Transhumanism and Digitalisation. Theological-Anthropological Perspectives

Abstract

Transhumanism and digitization are sometimes mentioned in the same breath. It may seem that the progress in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence plays into the hands of transhumanist tendencies. However, it should not be overlooked that the prognosis of developments such as the merging of human and machine intelligence builds on basic anthropological assumptions that need to be critically reflected. This opens up a differentiated perspective on the relation between transhumanism and digitization: although digital technologies can be instrumentalized for transhumanist goals on the basis of a reductionist understanding of human beings, they are not associated with these goals per se, but can also be integrated into a creation-based theological understanding of human beings.