Technology as God

Family policy matters and engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the Carolina family policy Council hi this is John Rustin, presidency, family, and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that you will for better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our house to family policy matters.

Tracy Devitt Griggs, a growing global movement seeking immortality through technology hopes to use scientific advancements to transition the human race into super beings called H plus or more than human. In a quest to enhance life and cheat death and they're even trying to appeal to Christians as if this is some kind of holy pursuit. Well it's not. According to Wesley J. Smith, who is host of the podcast humanizing chairman of the Discovery Institute center on human exceptionalism were grateful to have them join us today to discuss this complex and important topic. Dr. Wesley Smith. Welcome to family policy matters. Thanks so start off by explaining what exactly is trans-humanism. Trans-human is him is a modern social movement to use the wonders of technology to achieve immortality in the corporeal world and also to allow people to gain superhuman type capacities through technology and the subsequent belief system and it would replace Lee from God and belief in the afterlife with a belief that one can be immortal here and now in the world as we know at once. The technologies developed so who are these people that are pushing our world towards this trans-humanism is very interesting there is a broad variety of people who are pushing this. It started in the high Academy professors in places like Oxford and Cambridge, and Yale on this kind of thing but it's been really picked up by big check of Silicon Valley people like Ray Kurzweil who works for Google and some others. And then there's also a popular version led by somebody named Zoltan Estevan IFT VA and if your listeners want to look him up even ran for president in 2016 on the trans-humanist party ticket and he gained worldwide attention in and media coverage because he took a bus and we decided to look like a coffin, and ran on the plank of defeating death so you have a lot of people who have given up the idea of God are given a Christianity and other seeking to find a replacement for that holders and are looking to technology as a great hold to allow them to have not immortalized forever and ever release indefinite life here about in the modern world exactly did they propose bringing this about whether several examples, but the one that they find most intriguing is called uploading one's mind into a computer and the idea here is that at some point AI artificial intelligence will become so sophisticated that they will be able to upload the minds of the computers and then they will be able to live forever, perhaps even blended consciousnesses in the cyber world of software and it's a fantasy, but it is a deep desire because this was based on a tremendous fear of obliteration at this because trans-humanism is a materialist philosophy and materialism breeds hopelessness and nihilism, and the point of trans-humanism is to allow materialists who think that all we are is a bunch of carbon molecules to find some hope of rescue if you will, if not salvation. Right.

So besides the mind did have some other ideas for keeping the body going yeah they had the idea. There's one idea that they would continually make human clones of themselves when scalding is perfected and then they would transfer their consciousnesses into the new bodies of some of them are having themselves. But when they die.

Cairo genetically frozen their heads, frozen them with the hope that they will be attached to a new body one day or through onto a cyborg. These are the kinds of fantastical ideas that they are actually pursuing and people putting a lot of money into. In addition, there's a lot of money going into research to prevent aging in this kind of thing as well as those more fantastical technological approaches is us who are Christians. There's a huge gaping hole here and I think we would call it the soul so talk a little bit more about why trans-humanism is incompatible with Christianity sure what Christianity is theistic and trans-humanism properly understood is materialistic Christianity is eschatological in the sense that it sees eternal life.

Not here in this world. This fallen world, but in the new Jerusalem, trans-humanism believe that this world is all there is. Christianity gets into issues in terms of improving your sanctification and for and and that kind of thing to improve oneself to become more like godlike in one's behavior, trans-humanism doesn't believe in any of Adam and seeks to improve capacity such as that they have the eyesight of a hawk to things such as genetic engineering and other technological fixes. Christianity believes in sin, salvation, and so forth, and trans-humanism again is purely materialistic. You can no more be a Christian trans-humanist, you can be a Christian, Muslim or Christian Buddhist.

These are just incompatible worldviews are up to.

Christians aren't and what basis are they doing something called the Christian trans-humanist Association that basically I think is conflating the belief which we all would accept look at the improved technology, life could be better on earth and you can alleviate suffering but but they conflate that kind of idea with what trans-humanism proposes, which is to change human nature itself, trans-humanism wants to change the very biological nature of human beings and of course Christianity doesn't want any of that. So the Christian trans-humanist Association will say things such as some of you know this is a way that we can improve the world as God wanted improve this kind of thing, but it has nothing to do with redemption, reconciliation and renewal, trans-humanism is mechanistic and of course Christianity is metaphysical since many Christians don't actually read the Bible. I think sometimes we fall for things that we shouldn't have much chance do you think that this movement is going to get a Christian following will depend on him again. What you mean by Christian in order to be a Christian trans-humanist, you have to change the purpose and nature of Christianity, and you also have to be in a sense change what trans-humanism is, for example, there is a gave a great new potential technology that would help people with serious disabilities and echo skeleton that you could put the exoskeleton on the person who's paralyzed and they might be able to walk again that trans-humans will say that's trans-humanism, but that's not trans-humanism. That's no different in the in the in kind than say the glasses I wear that help me see better not changing the human condition, you're actually providing a medical treatment to help someone live a better life. But of course purely consistent with Christian belief. But what trans-humanists want to do are things like genetically engineer the human condition. The human being they want to genetically engineer our children to be able to design the benefit to have the capacities of the parents want they want to use of various things like your brain implants and merging with other consciousnesses again in cyberspace to change the very nature of life itself, and those are not compatible sources.

Because Christians look to God and Christ as the ultimate Savior trans-humanist look to technology, which of course is remaking man in advance image as opposed to being in God's image. These trans-humanist advocates believe that we are actually closer than one might think, to be able to do this, do you believe that I don't but I am worried about the value system. Trans-humanists will say there's something coming called the singularity and you might look at the singularity the way some Protestants would look at the second coming of Christ that is going to be a point in time in which life is going to be completely transformed. But again, instead of being transformed by Christ. It's going to be transformed by technology and the singularity basically that that point in time is when the crescendo of advances will be such that it will no longer be stoppable and then the technology will grow so exponentially that the desires of trans-human affair for permanent existence can be held.

I don't think that's going to happen. I mean we live in a fallen world and mortality as part of this world. In fact, I think it's an important part because it helps us focus on what's important, but I do believe that the value system of trans-humanism is a threat. The materialism of trans-humanism is a threat because it takes away the hopelessness part and brings in the idea of hope. The trans-humanist is highly eugenics. It says that there there is a way to have a better almost a Superman philosophy and that people who have these UH plus are better than human theft. Here are eugenics, which always leads to totalitarianism, so there are very real dangers in the values of trans-humanism, even if the technology that trans-humanist embrace her hope to find. I don't think will ever come about in earlier nihilism and I think you've also written that the growth of religious nines and O and ES is contributing to this.

Could you first of all, explain what nihilism and what religious nuns are in then explain why that is contributing to this nihilism kindly comes out of Nietzsche who is famous for writing that God is dead and once God is dead anything becomes possible right and it becomes a very depressing downward spiral of hopelessness and a loss of the concept of virtue and values.

The nuns are people who are increasingly telling pollsters that they no longer have a religious belief and that they are basically either agnostic or atheistic, and the knobs are growing among young people and I don't think it's a secret that young people are leaving the church I and quite large numbers and and men you might be attracted to this value system because a lot of people would feel so despairing if they believe that death is as many do is pure annihilation as opposed to the chance for salvation and eternal life or with Buddhist reincarnation, things of that sort. If you believe that all there is is the material and that when you die you are obliterated and there is nothing left that leads to despair and hope of trans-humanism is to alleviate that despair. It's almost a neo-phase of the faith and technology that technology will be the Savior, instead of God. For those of us who are believers, we were to encounter some of this philosophy.

What are some of the most compelling arguments and responses that you think we can pose what I think if you're going to be Christian, you have to focus on your face on the point of Christianity is a material improvement of spiritual improvement part of Christianity. Of course, is to mitigate suffering. That's what St. Paul said when he said that we are to answer James to engage in works that works without faith or debt. The point of trans-humanism isn't improvement of in terms of your spiritual self. It is a growth in Christ and sanctification is to have a better body. It's to have greater eyesight or greater strength or higher intelligence. The thing the trans-humanist fully focus on his intelligence. They want to genetically engineer human beings so that they have higher intelligence because they think that makes a better person. Christians focus on love and you can't genetically engineer the greater capacity to love that comes through the effort of prayer and fasting of asceticism and of our spiritual practices to increase our capacity to love others as we would love ourselves. That's our cause Christians the call of the trans-humanist is purely self directed and self-centered to live as long as possible and to have the greatest physical capacities as possible and to remake oneself and one's own image just about at a time for this week before we go Wesley Smith. Where can I listeners go to read more about this and follow you work my most recent article is called the impossibility of Christian trans-humanism and you can find that by going to the Discovery Institute website and my podcast and blog humanize.today. Thank you Wesley J.

Smith hosted the podcast humanize and chairman of the Discovery Institute center on human exceptionalism. Thanks so much for being with us on family policy matters. You been listening to family policy matters. We hope you enjoy the program and plenitude in again next week to listen to the show online and to learn more about NC families were to inform, encourage and inspire families across Carolina go our website@ncfamily.org that's NC family.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you and your family