Transhumanism

Basic Information

Basically, Transhumanism is a movement and philosophy that states that humans can and should use all available technology - advanced medical anti-aging techniques, artificial implants, human genetic engineering, and a host of other technologies that mostly don't exist yet - to escape the current limits of the human body, resulting in vastly extended lifespans (possibly even immortality), increased health, superhuman intelligence, better sensory capabilities, and so forth. Anything stunting "human enhancement" is seen as unethical.

See Also

• No Transhumanism Allowed
• Technological Singularity
• Transhuman Aliens
• Transhuman Treachery

Sources

Bibliography

1. Transhumanist politics, 1700 to the near future by James Hughes

2. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Uses

Fantasy

• There are numerous stories of alchemists trying to become immortal, or at least extending their life spans.
• Becoming some types of undead could be considered becoming transhuman, since undead are often immortal, or at least "undying".
  • Liches are probably the most blatant extreme of this, since this is a deliberate and very involved process done for the explicit purpose of making a wizard immortal.
  • Vampires are another good example - even if the transformation is not alway voluntary, vampires do exceed human capabilities in many ways - they are stronger, frequently more charismatic, live forever and so forth.
    • Pity about the associated drawbacks, though.
• Come to think about it, aren't all the advantages elves enjoy rather suspicious? Good looks, long lifespans (outright immortality in some cases), superior senses, high dexterity… it's as if some human wizard was unsatisfied with his lot and decided that he wanted to magically engineer his children into some sort of super-race.
  • The "forest environment" that elves live in is also rather suspicious. I mean, normally forests aren't known for supporting high population densities, but somehow elves never seem to have a problem with acquiring enough food. So what are the odds that they altered the plants and other creatures living in them to support higher food yields? Pretty high, I'd say…