Aporías transhumanistas: Ideologías de la tecnología en el proyecto del auto-diseño humano

Abstract

Our era of science and reason has created myths as spectacular and irrational as those of any culture of the past. These myths revolve around new gods based on the scientific and technological imaginary: superintelligent machines, incorporeal minds, super-scientists of the future, and immortal posthuman beings. Like all myths, their function is to justify the worldview and secure the power of an elite. One of the most notable features of these hyper-modern myths is the role technology plays in them. Although ostensibly set in the future, the ideologies of technology on which they are based have a long past. Certain philosophical positions on technology (infinite progress, substantivism, and determinism, among others) are tacitly accepted. In turn, every ideology of technology presupposes an anthropology, a certain vision of the human as a free and indeterminate entity. It is no coincidence, then, that these myths are particularly active in narratives on the improvement of the human species by technological means. Although the roots of these myths can be traced back to ancient philosophy and beyond, their modern versions are peculiar historical artifacts. In this article I intend to identify the ideologies of technology underlying these myths, trace their origins and determine their present historical formation.