Virtual Immortality - God, Evolution, and the Singularity in Post- and Transhumanism
1st Edition
Published on 1. October 2021
356 pages
978-3-8394-5059-8 (ISBN)
Description
In recent years, ideas of post- and transhumanism have been popularized by novels, TV series, and Hollywood movies. According to this radical perspective, humankind and all biological life have become obsolete. Traditional forms of life are inefficient at processing information and inept at crossing the high frontier: outer space. While humankind can expect to be replaced by their own artificial progeny, posthumanists assume that they will become an immortal part of a transcendent superintelligence. Krüger's award-winning study examines the historical and philosophical context of these futuristic promises by Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, Frank Tipler, and other posthumanist thinkers.
Reviews / Votes
»Krüger observes the explicit or implicit relationship between posthumanism and religion (not only Christianity but also New Age spirituality), placing it in a historical and philosophical context. Moreover, he does so by employing a clear and accessible style, which makes the book a pleasure to read.«More details
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1st Edition
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Persons
Author
Oliver Krüger, Université de Fribourg, Schweiz
Oliver Krüger (Prof. Dr.) lehrt Religionswissenschaft an der Universität Freiburg (Schweiz). Seine Forschungsinteressen beziehen sich neben dem Feld von Religion und Medien auf die Religionssoziologie und Thanatosoziologie.
ISNI:
Translation
Ali Jones, Coventry University, Vereinigtes Königreich
Ali Jones is a cultural historian and political theorist at Coventry University's research Centre for Peace and Security. Her PhD at Cambridge University offered the first in-depth history and political philosophy of the autonomous movement in Hamburg's squatted Rote Flora. She is currently conducting extensive oral histories with former armed guerillas in Germany, and runs the worldwide Antifascism Research Network.
Content
- Cover
- Contents
- Foreword to the English Edition
- A Who is Who? of Post- and Transhumanism
- 1. Virtuality, Media, and Immortality. An Introduction
- Part I Humans and Media
- 2. Virtuality
- 2.1 Virtuality and Time
- 2.2 Virtuality and Space
- 2.3 Virtuality and Corporeality
- 2.4 Virtuality, Reality, and the Imaginary
- 3. Promethean Shame
- 3.1 Human Beings and Technology in the Work of Günther Anders
- 3.2 Virtuality and Death
- Part II Technological Posthumanism
- 4. Transhumanism
- 4.1 Post- and Transhumanism
- 4.2 Intellectual Predecessors and the Transhuman
- 4.3 Early Transhumanism: Ettinger, FM-2030, Leary
- 4.4 The Extropy Institute and the (Vita-)Mores
- 4.5 The World Transhumanist Association / humanity+
- 4.6 Other Actors and Institutions
- 4.7 Religious and Spiritual Transhumanism
- 4.8 Conclusion
- 5. Technological Posthumanism
- 5.1 The Posthuman and Posthumanism
- 5.2 The Face of Posthumanism
- Frank Tipler
- Marvin Minsky
- Hans Moravec
- Ray Kurzweil
- 5.3 Posthumanism and Art
- 6. A History of Technological Posthumanism
- 6.1 Writing the "History of the Future"
- 6.2 How We Became Posthuman
- L'Homme Machine
- Simulation and Identity
- The Cybernetic Paradigm
- The Measure of Perfection: Work and Knowledge
- 6.3 Annihilation or Infinite Progress
- Death, Entropy, and the Annihilation of All Life
- The Sacrifice of Humankind
- Progress and Perfectibility
- Evolution and the Emergence of Life
- Frank Tipler's Physico-Theology
- 6.4 Singularities
- Cosmological Singularity and Black Holes
- The Technological Singularity
- The Law of Progress and the Endless Frontier
- 6.5 Immortality
- Posthuman and Immortal
- From Longevity to Computer-Aided Immortalization
- Immortality in Science Fiction
- Cryonics and the Suspension of Death
- Technological Immortality
- 6.6 The Transcendental Superintelligence
- Transcendence and the Superhuman
- Mind, Genius, and Superintelligence
- 6.7 Omega
- The Cosmic Consciousness
- Teilhard de Chardin, McLuhan, and the Noosphere
- 7. Virtuality. Immortality in the Age of Digital Media
- 7.1 Economy
- 7.2 Control and Contingency
- 7.3 Secular Progress and Christian Salvation History
- 7.4 The End of the Affronts
- Appendix
- List of Abbreviations
- Bibliography
- a) Literature
- b) Movies, TV series, and documentaries
- c) Videos (online)
- Index of Names
