(ZENIT News / Rome, 02.06.2024).- Elon Musk’s recent announcement of the first Neuralink wireless brain implant in a human patient quickly sparked fear of a dehumanized cyborg future. Yet most humans already live the present uncritically immersed in technology that subtly shapes their sense of identity and their social relations. Moreover, culturally influential dualist anthropologies have long separated the self from the body and treated the latter as a malleable tool of the former.
Fr. Michael Baggot, editor and author of Enhancement Fit for Humanity: Perspectives on Emerging Technologies, offers an in-depth analysis of Transhumanism and Emerging Technologies in his latest interview with Matt Fradd on the United States’ most renowned Catholic long-form discussion program Pints with Aquinas. The wide-ranging conversation explores the ethical and cultural implications of medically assisted reproduction, eugenics, gene editing, and artificial intelligence. It also examines the connections between Transhumanism and the better-known Transgenderism.
The interview goes beyond mere alarmism about future catastrophes to assess the underlying philosophies that inspire some of the world’s leading thinkers to invest vast sums of money and energy into radical human enhancement and digital immortality projects. Baggot explains why dialogue with the movement is fruitful, albeit challenging. He draws on philosophy, theology, and science fiction to affirm the positive aspirations of Transhumanism and redirect its deviations. In particular, he argues that some biotechnological enhancements can be used prudently as part of a virtuous moral life. Baggot also recalls the surprising Catholic roots of contemporary secular Transhumanism and exhorts believers to live the beauty of their call to transfiguration in daily life.
Fr. Michael Baggot is a Professor Aggregato of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and an Adjunct Professor of Theology at the Catholic Institute of Technology. He also serves as a professor for the Joint Diploma in Leadership: Service through Virtues and the Catholic Worldview Fellowship summer program. He was an Adjunct Professor of Theology at the Christendom College Rome program from 2018-2022. In addition, Baggot is a Research Scholar at the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights and a member of the Scholarly Advisory Board for Magisterium AI. His writings have appeared in First Things, Studia Bioethica, The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. Baggot is the chief editor of and a contributor to the book Enhancement Fit for Humanity: Perspectives on Emerging Technologies (Routledge, 2022).
