Transhumanism: What Does It Mean To Be A Better Human?

Over time, we as a society have developed immensely in terms of scientific and technological advancements. From cars to computers, these are all technologies that have allowed us as a species to work more efficiently. There are specific technologies, though, that have been categorized under two things: therapeutic or “enhancing”.There is great controversy as to where certain technologies fall under, seeing as the lines between the two categories often blur together. A therapeutic technology is defined as one that brings an unhealthy person to health and is considered morally good. On the other hand, an enhancement is an improvement or extension of some capacity, although they are measured on different scales. This is when the concept of transhumanism enters. Transhumanism is a philosophy that we can become better humans through technology. The question then arises: What does it mean to be a better human, and what is an average human? Based on the Daniels scale, we can consider a healthy person (physically or mentally) is the human norm. Consuming performance-enhancing drugs to be better than healthy would be considered an enhancement. An example of this is a baseball player on steroids to increase his muscle mass. On the other hand, a person who’s unhealthy that takes treatment to become healthy is considered therapy. Enhancements are …show more content…
- When referring to enhancement versus therapy, there must be a basis for what’s normal or what’s exceptional/low-performing. The President’s Council on Bioethics: Staff Working Paper 7 cites, “When referring to human function, does enhancing mean making more of it, or making it better? Does it refer to bringing something out more fully, or to altering it qualitatively? ”. The citation further illustrates how the concept of normal human function is too ambiguous, therefore we cannot definitely categorize the practice of taking performance enhancing drugs under enhancement or