The transhumanist mirage: fantasizing about the metamorphosis of human

Maison Suger is pleased to host the eighth session of the seminar cycle "Accumulations and Accelerations: Computer Totalitarianism III", with Nicolas Le Dévédec, associate professor of sociology at the École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal and author of Le mythe de l’humain augmenté. Une critique poli­tique et écologique du transhuma­nisme, Écosociété 2021.

The bright promises and apocalyptic fears associated with transhumanist projects call for two approaches. On the one hand, we must dismantle the idea of an “augmented” human by showing that it is both fanciful (death cannot be eliminated) and misleading (it presents a picture of a human who is, on the contrary, diminished, even more alienated and subject to the demands of success and performance). On the other hand, these projects harbor, if not the intention, then at least the effect of depoliticization: we imagine reshaping human beings so as not to challenge our socio-economic organization and its imperatives of accumulation and acceleration.

Following the success of the first two years of the seminar, which focused on the all-encompassing influence of computing, a third cycle has been organised to explore new counter-truths. The promise of virtual communities can sometimes prove harmful to physical social relations. Remote working, far from promoting equality, tends to increase disparities. The mechanised school, often presented as virtuous, risks reducing education to mere conditioning. And the fantasy of the “augmented” human reinforces capitalist logics of accumulation and acceleration.

The seminar will also examine the threats posed by automated warfare and the mechanised rationalisation of medical care, which can obscure the environmental causes of many diseases. New techniques for manipulating texts, sounds and images are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between true and false. Finally, the artificialisation of life fosters endless individualisation: isolated humans are caught in a race toward immediate technical pleasures and struggle to grasp collective issues.

Inspired by an interactive pedagogy, the seminar is free and open to all, particularly students and researchers in the humanities, law and philosophy.