Newly published: Hyperreality and Transhumanism by Mirco Spiegel
Technological Developments in the Context of Transhumanism Viewed from Jean Baudrillard's Perspective on Contemporary Hyperreality.
Digital technologies are now an integral part of everyday life. People are increasingly becoming part of this network of machines themselves. Several decades ago, the French sociologist Jean Baudrillard already described such a world in which reality and fiction can no longer be distinguished. They merge inseparably into a new reality, a hyperreality in which all reference to the actual phenomena has been lost. Transhumanism focuses on the improvement of humans through technologies. By connecting the biological body with machines, the natural limits of its physical and mental capabilities are to be overcome. Man is to actively shape his evolution in order to ultimately develop into a posthuman being. This progress seems necessary in order not to be replaced by machines. At first glance, many ideas about cyborgs and artificial intelligence seem like science fiction notions. Jean Baudrillard takes up images of this kind and uses them to illustrate how the world already is. A fictional world that becomes reality - Mirco Spiegel examines in this book whether visions of transhumanism are part of it.