Are Advanced Humans In Our Future?

Depending how old you are, technology has come a long way. In the 90’s, We had pagers that told us the weather. It was like being on Star Trek. Someone would page me and then I’d go to the nearest corded home phone or payphone to make a call. Sometimes you would pick-up the phone and hear the white noise of a modem, followed by, “Who picked up the phone?! You knocked me off AOL!” It was a new era, even if that point in time sounds incredibly dated.

Now, there’s so much tech around us that we don’t even notice it because it’s become part of our daily lives. Wearables, tablets, smartphones, virtual reality, implants, and replacement parts are all becoming the norm. Technology will be so imbedded into our lives and our bodies that we will no longer notice the technology because the technology will be a part of us. The more this occurs, the more we have to question how human we are when the lines become so blurred. Trans-humanism will be the next stage in Evolution.

What comes from a new wave of technological revolution and evolution is the questions of rights. It’s 2015, and America still can’t come together as one people because of color, beliefs, politics, and so many other things. What will happen when a new version of humanity enters the fold? What will be the repercussions? How will they react? Will there be movements of Luddites that act against this new version of humans? The questions and possible repercussions in the best and worst scenarios are endless, so let’s try, shall we?

Race Disappears. It’s Humans Vs. Transhumanism

Race relations across the planet have been a major sticking point in peace, politics, and just about every other way you can think of it as an impact to society. We’re all the same race, but we have different colors, cultures and backgrounds. The growing trans-humanist movement will include different colors, yes, but will also include advanced tech that benefits the trans-humanists above the more organic human.

Picture 30 years from now: You are trying to put your kid into college. They would’ve normally excelled and gotten into the college of their choice, but enter the trans-humanists. Their family could afford to enhance their kids to be smarter, faster, and better than your kid because you couldn’t afford it.

Will there be a HUMAN rights issue or movement in the future where regular humans of all races are feeling threatened or looked down upon because these new humans with enhancements and implants can get a better life?

Recognition of Humanity

Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote—a right known as woman suffrage. The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African-Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States.

When a human being has passed the point of being human to the point of being a mix of both, do you think that they would be allowed to vote since they aren’t or wouldn’t be technically considered human anymore? Blacks couldn’t vote because of their skin color, women couldn’t vote because they’re women… Could there be an uprising of groups calling for the trans-humanists to be stripped of voting rights because they are considered human.

Groups could come together that would raise propaganda campaigns that would warn of a trans-humanist President or lawmaker that could lead to a revolt against the traditional humans. It sounds silly, but go back and look at segregated bathrooms from Blacks and Whites. Take a look back at how a Black man was considered 3/5 of a human. Take a look back at women being force fed food in prisons because of hunger strikes which happened because of their desire to vote.

Does something like a human being acting this petty and violent really sound out of the ordinary? Not really. But what happens when the new transhumanists become sick of this and turn on us?

The Potential Harm To Religion/Spirituality

These new life forms could be seen as an abomination to God. Sure, part of them will be organic and even have human brains with implants, but there could be many religious groups that will voice outrage that these transhumanists get to freely roam the streets among those who believe they were brought here by a God. Since religious groups have major lobbying power in the Gov’t, it could lead to an escalation of my points in the above section about their recognition from humanity.

The Threat To Corporations

The possibility of trans-humanism means the reduction or curing of most diseases. Nanobots going into the body and destroying viruses and illnesses. Cancer will become an old story from history. Injuries from war, paralysis, Alzheimers… all gone. What does this mean? It means pharmaceutical companies are a thing of the past. Doctor’s and nurses will be greatly reduced from being needed because the technology is there to replace them.

This all sounds like scare tactics from me. I love technology, and if I could have an Iron Man suit, or inject nanobots into my arm to increase my strength and stamina, I’d do it. If I were a doctor and had the duty to save a patient with any possible legal means at my disposal like inserting robotic tech to save a heart. I’d do it. But, with an unknown future in front of us, and a present we still can’t even maintain, all we’re left with is questions.

Will there soon be a new classification of human beings?

It’s not out of the realm of possibility. Humans, although one race, are separated by what we believe in, the color of our skin, where we’re from, how we sound, who we love, and what we think. Who is to say that this one won’t be added to what separates rather than unites us?

When someone is so advanced and barely human, but with only parts, can they be owned by others?

When the level blurs and the amount of humanity in a trans-human overwhelms the human element to where you can buy something at a store that has organic human elements, wouldn’t that constitute owning part of a human, even if it’s off the shelf? What about buying a robot that can act as a maid or chauffeur, but you don’t pay it anything because it’s considered a machine and not a full human being?

There are many other ethical and moral questions that will come up that we can predict and will surprise us. Will there be laws on hiring based on the new “enhanced” human vs. regular human? With humans being able to ignore hunger and using other means of nutrition like sunlight? Will that lead to the end of farming? What will “we” be in 100 years? Will there be a “we?” Or will we be calling ourselves something else entirely? We’ll see.

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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.