Ideologues against humanity

Antihumanism and transhumanism will lead us into dark places

In late January, scientists moved the infamous Doomsday Clock to “90 seconds to midnight.” Although fears of nuclear war dominated the media’s discussion of the move, the scientists also cited global climate change as a primary threat. “The Doomsday Clock is sounding an alarm for the whole of humanity,” a former U.N. official said. “We are on the brink of a precipice. But our leaders are not acting at sufficient speed or scale to secure a peaceful and livable planet.”

The culture of fear cultivated by the Doomsday Clock and similar stunts is the subject of Adam Kirsch’s short new book, The Revolt Against Humanity: Imagining A Future Without Us. Kirsch, a widely respected poet, critic, and editor at the Wall Street Journal, shows readers the bleeding edge of philosophic and literary speculation about what comes next for mankind. The picture he paints is not pretty.

Kirsch identifies two primary strains of thought about what could come after humanity. The first, “antihumanism,” holds that we are doomed due to our self-destructive treatment of the environment, and that we should welcome that doom. According to the second strain, “Transhumanism,” humanity is not so much doomed for destruction but rather destined to “create new forms of intelligent life” and “escape human limitations like mortality and embodiment.”

Though antihumanists and transhumanists differ with regards to visions of the future, they concur that humanity will disappear from the world—and that the world will be better for it. The question Kirsch asks readers is, would we actually like either vision of a post-human future to prevail?

Read more at World Magazine.