Introduction
In several occasions, people tend to use the words posthumanism and transhumanism quite indiscriminately and interchangeably. Most of this confusion may be because these terms are relatively new and so even highly qualified professors may make the same mistake. In this article, let’s compare and study more about these terms and understand how they differ from each other.
The two varieties of humanism: posthumanism and transhumanism
Posthumanism basically is a condition in which the natural human body and AI technologies are getting increasingly interlaced. If put more accurately, posthumanism can be defined as a projected state of condition of human beings in which the unlocking of internal patterns are done through focusing on our outward appearance to those patterns. So in posthumanism principles, we focus more on the solution of patterns and behavioral aspects with an aim of unlocking new functions other than developing on the structural form as in transhumanism. In posthumanism, the human body and machines are effectively combined to produce a required state of being. Thus the concept of posthumanism undermines the term human exceptionalism.
On the other hand, transhumanism is very different phenomenon in which, modern science and technologies are effectively blend into natural human bodies so as to modify the capabilities of the existing structure. Various contributions from genetic engineering, biotechnology, digital technology etc are incorporated into human body structures. Transhumanism makes use of implants and cutting edge technologies to implement better athleticism, transcendental thinking and other extraordinary body functions otherwise impossible for the human body.
Final word
While posthumanism and transhumanism are bother related to modifying and upgrading the human body and mind, both have an entirely different concept altogether. Posthumanism focuses more on the function while the latter is more about structure and the form.