There are a good many areas of scientific research of interest to transhumanist philosophers. Transhumanism could be considered one of the more positive forms of scientism, which we are already living with to some degree. Perhaps the most easily considered element of transhumanist thought would be the issue of dying of old age.

In selecting our mates, we are manipulating our own biological evolution. That’s very true. Much of what transhumanists would want to do, we have already been doing a form of for a very long time. Even the branch of thought itself is not new as it traces back to renaissance humanism and the era of history that is now being called “the enlightenment.”

So much of what we do today to cure disease is altering humanity. So it seems we’re already doing it except we’re not admitting it. Indeed. It is hard to see how one can be in favour of medical science and opposed to life extension, quality life extension I mean. As for the abolition of old age, there are species that either have a virtually complete version of this state, naturally, or have the potential to have it.

Hydra plant. Yes, and there is a species of jelly fish. Most trees are very close to this as they don’t really die of old age.

We are trying to perfect the Human Growth hormone. You mean its modification? No, synthetic. The hormone itself exists naturally. Yes, but our body slowly stops producing it over time.

They have traced a major source of human age related disease. Over time, though human DNA itself doesn’t change, the human epigenetic profile does. It loses molecules they refer to as methyl pairs, or something like that. While these are in the system, the DNA works with very little error, but as time passes the presence of this material drops. In fact, they can tell your age just by this in a blood test. Middle aged people have half the count of this chemical in their blood stream.

What causes age related disease is not the actual breakdown of the body, nothing actually breaks in any special way. In the case of those of advanced years, their cells begin to lose the ability to specialize in a balanced way and start behaving as if they were more of a tumor cell than the cell they were meant to be, like red blood cells having more skin cell traits than they should, things like that.

In 2005, in a moving address at Stanford University after receiving surgery for pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs reflected on his own mortality, urging his audience: ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.’ ‘Death is very likely the single best invention of life.’ A sound philosophic assertion, and something not to be forgotten even if we can eliminate the phenomenon it was based on.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~