Transhumanism and the American Political Myths

This paper engages with the discourse on transhumanism by critically examining its foundational elements, the political myths. Numerous critical perspectives have consistently emerged in pertinent to transhumanism. Critiques spanned a broad spectrum, from those advocating for a comprehensive and holistic examination of the philosophical arguments and claims posited by transhumanists, to more pragmatic voices focused on political and economic considerations, urging for limitations on the pursuits of high-tech industries that function within or are based on transhumanist principles. Nevertheless, these haste critiques are constrained by a fundamental misunderstanding of the geneaology of transhumanism: the deeper one probes its historical context to engage with it critically in the present, the more transhumanism becomes obscured, revealing only archaic ideas, Christian theological perspectives, and Enlightenment philosophy. Consequently, it is essential to regard the past as a discursive instrument that can be employed by modern transhumanist discourse, rather than simply as a sequence of chronological events. This paper explores the complex dimensions of transhumanism by analyzing its utilization and transformation of the political myths prevalent in twentieth-century United States, including the American way of life, comic-book superheroism, manifest destiny, and Christian eschatology.