Words&Dirt

“We have reached a threshold: modernity and science seem to be putting the human species in danger, but at the same time they are offering the unprecedented, seemingly incredible promise of a quantum leap in the human condition.  As we stand at the posthuman frontier, should we retreat by actively curtailing further progress, or instead bravely and responsibly embrace the challenges ahead?

I firmly believe that the notion of humanity’s place in the universe must be brought to the foreground in order to answer Nietzsche’s still-unaddressed concern about the ‘death of God’ and the corresponding lack of human purpose in a scientific age.  In this book, I suggest that we need a higher goal, a new covenant with that which is greater than ourselves, if we are to move toward and realize our greatest purpose and potential.  And there is little we can find in our current culture that promotes further cosmic evolution through human transformation and the creation of higher intelligence and nobler aspirations.

In this postmodern world, we have achieved tolerance and inclusiveness to an admirable degree, but that should be a beginning, not an end, of our achievement.  In fact, our most overarching human objective seems to have been reduced to the simplistic notion of the maximization of human happiness, which requires little more than that everybody be nice to others and ‘do no harm.’  This feel-good goal is at best egocentric complacency, with the implicit assertion that humankind is an end in itself.  It plays safely and pleasantly to the lowest common denominator of human desires.  At worst, however, it represents a decadent self-indulgence that flatly flies in the face of what we now know about how the universe evolved, where we came from, our place in evolution, and what our potential is––all of which we will discuss at length.  I therefore argue that peace, prosperity, harmony, and human happiness are not ultimate ends in themselves; they become great goals only in the context of how they can serve a larger, cosmic purpose––which I will refer to as the one true Creation.  Although I do not pretend to be able to fathom this purpose in its totality, or what the next great leaps in evolution and consciousness will ‘look like,’ our ever-increasing understanding of science and evolution has given us some tantalizing clues.  We can say that we are part––or maybe even a focal point––of an amazing cosmic process that started with the Big Bang more than thirteen billion years ago.  We can also say that the effort to consciously participate in the unfolding of this grand evolutionary process is the greatest purpose we can find and identify with, and it constitutes a new kind of heroism for our time.”

––Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision for Our Future Evolution, by Ted Chu, pg. 9-10

“The well-being of a neuron depends on its ability to communicate with other neurons.  Studies have shown that electrical and chemical stimulation from both a neuron’s inputs and its targets support vital cellular processes.  Neurons unable to connect effectively with other neurons atrophy.  Useless, an abandoned neuron will die.”

––Still Alice, by Lisa Genova, pg. 175