Ed. Note: The following article is a continuation of the A Transhumanist's Journey series, starting with Pt. 1: Becoming Gods and ending with Pt. 3: Becoming Ghosts. If you've yet to read Pt. 1, be sure to do so before proceeding with Pt. 2.

Becoming Angels

The mythological beings known as “angels” have always contained higher-than-human abilities, at least to some extent – particularly that of flight and travel. In all honesty, my take of angels is no different from other mythological beings, like fairies, pixies, etc. They all contain the ability to fly without using very large, clunky, machines to help us fly in the air. Instead, they fly like birds.

This isn’t to say that our efforts of flight haven’t been inspired by angelic or bird-like properties of flight. From the Wright Brothers’ successful ambition to designing the first airplane, to where we currently stand in modern flight, our goals have always been to get humans to start flying like angels, like birds.

As a Transhumanist, I can’t think of any past movement of ideas which I best relate to and inspire from than what was known as Russian Cosmism. And to understand why I’ve diverted from talking of angels to talking of Russian Cosmism, it was two particular cosmists – S. G. Semenova and A. G. Gacheva – which come to mind in understanding why our efforts in flight best resemble that of angels:

“A person flying horizontally on a bicycle – this is already motion toward the form of the angel, the highest human. Through the invention of these machines of horizontal flight, mankind moves closer to an angelic state, or toward ideal humanity. Every thinking human being can understand that the bicycle represents precisely those mechanical wings, the starting point or kernel of the future organic wings, by means of which humanity will undoubtedly break the fetters confining it to the telluric world, and humanity will escape by means of mechanical inventions into the solar world around it.” (Semenova and Gacheva, Russkii kosmizm)

This outlook of flight in comparison to “angelic flight” has only advanced further since then. Where they spoke of flight using bicycles, we’ve since achieved means of flight which are closer in resemblance to birds than ever before. A good example would be Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy, who designed jet-powered wings, which allows him to fly over 180mph. Since 2008, he’s flown over the Alps, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Grand Canyon.

Does this not, in any way, resemble similar means of flight as performed by angels – at least in how we’ve claimed these supposed beings had flown?

Another great example would be a growing popular activity – in both the world of sports and thrill-seeking fun – known as wingsuit flying. To perform this, people put on a special jumpsuit which contain wing-esque fabric by both the arms and legs, allowing anyone wearing it – with enough skill and practice, of course – to fly at large distances, depending on the height which you start from, and then parachute down once near the end of your destination for you to land safely. Check out the astonishing video below which presents footage of wingsuit flying, among other methods: