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Alien Life: Marx and the Future of the Human

Alien Life: Marx and the Future of the Human Glenn Rikowski Alien Life: Marx and the Future of the Human Introduction The ‘ huma n’ appea rs to be in crisis. There is a practical challenge to the constitution of humans. This challenge is diverse but comes from four main Že ld s o f c o nt e m po r ar y s c i en c e: b io t e ch n o lo g y (especially genetic modiŽcation of human DNA); cybernetics, in particular, the connection of microchips to t he h um an br ain o r central nervo us system ; microchip technology, artiŽcial intelligence (AI) and robotics; and nanotechnology. 1 With this new science and technology, the ‘future of the human’ appears to become open to a world of possibilities. It seems to offer powerful techniques for gener ating artiŽc ial – rather th an natura l – selection. Evolution is subsumed under ‘human’ control and possibilities for redesigning the species yield ‘transhuman’ or ‘posthuman’ futures. In this scenario, the technological redeŽnition of what the ‘human’ is becomes reality. Designer humans, the downloading of consciousness into computers, bodies without organs and cyborgs (a range of human- computer fusions) are http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Historical Materialism Brill

Alien Life: Marx and the Future of the Human

Historical Materialism , Volume 11 (2): 121 – Jan 1, 2003

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2003 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1465-4466
eISSN
1569-206X
DOI
10.1163/156920603768311255
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Glenn Rikowski Alien Life: Marx and the Future of the Human Introduction The ‘ huma n’ appea rs to be in crisis. There is a practical challenge to the constitution of humans. This challenge is diverse but comes from four main Že ld s o f c o nt e m po r ar y s c i en c e: b io t e ch n o lo g y (especially genetic modiŽcation of human DNA); cybernetics, in particular, the connection of microchips to t he h um an br ain o r central nervo us system ; microchip technology, artiŽcial intelligence (AI) and robotics; and nanotechnology. 1 With this new science and technology, the ‘future of the human’ appears to become open to a world of possibilities. It seems to offer powerful techniques for gener ating artiŽc ial – rather th an natura l – selection. Evolution is subsumed under ‘human’ control and possibilities for redesigning the species yield ‘transhuman’ or ‘posthuman’ futures. In this scenario, the technological redeŽnition of what the ‘human’ is becomes reality. Designer humans, the downloading of consciousness into computers, bodies without organs and cyborgs (a range of human- computer fusions) are

Journal

Historical MaterialismBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2003

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