Udder Breast

Manifesto

Taking the meaning of transhumanism as the enhancement of the human state through technology, the work is concerned with the future implications of the transhumanist movement. Transhumans are humans in the process of becoming post-humans.

The work is a self-created narrative of a future transhumanist dystopia. This narrative of dystopia makes specific reference to Francis Fukuyama’s bioconservative reservations towards transhumanism.

‘If we start transforming ourselves into something superior, what rights will these enhanced creatures claim, and what rights will they possess when compared to those left behind?’ (Fukuyama, 2004)

The work focuses on the augmentation of the feminine body and the multiplication and mass production of its maternal characteristics.  The theorist Donna Haraway believes that modern mass production is conducive to the reproduction or replication of the future post-human or, what she refers to as, the cyborg.

‘Modern production seems like a dream of cyborg colonization work, a dream that makes the nightmare of Taylorism seem idyllic’ (Haraway, 1991)

Transhumanist Inspiration

Transhumanism is described as the enhancement of human life through technology. Francis Fukuyama is a leading bioconservative opposed to the transhumanist movement. In a short essay titled Transhumanism (2004), Fukuyama airs his doubts about transhumanism and fears it will create an imbalance of human rights.

‘If we start transforming ourselves into something superior, what rights will these enhanced creatures claim, and what rights will they possess when compared to those left behind?’ (Fukuyama, 2004)

In A Cyborg Manifesto (1991), Donna Haraway looks at the rise of the cyborg. She describes the cyborg as a coupling between machine and organism. Haraway theorises that our current system of modern mass production is ‘like a dream of cyborg colonization work’ (Haraway1991)

Both Fukuyama and Haraway’s theory of transhumanism lead to a dystopian future.

Bibliography

Fukuyama, F., 2004. Transhumanism. Foriegn Policy, Issue 144, pp. 42-43.

Haraway, D., 1991. A Cyborg Manifesto. In: Simians, Cyborgs and Women. New York: Routledge.