The Singularity: A crucial phase in divine self-actualization?

Cosmos and History 4 (1-2):347-370 (2008)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Ray Kurzweil and others have posited that the confluence of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and genetic engineering will soon produce posthuman beings that will far surpass us in power and intelligence. Just as black holes constitute a ldquo;singularityrdquo; from which no information can escape, posthumans will constitute a ldquo;singularity:rdquo; whose aims and capacities lie beyond our ken. I argue that technological posthumanists, whether wittingly or unwittingly, draw upon the long-standing Christian discourse of ldquo;theosis,rdquo; according to which humans are capable of being God or god-like. From St. Paul and Luther to Hegel and Kurzweil, the idea of human self-deification plays a prominent role. Hegel in particular emphasizes that God becomes wholly actualized only in the process by which humanity achieves absolute consciousness. Kurzweil agrees that God becomes fully actual only through historical processes that illuminate and thus transform the entire universe. The difference is that for Kurzweil and many other posthumanists, our offspringmdash;the posthumansmdash;will carry out this extraordinary process. What will happen to Home sapiens in the meantime is a daunting question.

Other Versions

reprint Zimmerman, Michael (2008) "The Singularity: A Crucial Phase in Divine Self-Actualization?". Cosmos and History : The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy 4(1-2):347-370

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,486

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-06-07

Downloads
168 (#143,478)

6 months
14 (#181,413)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Michael E. Zimmerman
University of Colorado, Boulder

References found in this work

Apologia for transhumanist religion.Gregory E. Jordan - 2006 - Journal of Evolution and Technology 15 (1):55-72.
Saving humanity?: Counter-arguing posthuman enhancement.K. Mark Smith - 2005 - Journal of Evolution and Technology 14 (1):44.

Add more references