trans·hu·man·ism

tranzˈhyo͞omənizm/

noun

 

the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology.

The future we are facing is one in which humanity will most likely lose itself and by the end of the great global initiation we may have redefined what human is or more likely will have transcended the limitations of humanity altogether and be living in the post human era, this is of course the trajectory that the transhumanism movement seems to be on.  In the case of the current era it seems we are looking to technology to facilitate this kind of expansion, the role religion once had a monopoly on now has some competition as a spirituality emerges that is based more on physical realities and less on supernatural myths, and has the technologies of transcendence in its arsenal.

As with all things Neptunian there is a slippery slope and a dark side to each of these transits, when dealing with the subtle flows there is always the possibility of delusions, illusions and addiction all aspects falling under Neptunes’ provenance. There is also a hidden danger in that we could become so dependent on our technologies that we lose a sense of our own agency and ability to have mastery of them, to the point we instead become enslaved to them. It is a dance along the razors edge between madness and reason.

It is the dance between technology and liberation. It is a warning to not become deluded and fixed around our attitudes to technology or to see it as our Savior, lest we become enslaved to it and the thing that was designed to serve us kills us instead. Technology is one of humanity’s greatest achievements it also has a dark side like any tool it depends on the intentions of the user, case in point nuclear energy can be used to power a city, or destroy it all based on intent. In this case it takes on collective scale and strong political elements in that it is a matter of how technology is collectively used, it could be used to liberate or enslave. In a word the perils of deifying technology and making it our God are immense, we must always remember it is a tool in service to the better angels of our nature.

Case in point currently surveillance technologies are being used to enslave the masses by creating an almost totalitarian reach and an Orwellian political culture, on the upside the Internet is also being used to liberate people from oppression in that it is making it difficult for totalitarian regimes to operate in secret, which gave rise to Arab Spring and will give rise to more liberation movements going forward (just wait until they launch 5G Internet and it becomes truly ubiquitous). The take home message is that we cannot fall for the elusive idea that technology will save us from our problems it will make them more manageable it will make solutions easier to come by but ultimately it will fall on ingenuity and political willingness to make the hard choices that will ensure a true move towards an eco-technic and truly sustainable civilization.

Another aspect of this is the chance to revise the entire vision of our social reality and the technologies that can be used in service of reaching civilizational advances what is believed to be utopias are eventually embraced as milestones. Case in point perhaps we may see the emergence of more wide scale tests of the possibility of a Universal Basic Income, it may prove the only thing that can alleviate technological unemployment and demographic transition. As it stands our civilization is still in an embryonic stage of development and we have yet to truly achieve it (which is to say we have not yet reached civilization).

It is also too easy to become lost in the dream of technology to the point of neglecting reality and using it instead to escape harder edged realities of our own devising. Virtual Reality will at some point reach levels of being so hyper-real that many of us may permanently reside in it. This of course is a pitfall we must carefully navigate and I am hopeful that humanity actually can, and can use technology in a way that is beneficial to us aligning with reality, we must be guided by the principle that advanced technology requires advanced thinking. To create a truly eco-technic civilization we must take the opportunity during this retrograde to begin to advance our reasoning capacities, and especially around our moral and ethical reasoning to go beyond the parameters that our culture and religious traditions have set and come up with entirely novel moral systems that will help us navigate a hyper-technological age that will present many upheavals and social relocations. There is also the need to use caution and be mindful of technologies limitations, that it can only ever be an adjunct but that ultimately our liberation is wrought by our own hands, technology just provides the catalyst. It is as the Buddha said we must be “a lamp unto ourselves”.

References:

“Demographic Transition” various authors, retrieved on May 29^th, 2015 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition

“Technology Unemployment”  various authors retrieved on May 29^th, 2015, from :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_unemployment