Transhumanism
From Ancestors to Avatars

Through a detailed exploration of the study of transhumanism, this book introduces students to the discipline of cultural anthropology.

Jennifer Huberman (Author)

9781108798976, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 December 2020

275 pages
15 x 23 x 2 cm, 0.49 kg

Transhumanists argue that science and technology will enable us to overcome our biological limitations, both mental and physical, and create a radically enhanced posthuman species and society. In this book, Jenny Huberman examines the values and visions animating the Transhumanist Movement in the United States today, whilst at the same time using the study of transhumanism as a way to introduce a new generation of students to the discipline of cultural anthropology. She explores transhumanist conceptions of revitalization, immortality, the good life, the self, the body, kinship and economy, and compares them to the belief systems of human beings living in other times and places. Providing lively ethnographic insights into a fascinating contemporary socio-cultural movement, this book will be invaluable to students and researchers in anthropology, as well as anyone interested in the phenomenon of transhumanism.

Introduction: Thinking though transhumanism
1. Is transhumanism a revitalization movement?
2. Ancestors and avatars: immortality transformed
3. Happily ever after: transhumanism and the hedonistic imperative
4. The social skin, the anti-social skin, and the persuit of morphological freedrom
5. Decoding the self
6. Rethinking kinship systems
7. From original affluence to posthuman abundance
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Anthropology [JHM], Sociology & anthropology [JH]