Transhumanism

Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the value and importance of developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. The movement is based on the premise that the human species in its current form is in a condition of involuntary suffering, and that our post-human successors in the far future will have characteristics and abilities so different from ours as to merit the label "posthuman." The transhumanist vision of a greatly enhanced future for humanity has generated significant controversy, with critics viewing it as an example of the hubris of the human species and a possible source of grave dangers. The term "transhumanism" was coined in 1957 by biologist Julian Huxley, brother of author Aldous Huxley, and has been used in various ways since then. In Hebrew, the term is translated as טרנסהומניזם (transhumanizm). In German, it is Transhumanismus, and in French, it is transhumanisme. Key figures in the transhumanist movement include Max More, Nick Bostrom, and Ray Kurzweil, who have contributed to the philosophical and technological discourse surrounding the enhancement of human capabilities.