IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 4

EDITORIAL

KATINA MICHAEL

Beyond Human: Lifelogging
and Life Extension

I

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS [19]

have often wondered what it would be like to
rid myself of a keyboard for data entry, and a
computer screen for display. Some of my greatest moments of reflection are when I am in the
car driving long distances, cooking in my kitchen,
watching the kids play at the park, waiting for a doctor's appointment, or on a plane thousands of meters
above sea level. I have always been great at multitasking, but at these times it is often not practical
or convenient to be head down typing on a laptop,
tablet, or smartphone.
It would be much easier if I could just make a mental
note to record an idea and have it recorded, there and
then. And who wouldn't want the ability to "jack into"
all the world's knowledge sources in an instant via a
network [1]? Who wouldn't want instant access to their
life-pages filled with all those memorable occasions? Or
even the ability to slow down the process of aging [2],
as long as living longer equated to living with mind and
body fully intact.
Transhumanists would have us believe that these
things are not only possible but inevitable.
In short: we Homo sapiens may dictate the next
stage of our evolution through our use of technology.

Transhumanism
Shortly after starting my Ph.D., I came across a
newly established organization known as the World
Transhumanist Association (WTA), now known
as Humanity+ (H+), which was founded by Nick
Bostrom and David Pearce.
Point 8 of the Transhumanist Declaration states [3]:
"We favour allowing individuals wide personal
choice over how they enable their lives. This includes use of techniques that may be developed
to assist memory, concentration, and mental
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2014.2322915
Date of publication: 4 June 2014

4

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energy; life extension therapies; reproductive
choice technologies; cryonics procedures; and
many other possible human modification and
enhancement technologies."
First let us consider briefly the traditional notion of
a cyborg, part man/part machine, where technology
can act to replace the need for human parts.
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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SUMMER 2014



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