Abstract

Transhumanism, a movement promoting the possibility and desirability of using science and technology in overcoming fundamental human limitations, could be conceived as a type of philosophy of life that emphasizes a meaningful and ethical approach to living informed by reason, science, progress, the value of existence in our current life, and the eventual goal of human enhancement. Related to transhumanism is the concept of the Singularity described as a future period during which the pace and impact of technological change will be so rapid and deep that human life will be transformed irreversibly. The projections and implications of transhumanism and the singularity phenomenon raise many important philosophical questions and possible new answers concerning human nature, intelligence, and the meaning generally of life. In this chapter, we examine both philosophies and apply analytic argumentation in demonstrating that they affect or provide meaning of life at individual, species and cosmic levels. Furthermore, with assessment of meaning of life in some particular African conceptions, the chapter employs a perspective of Afrofuturism and engages in critical reconstruction and creative imagination of African thought-systems in conversation with other intellectual traditions to propose a view connecting transhumanism, singularity and meaning of life within a futuristic African philosophical context.