Transhumanism: A Religious Movement Opposing Religion in the Digi Age
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DOI:
10.12730/is.1661932Abstract
Transhumanism is a philosophical, scientific, technological, cultural, and ideological movement holding that human beings can be significantly improved mentally, physically, and biologically through current and future technologies. It is an influential movement with a mental, religious, and scientific structure that is considered to be able to transform human beings and their lives. Transhumanism, which is also based on information technology, is not only related to philosophy and science but also to religious or theological roots. The similarity between religion and transhumanism, which has mystical, Gnostic, and theological roots, is not limited to the promise of heaven; it also includes the pursuit of immortality and the ideal of the enhanced, God-like human. In addition to its theological origins, transhumanism, which has similarities and differences with theological approaches, seems to have positive and negative implications for life. Its positive and negative implications for human life will cause religious beliefs to face threats or change the way religions view life. Although transhumanism has a secular and scientific structure, it has a religious character in terms of its origins and goals. In this paper, the religious origins of transhumanism, with its claims of secularization, worldliness, scientificization, etc., a new type of humanism, its similarities and differences with religion, and its impact on the digital world, are discussed.
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