The word transhumanism is something that has been misunderstood very often. It is actually a movement that aims at making it possible for normal human beings to achieve something beyond their abilities with the help of the latest advancements in the fields of science and technology.
For years there has been a lot of opposition to the whole concept of transhumanism. The main reason is that people believe that the methods of transhumanists will lead to the retardation of the process of human evolution.
What is evolution and does it actually get affected by transhumanism?
The first question to be answered is what exactly evolution is. Evolution can be defined as a process that is purely spontaneous that leads to the occurrence of various changes in different species over large durations of time. The main characteristic of evolution is that there is no goal for the process and everything that takes place is completely natural and beyond our control.
In the case of transhumanism, science and technology are used to alter the capabilities of the people. Here there are specific goals and methods to meet these goals. So it is certain that transhumanism will have effects on evolution. Things that would take years to happen can be achieved very quickly by methods like gene manipulation. For example in the case of various animal species like dogs and cows, we have been able to develop breeds that are capable of various things that natural breeds cannot do.
Does transhumanism retard evolution?
In fact the effect of transhumanism cannot be considered as retardation. Transhumanist methods can be considered as a much faster method to evolve. But a lot of care should be taken because if things go wrong, the results would be devastating.