people?

References:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism

https://medcraveonline.com/IPMRJ/transhumanism-the-big-fraud-towards-digital-slavery.html

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In a world of mass protests like BLM and the Arab Spring, digital social activism plays a big role in perpetuating ideas about current issues. Even though this can be a positive force of change, the threat lays in the way these social changes come into existence in a hyper digitalized society. It is no secret that social media played a catalytic role in the uproar around George Floyd’s death in May 2020. Content on any social media platform finds its user (or consumer) through algorithmic filter bubbles. These filters analyze which users with specific user characteristics like/comment on which type of content. This leads to people becoming stuck in so-called ‘bubbles. All the while they are continuously fed with the same information. This may sound great at first, as people can find their ‘folk’; people they relate to in many regards of life. However, looking at recent phenomenon especially concerning Covid-19, the US elections and fake news on the internet, the extremely problematic areas of these algorithmic filter bubbles are highlighted. Users find themselves in a loop of positive feedback regarding their thoughts and opinion without being exposed to any counterarguments. This leads to people only believing what they have been spoon-fed by these social network algorithms. Users appreciate seeing their thoughts being validated. At the same time, digital platforms monetize from users staying on their platforms. Keeping users that create content and consume the same content through these algorithms is highly profitable as seen with Twitter, which has a total market capitalization of $47.76 billion as of October 2021 (Companiesmarketcap, 2021). Besides Twitter, the mega-conglomerate Google also benefits from these algorithms. However, Google tends to play a more direct role as it shows search results based on the payments of advertisers.  It is relevant to think about the societal impact of a world that is digitalizing by the second, as it is in our hands to decide where we want to go as a species without forgetting our universal core values and objectivism.