Promises of Transhumanism

By Leo Igwe

INTRODUCTION

From the beginning, I would like to remark that I am not an engineer, a technologist or an industrialist. My academic background is a philosophy. So, the thrust of my presentation will be highly theoretical or rather idealistic. But I just there would be some practical or practicable insights.

It is really a matter a great privilege and honors for me to have this opportunity to address participants at this Transhumanist Conference. As I understand, this is the second Transhumanist conference to be held in Nigeria but the first to focus on Robotics. The theme of my presentation is Robotics and Africa: Reflections in the Promises of Transhumanism.

Before going to that; I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people. Firstly, the Secretary of the World Transhumanist Association Dr. James Hughes. Dr Hughes was the first Transhumanist to correspond with me. He readily welcomed the idea of connecting the activities of the Nigerian Humanist Movement with those of the WTA.
I am very pleased to be associated with the WTA and its ideals.

Secondly, I would like to salute the President of the Transhumanist Association of Nigeria, Engr. Innocent Ogu. He has worked tirelessly in the past months to make this conference a reality. And I am pleased that his efforts have paid off. Engr. Ogu is somebody I know very well. And I am glad to reconnect with him after several years and look forward to working with him to promote common ideals and objectives. Transhumanism belongs to the humanist family of ideas. And I hope our two organizations will work together to make humanism happen in Nigeria and in Africa.

ROBOTICS AND AFRICA

Robotics comes from the word, robot. Robot is derived from the Czech word, robota meaning drudgery or slave-like labor. A robot is a machine - a human -like machine that performs tasks and routines on command. According to Hans Muravec, a robot is a programmable machine that imitates the actions and appearance of intelligent creature usually a human.’

Robots can aptly be described as intelligent machines, artificially intelligent machines. While all robots are machines, not all machines are robots. To qualify as a robot, says Hare Moravec, a machine has to be able to do two things. “(i) Get information from ifs surrounding and (ii) Do something physical such as more or manipulate objects 2Robofics refers to the use of intelligent or computer controlled machines to perform manipulative tasks like driving car, washing, painting, assembly, defusing bombs etc.

Robot was first used to describe workers in a fictional 1 920s play by Czech author Karel Capell called Rossum Universal Robots. But real robots were only produced in the 1 950s and 1 960s with the invention of transistor and integrated circuits. But since the 1 960s there’s been a lot of progress in robotics, particularly in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Today in technologically advanced countries robots perform a lot of tasks. They paint cars, assemble Milano cookies for Pepperidge farms. Robots drive trains in Paris and defuse bombs in Northern Ireland.

In Africa very little is known about robots and robotics apart, from what is imported from Western countries in both hard and soft ware. Just as in other sectors of modern life, Africa is still backward in terms of robotic technology. Most of the tasks performed by robots in technologically advanced countries are convenient past times for people in the black continent.

Robotics is therefore a discipline that holds lots of promise for human development and civilization. It can help tackle poverty, reduce- if not eradicate- human suffering, mortality and general underdevelopment.

Particularly, Robotics can enhance development in Africa especially in the areas of agriculture, industry and trade.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is a vital aspect of any human community. No society can survive without the capacity to feed itself. But many Africans suffer hunger, starvation and malnutrition. Around 70% of Nigerians live under food insecurity. One of the primary reasons for this is that Africans still practice subsistence agriculture with crude implements. Most African farmers cannot produce enough food to feed themselves and their families. To achieve food security, the African continent must mechanize agriculture using modern technologies.

Robotic technology can facilitate the mechanization of agriculture in Africa and boost food production and security in the continent. I would like to illustrate this with an example.

A neighbor of mine recently started a poultry farm. Some months ago, her fowls started laying. And because of this, the woman, her husband and children now spend most of the day in and around the poultry to keep close watch on the fowls and remove the eggs. They do this to ensure that the eggs are removed as soon as they are laid otherwise the fowls will break them. But in spite of the family’s close monitoring of the fowls, it still records tens of broken eggs every day. Interestingly, most of the eggs get broken at night. But a robot if introduced can perform this task a whole family does and still incur losses, more efficiently and profitably. For instance, a robot can be installed to go round the pen at intervals to pick the eggs.

In fact both the fowls and robots could be “technological augmented” in such a way that the robot will know which fowl is about to lay and goes there to remove the egg. At some stage in future, it could also be possible to do away with the robots when the egg-picking-intelligence will have been programmed or genetically engineered into the chickens so that any fowl that wants to lay will just go to a particular spot and lay. Robots can therefore be used enhance poultry farming. They can also take over the jobs of tilling the land, planting, weeding and harvesting crops. They will help save costs, labor and energy for investment in other sectors of life.

INDUSTRY

The industrial sector is another area where robotic technology could be of immense use in Africa. African industries are heavily dependent on direct human labor for production of goods and services. Human beings perform tasks that robots can handle more efficiently, effectively and of course, cheaply. Africa needs robotic technology in manufacturing, printing, and processing sectors, in mining, oil exploration and refinery.

Robots are needed particularly in those aspects of the industry that are dangerous and hazardous. By serving as substitutes to humans in industries, robots can help minimize industrial accidents that kill and incapacitate many Africans daily. With robotic technology Africa can hope experiencing its own industrial revolution and of reviving its beleaguered economy.

PROCESSES OF TRANSHUMANISM

Transhumanism is derived from two terms Trans, which means to cross or go beyond, and humanism, which means a way of thinking and living that seeks to improve human condition and the external world using rational and scientific means. Transhumanism is therefore a philosophical outlook that seeks to move beyond traditional humanistic motions and worldwide. Traditional humanistic motion maintains that human condition can be improved by cultivating the values of freedom, tolerance, critical thinking and solidarity. Transhumanists agree with this. But more than that, transhumanists believe we can use reason and science to improve ourselves, the human beings. So the transhumanist outlook is premised on the notion that “the human species in its current form does not represent the end (of) our development but its beginning3. So, what we have today are transitional humans — humans on the road to post humanity through the instrumentality of science and technology. So for transhumanists, barring all catastrophes, post humanity is the inevitable future of all human beings.

Transhumanism is therefore defined as:

The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition though applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and greatly enhance human intellectual physical and psychological capacity “.

Transhumanists believe that technological progress will give human beings more radical and revolutionary options in future. Apart from new tools for genetic engineering, drugs to regulate human moods, information technology, faster computers; new useful chemicals, new medical treatments, organ transplantation techniques, transhumanists think that in future, human beings will have at their disposal technologies that will support post-human oriented projects like uploading and cryonics.

For instance, with molecular nanotechnology and super intelligence human beings can experience higher reaches of intellectual creativity, access to better information processors than the human nervous systems, higher emotion and deeper states of consciousness that our unaugmented train cannot reach or sustain.

In Africa, transhumanism holds a lot of hope and promises for the African people. First of all Africans are a people that have been held down by religion and supernaturalism. Most African minds are still trapped in religious irrationalism otherworldliness and superstition. They still believe in the absurdity that eternal happiness and immortality and post-mortem entitlements Hence they commit all sorts of atrocities They kill and maim one another in the name of divinity or piety. Tranhumanism will liberate Africans from mental slavery occasioned by religion and dogma and facilitate the intellectual emancipation of the people.

Transhumanists seek to realize their dreams in this world not by relying on supernatural powers but through the instrumentality of rational thought, scientific temper and technological intelligence. Many transhumanists are also striving hard to reverse human mortality and make eternal bliss and divine intelligence part and parcel of human experience in this world not in the next.

Furthermore the transhumanist philosophy is predicated on the radical improvement of humanity using science and technology. And so, the transhumanist worldview will help Africa tackle poverty, hunger, starvation and diseases currently ravaging the continent. For instance biotechnology will improve the yield and varieties of food and cash crops and make available abundant food for local consumption and for the market. While medical technological augmentation will make the human body resistant to both curable and incurable diseases. Also with upgraded intelligence Africans are sure to come out with lasting solutions to drought, famine, armed conflicts and other problems that bedevil the continent.

REFERENCES
1 http://www.thetech.org/robotics/universal/index.html
2 http://www.transhumanism.org

Leo lgwe is the executive secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement.