Changing What It Means to Be Human

The base of my argument is that “unmodified humanity”³ doesn’t exist (except maybe the tiniest of newborn babies) because we change ourselves to be better at what we’re doing. That’s how humanity works. There is no “pure natural state” to get back to, we’re built to change and adapt and people worried about “losing humanity”³ because of implants and prosteses and drugs and gene therapy are missing the point: of course they’ll change who we are as humans... Changing our form IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN Like, I’ve talked about this before, but you can spot a London cab driver on a brain scan easier than you can tell male brains vs female brains, because learning how to do that changes the form and function of your brain to such a degree that you can detect it just by doing an MRI. You can tell if someone was an archer or a ballet dancer by the shape of their bones. You can tell what language a newborn’s parents speak because they babble in the same cadence and pitches as their soon-to-be-first-language, just from hearing it in the womb. If you’re ever worried that something you do or become means you’re “less human”, don’t be. Becoming less “human” is the most human thing you can do.

The image is a dark screenshot containing a long green-text argument about how humans constantly change through learning, technology, medicine, and adaptation. It argues that there is no “pure natural” human state and that becoming different or seemingly “less human” is itself profoundly human. The meme is shared as a thoughtful, philosophical reaction to anxieties about implants, gene therapy, artificial enhancement, or changing identity. EN: The image is a dark screenshot containing a long green-text argument about how humans constantly change through learning, technology, medicine, and adaptation. It argues that there is no “pure natural” human state and that becoming different or seemingly “less human” is itself profoundly human. The meme is shared as a thoughtful, philosophical reaction to anxieties about implants, gene therapy, artificial enhancement, or changing identity.

• @rzeczyzabawne / 16655 2024-05-22