What’s the opposite of Progress? Transhumanism.

According to Dr. Max More, author of the Proactionary Principle and the philosophy of Extropy and Transhumanism, “Transhumanism  is a class of philosophies that seek to guide us towards a posthuman condition. Transhumanism shares many elements of humanism, including a respect for reason and science, a commitment to progress, and a valuing of human (or transhuman) existence in this life…”

Author Warren Ellis paints this depiction of transhumanism black in his comic book Transmetropolitan by satirizing the sociocultural affects of a posthuman society. Through the eyes of journalist Spider Jerusalem, Ellis creates a future so immersed in an electrically-configured world, drenched in new information, and blinded by up-to-the-minute discoveries that it becomes nearly unrecognizable. This “future-shock commentary” shows how every extropic element that makes up the transhuman ideal can be distorted when discovery takes on a hedonic value. The best illustration of Ellis’ perspective is shown in the catastrophic events following the introduction of temping technology.

Fred Christ, messiah of the Transient Movement, has taken transhumanism to a new level.

In Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street, temping technology is a way to temporarily modify the human body. So, similar to a thermostat controlling temperature, why not extend such controls to the threshold of its being? Instead of dabbling on the surface of body modification, in the name of progress, why not extend to the threshold of complete transformation?

And thus, the Transient Movement was born. This movement, led by Fred Christ aimed to give rights to those who wanted to change their species. While the benefits of permanent warping remained unclear, its extropic values, according to More, seemed to check out. The Transient Movement fought for science, progress, and respect—and fight they did. Once Fred Christ and his Transient followers made it clear that they would not back down, the Civic Center took action. “Spontaneous violence” hit the city as riot cops stormed the Transient grounds, “It’s a show of power. How dare anybody ignore the authority of Civic Center? How dare a bunch of freaks try and think for themselves?” (Ellis 65) And even though it wasn’t the Transients’ fault, this blood bath went down in Transmetropolitan history as the “Transient Riot”. Sound familiar?

Prior to this reading, I always thought that the best transhuman technologies were discovered “when two seemingly disparate elements are imaginatively poised, put in apposition in new and unique ways…” (McLuhan 10) in commitment to progress. However, if this were the case, transients would be the crème de la crème of transhuman technology. But, if there is one thing Ellis has taught me, it is that when we allow discovery to take on a hedonic value,  we are letting it distort our perception of societal progress.  Transmetropolitan is a prime example of this. In the comic, progress was characterized by a human environment capable of maximizing perception and making everyday learning a process of discovery. But, by defining progress in terms of rapid, quantitative discovery the characters, subsequently, became dependent on discovery to satisfy their desires.

I realize now that the best transhuman technologies are not based on rapid discovery, but rather gradual development. By minimizing the value we place on discovery, we can make room for progressive development. In this version of society, we are arranging the world in terms of balance and practicality; based on our necessities—on quality over quantity.

Unfortunately, I was previously under the impression that transhuman technologies had no flaw. That is, until I met Spider Jerusalem. But, it’s not my fault. I am living in a society flustered by the amount of new information coming in—immersed in an electrically-configured world, drenched in new information, and blinded by up-to-the-minute discoveries—and I do not know what to make of it.

In some distorted way, one might even argue that we have already begun transience. And, like our fictitious equivalent, we’re still sorting out the benefits. After all, “transience is very slow…” (Ellis 41).