A Critique of Christian Transhumanism

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Christian transhumanism is the idea that the mission of Christianity can be better assisted with or is compatible with transhumanism, the transcendance of physical experience beyond the human body with technology. The theological contradictions are various, but let’s consider the very premise of transhumanism. While Jesus himself apparently used artificial means to complete his mission (e.g. papyrus, marine vessels), it is another matter to say we can achieve a “technological resurrection”, by producing a conscious experience outside of the body. Like those of the artificial intelligence community who wish to recreate self-awareness, it fails to distinguish between information processing and consciousness.

A “technological resurrection” is physically impossible since there are only ways to replicate information processing (what manifests as a personality), but there are no ways to replicate the experience. The experience can only be sacred and holy. It must transcend the physical world.

No matter how many cogs and pullies turn in a mechanical computer (or how many transistors open their electrical gates), there is no mechanism for the apparatus to become self-aware or conscious. Information processing is arbitrary, but consciousness is discrete, fundamental, and miraculous. To manifest consciousness in the physical world is akin to walking on water, or spontaneous healing. In fact, it is far more miraculous than that. Consciousness is unequivocally the product of God. It cannot be reproduced artificially.

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