Transhumanism is the idea that humans should transcend their current natural state and limitations through the use of technology – that we should embrace self-directed human evolution. In the same way that technological progress has allowed humans to tame nature, we can bring an end to the human realities of disease, ageing and even death.

But there is a darker side to the naive faith that proponents of transhumanism have – one that is decidedly dystopian.

This is the audio version of an in depth article from The Conversation, which situates transhumanism within the broader social, cultural, political, and economic contexts within which it is emerging – all of which is vital to understanding how ethical it is.

You can read the text version of the article here. It is read by Jo Adetunji.

The music in this podcast is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere from the Free Music Archive. A big thanks to City University London’s Department of Journalism for letting us use their studios to record.