The Trouble with Transhumanism: Wesley J. Smith’s Guest Appearance on Bioethics Babe
Turnabout is fair play, they say. So on this episode of Humanize, Wesley is the guest, interviewed by the “Bioethics Babe,” the podcast of Center on Human Exceptionalism Fellow Arina Grossu Agnew. Arina and Wesley discuss the nature of transhumanism, its philosophical, moral, and political implications, its role as a substitute for religion, its threat to human equality, and whether we are quietly waging a war on human equality in the name of progress.
Is transhumanism the next frontier of progress or a revival of eugenics in a biotech age?
In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with attorney, award-winning author, and Humanize podcast host Wesley J. Smith to unpack the growing transhumanist movement, the push to engineer a “post-human” future through AI, gene editing, cognitive enhancement, designer babies, and radical life extension.
From CRISPR gene editing and Neuralink to the “Singularity” and digital immortality, transhumanism promises to eliminate suffering, enhance intelligence, and even defeat death itself. But at what cost?
We explore:
- Does transhumanism undermine human equality?
- Are we dividing society into the “enhanced” and the “natural”?
- Is the pursuit of immortality driven by fear of death?
- When does enhancement become eugenics?
- Can AI and biotechnology coexist with human dignity?
- Is the desire to eliminate suffering leading us toward eliminating the sufferer?
As history has shown, whenever human worth is tied to capacity such as intelligence, strength, and productivity, equality collapses. If some humans are “upgradeable,” are others expendable?
This conversation dives deep into the philosophical, moral, and political implications of transhumanism and asks whether we are quietly waging a war on human equality in the name of progress.
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Bioethics Babe
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Show Notes
- Wesley J. Smith | Discovery Institute
- “Transhumanism: A Religion for Postmodern Times” by Wesley J. Smith | Acton Institute
- “The New Transhumanism Religion” by Wesley J. Smith | National Review
- “The Transhumanist Bill of Wrongs” by Wesley J. Smith | The American Spectator
- “Transhumanism, the Lazy Way to Human ‘Improvement’” by Wesley J. Smith | National Review