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Wesley Smith on Transhumanism — A New Tower of Babel

David Klinghoffer

transhumanism

What is transhumanism and what’s the problem with it? Wesley J. Smith explains in a new ID the Future episode with host Emily Kurlinski.

Smith recounts being challenged on the subject: Isn’t it “transhumanist” of him and therefore a bit of hypocrisy to wear eyeglasses? The answer is of course not — interventions like that don’t change the essence of who we are. Real transhumanism seeks to grab control of evolution to transform human beings at our core, the aim being a new species. If it were possible, it would represent the height of hubris, coming from humans who, as Wesley Smith points out, are the same folks who built the “unsinkable” Titanic. Insofar as the transhumanist project is not idle dreaming, Wesley compares it to the Tower of Babel, making war on our own nature with only suffering as the inevitable result.

Wesley has been fighting this fight almost single-handedly, as the media looks on in admiration at attempts to defeat death and usher in a secular New Jerusalem. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

Image: The Tower of Babel, by Hendrick van Cleve [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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bioethicsdeathEmily KurlinskievolutioneyeglasseshubrishumanshypocrisyID the FutureinterventionsNew JerusalempodcastTitanicTower of BabeltranshumanismTranshumanist PartyWesley Smith