Humanity

Transhumanism

The ideology of the Cyber-Age

Photo by dogherine on Unsplash

Some thirty years ago now, I was a wide-eyed curious teenager. Like many in my generation, I loved the Terminator franchise as well as ROBOCOP. The underlying narrative to all these action films is the same. An eternal moral, philosophical and ethical dilemma of GOOD vs EVIL! Following that there is a battle between the two with the GOOD always prevailing in the end against all odds. A happy end is always the winning formula. Most people love happy endings.

My aim here is not to start a tirade of what is GOOD and EVIL and the importance of it in human history, most of you know that already.

I urge you here to consider instead a different perspective if you will. Since the beginning of time, humans have conquered, controlled or destroyed almost everything around them. Nature, species (including of course fellow humans) to this day! Last but not least-MACHINES!

Machines in these feature films are human-controlled robots with human-like character traits. Better known as CYBORGS. The purpose of action films is to excite and entertain us and transport us to realms well beyond our own. The main vehicle behind this is the author’s imagination with the help of special effects. In more recent times advanced technology known as CGI-Computer-generated imagery. This technology uses models created by a graphics computer program. These models are then inserted into a film and with a variety of techniques made to look real.

Back then we were safe in the knowledge that these machines were a product of the human imagination. They rarely went out of human control so it was all a good old Hollywood action-blockbuster fun. This was the plot in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” which depicts a deadly battle between machine and man! This particular Terminator franchise sequel was released in 2003 well into the new millennium. The basic premise is the same: MAN vs MACHINE!

With the advancement of technology, there came many new inventions and implementations of technology. All with the common goal of making our lives easier. One great example of this is in the field of medicine with the invention of the Pacemaker. This is a ground-breaking invention which saved many lives to this day. So this brought…