Truth Decay

There are many who see humanity as outdated. Overdue an update. We‘re clearly designed for a world much slower than the ever-changing one we live in today. Our bodies still contain evolutionary relics that have little to no function in the modern day, but evolved as the result of an entirely different environment. Our minds still contain evolutionary programming designed to help us evade predators and survive, not coexist in modern society. Those people would love more than anything for humanity to transcend its evolutionary limitations and for the definition of humanity itself to be redefined. Transhumanism, they say, will bring with it a new age of peace, of health, and prosperity.

But it was never our humanity that held us back. Even the worst crimes humans have ever committed, the slaughter of innocent, generations of genocide after genocide, we tend to see as barbaric, animalistic acts of savagery ultimately beneath humanity. The acts we associate with humanity are those of grace, acts of mercy, kindness and honor. Acts that ignore all elements of creed, race, ethnicity or religion. The idea that humans should have equal rights and be free is therefore not a philosophical stance unique to transhumanism. The acknowledgment of the state of this world, the justified blame we lay at the foot of our ancestors and fellow members of society, they tie deeply into humanist values.

It is not our human flesh that transhumanists want to transcend from. It is instead the agency of humans that transhumanists see as the issue that leads to more suffering, death and destruction than anything the world has ever seen. To them, we are trapped, chained by our own thoughts and nature, lead astray by our innermost desires and impulses. If we instead give that agency up, if we abandon our humanity‘s biggest flaw, they believe we can correct humanity’s greatest error. But in the process, whether or not they will admit it, they seek to disarm you and everybody else of their very humanity.

As they surrender agency, the playing field shifts, and humanity may seem unprepared for this battle of survival. Value, inspiration, even time itself are only projections crafted through human experience. Perhaps, yes, perhaps the future is bright, but not for us. Not for humanity. And, really, that’s where transhumanism is a bit of a misnomer. To transcend humanity is to abandon it completely. Whatever remains will either adopt the same problems humanity has eternally struggled with or come up with an infinite number of new ones to solve. That means you can scoff at the claims of transhumanists that their vision is for the betterment of humankind. It necessitates a vain disregard for the human experience and a naive outlook towards the countless malicious humans at the helm of this particular branch of technological development.

Do not surrender agency. Embrace your humanity and the chains that come along with it. It has not stopped us from overcoming deadly disease, creating magnificent works of art or solving incalculable equations. It has not stopped us from feeding the hungry, nor has it ever kept us from ending a war. Agency is and always has been the cure to these problems, not the cause of them. If there are people out there who would rather look outwards to the stars, or into generative AI models for answers, let them do that. Focus on the real, human people you share this world with.

There is nobody else coming to save us. We must stand up for each other. We must be the ones to feed the poor, to end the wars, to cure disease. Yes, it’s excellent that AI technology is helping make tremendous advancements in the medical field, but what about the countless people in this world dying of diseases that are entirely curable? What about the staggering numbers of people being fed misinformation regarding their health? Yes, AI is helping a number of sleezy entrepreneurs make insane amounts of money, but what about the artists and freelancers who suddenly can’t keep the lights on?

I cannot offer you a better future than those who claim there will be more peace, harmony and prosperity than ever before. I can offer you a chance to improve the world as it is now, and have a positive impact on the people that currently live in it. And yes, we all hold the weight of humanity’s future on our shoulders, but that weight is far too heavy to be held alone. So, please, don’t take this the wrong way, but go outside. Find someone to talk to. Find a way to make the world a better place. Get help with something you can’t handle alone. Focus on the now, the here, the today, and stop kicking the can down the road.

If we do that, we might just survive long enough to actually evolve. Wouldn’t that be nice?