Transhuman

From Plastic Tub

transhuman n. 1. Beyond human; a physical or transcendental extension that maintains a remnant vestige of humanity. 2. sci. The theoretical intermediary evolutionary link between homo sapiens and homo excelsior. 3. religious That which is above the mortals but below the gods; an angel, titan, or king; the metaphorical transhumance of humans from the lowland pastures of earth to more ethereal highlands. (That transhuman, spark yearning to exit this plane and join the Pleroma.)

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Usage

Beatrice stood unmov’d; and I with ken

Fix’d upon her, from upward gaze remov’d

At her aspect, such inwardly became

As Glaucus, when he tasted of the herb,

That made him peer among the ocean gods;

Words may not tell of that transhuman change:

-- Dante. Divine Comedy.

“Michael Jackson’s autoteratological transformation shivers in the gloom like Charon’s lantern beckoning across the misty Styx.” -- M.J. Cleared on all Charges. The New Yorker. June 19, 2005.

"The Titans, they say, hummed snatches when chipping out the craters for volcanoes." -- Melville, Herman. Moby Dick.

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Extrapolation

Monstrous Science

“There are those amoung us who call themselves “transhumanists.” But not me. No, sir -- these are blind men, fashioning themselves after prophets in the wilderness, heralding a dawning era and hearkening an impending evolutionary leap; indeed there are more than a few who intend to usher in a new species. These are dangerous people, proclaiming a societal state of technological and cultural readiness that portends a looming realization of transhumanity via the now extensive use of various mind/body enhancements including prosthetics, elective surgeries, chemical amplifiers, procreative controls, cyber-bionic interfaces, genetic inquiry, etc., etc.

You get the point: these self-styled philosophers are draped in scientific babble and optimistic pinings, but in their howling antics, they reveal the ancient rage against that dying light; in the final analysis, this “new voice” merely echoes that age-old human yearning: we seek to cheat death. And with all our big words -- all our hopes, fears, and frustrations -- are we not, in the end, a howling and hungry chimp, bashing a nut with an eye on the morsel inside? Again I say empatically, “Not me!” No, sir -- I may peddle fiction, but I am old-fashioned by nature.”

-- Ray Bradbury responding to Gingrinch’s condemnations during an appeal to Congress for funding NASA’s astrobiological missions.

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Non-Canonical Text

“Our commander-in-chief has ordered forays into the heavens. At least seven chimps have undergone successful head transplants. All human knowledge will soon be stored in devices small enough to set in the ear. In 2003, a Brazilian girl was born with two functional livers. In 2004, a German boy was born with a silenced myostatin gene (http://aayushpuri.blogspot.com/2004/06/mutant-gene-led-to-athletes-son-being.html). Nanotech engineers have crafted stain-proof pants. The Chinese breed sprinters bent toward cracking the three minute mile. FM 2030’s head joins Disney’s on ice. Genetic hackers operate out of garages (http://www.flutterby.com/archives/viewentry.cgi?id=6708&desc=1), jacking into the genome. And despite what you may have heard, the Raelian cult really did successfully clone several children, though they were confiscated by Gnomes just before the whole operation was shut down.” -- Revelations of Transhumanity, author unknown (possibly Natasha Vita-More?)

“Are we to so blithely shuffle forward in compliance with this degradation of mankind -- we who are created by God in His very likeness? If we are but trans-simian, where does that place the Lord?” -- closing arguments by the Defense at the Scopes Monkey Trial.

“…and so Mommo became King and all the lands and its peoples were his, but still he desired more. So he turned to the Heavens and strove to make them his own. But Mommo’s dominion over men held no sway with the gods. Emil took the Fallen Stone from Mommo, and Mommo was banished to the Earth forever…” -- from the Chaldean mythology of the Fallen Stone.

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