Author : C. Mercer
Publisher : Springer
Page : 199 pages
File Size : 27,92 MB
Release : 2009-08-31
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0230100724
If the science of 'radical life extension' is realized and the technology becomes widely available, it would arguably have a more radical impact on humanity than any other development in history. This book is the first concerted effort to explore implications of radical life extension from the perspective of the world's major religious traditions.
Author : Calvin Mercer
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 473 pages
File Size : 35,59 MB
Release : 2014-11-17
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1440833265
Should technology be used to improve human faculties such as cognition and longevity? This thought-provoking dialogue between "transhumanism" and religion examines enhancement technologies that could radically alter the human species. "Transhumanism" or "human enhancement" is an intellectual and cultural movement that advocates the use of emerging technologies to change human traits. Although they may sound like science fiction, the possibilities suggested by transhumanism are very real, and the questions they raise have no easy answers. If these enhancements—especially major ones like the indefinite extension of healthy human life—become widely available, they would arguably have a more radical impact on humankind than any other development in history. This book comprises essays that explore transhumanism and the issues that surround it, addressing numerous fascinating questions posed by scholars of religion from various traditions. How will "immortality" or extreme longevity change our religious beliefs and practices? How might pharmaceuticals enhance spiritual experiences? Will "post-human" technologies be available to all persons, or will a superior "post-human race" arise to dominate the human species? The discussions are as intriguing as the future they suggest.
Author : C. Mercer
Publisher : Springer
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 14,80 MB
Release : 2014-09-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1137342765
This collection of original articles, a sequel of sorts to the 2009 Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension (Palgrave Macmillan), is the first sustained reflection, by scholars with expertise in the faith traditions, on how the transhumanist agenda might impact the body.
Author : C. Mercer
Publisher : Springer
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 22,31 MB
Release : 2014-09-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1137342765
This collection of original articles, a sequel of sorts to the 2009 Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension (Palgrave Macmillan), is the first sustained reflection, by scholars with expertise in the faith traditions, on how the transhumanist agenda might impact the body.
Author : Calvin Mercer
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 45,63 MB
Release : 2021-02-22
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 3030623599
We live in an age of rapid technological advancement. Never before has humankind wielded so much power over our own biology. Biohacking, the attempt at human enhancement of physical, cognitive, affective, moral, and spiritual traits, has become a global phenomenon. This textbook introduces religious and ethical implications of biohacking, artificial intelligence, and other technological changes, offering perspectives from monotheistic and karmic religions and applied ethics. These technological breakthroughs are transforming our societies and ourselves fundamentally via genetic modification, tissue engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, the merging of computer technology with human biology, extended reality, brain stimulation, and nanotechnology. The book also considers the extreme possibilities of mind uploading, cryonics, and superintelligence. Chapters explore some of the political, economic, sociological, and psychological dimensions of these advances, with bibliographies for further study and questions for discussion. The technological future is here – and it is up to us to decide its moral and religious shape.
Author : Roy Jackson
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 202 pages
File Size : 24,2 MB
Release : 2020-02-05
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3030370933
This book looks to the rich and varied Islamic tradition for insights into what it means to be human and, by implication, what this can tell us about the future human. The transhumanist movement, in its more radical expression, sees Homo sapiens as the cousin, perhaps the poorer cousin, of a new Humanity 2.0: ‘Man’ is replaced by ‘Superman’. The contribution that Islam can make to this movement concerns the central question of what this ‘Superman’ – or ‘Supermuslim’ – would actually entail. To look at what Islam can contribute we need not restrict ourselves to the Qur’an and the legal tradition, but also reach out to its philosophical and literary corpus. Roy Jackson focuses on such contributions from Muslim philosophy, science, and literature to see how Islam can confront and respond to the challenges raised by the growing movement of transhumanism.
Author : Arvin M. Gouw
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 489 pages
File Size : 32,78 MB
Release : 2022-03-10
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1498584144
"In this book, the contributors examine how various religious traditions engage with transhumanism and its vision for the future"--
Author : Elliot N. Dorff
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 19,52 MB
Release : 2024
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0827615655
Ethics at the Center culls the best of Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff's pioneering thinking in Jewish ethics over nearly five decades. Dorff shows that our response to moral issues depends ultimately on our conceptions of the nature of human beings and God; how Jewish law, theology, prayer, history, and community should also define and motivate Jewish responses to moral issues; and how the honorable and divergent stances of Western philosophy and other religions about moral living shed light on Judaism's distinctive standpoints. From there Dorff applies Judaism's ethics to real life: abortion post-Roe v. Wade, sexual orientation and human dignity, avoiding harm in communication, playing violent or defamatory video games, modern war ethics, handling donations of ill-gotten gain after the fact. In conclusion he explores how Jewish family and community, holidays and rituals, theology, study, and law have moral import as well. Dorff's personal introduction to each chapter reflects on why and when he wrote its contents, its continuing relevance, and if--and if so, how--he would now change what he wrote earlier. Readers will experience not only his evolving ethical thought but many facets of the person and the Jew that Dorff is today.
Author : James W. Haag
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 652 pages
File Size : 50,44 MB
Release : 2012-03-12
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1136634177
The field of religion and science is one of the most exciting and dynamic areas of research today. This Companion brings together an outstanding team of scholars to explore the ways in which science intersects with the major religions of the world and religious naturalism. The collection provides an overview of the field and also indicates ways in which it is developing. Its multicultural breadth and scientific rigor on topics that are and will be compelling issues in the first part of the twenty-first century and beyond will be welcomed by students and scholars alike.
Author : Suresh I. S. Rattan
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 643 pages
File Size : 17,53 MB
Release : 2021-10-03
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 3030830179
This edited volume is a compilation of 30 articles discussing what constitutes food for health and longevity. The aim is to provide up-to-date information, insights, and future tendencies in the ongoing scientific research about nutritional components, food habits and dietary patterns in different cultures. The health-sustaining and health-promoting effects of food are certainly founded in its overall composition of macronutrients and micronutrients. However, the consumption of these nutrients is normally in the form of raw or prepared food from the animal and plant sources. The book is divided into four parts and a conclusion, and successfully convenes the well-established information and knowledge, along with the personal views of a diversified group of researchers and academicians on the multifaceted aspects of nutrition, food and diet. The first part reviews the scientific information about proteins, carbohydrates, fats and oils, micronutrients, pro- and pre-biotics, and hormetins, along with a discussion of the evolutionary principles and constraints about what is optimal food, if any. The second part discusses various kinds of foods and food supplements with respect to their claimed benefits for general health and prevention of some diseases. The third part brings in the cultural aspects, such as what are the principles of healthy eating according to the traditional Chinese and Indian systems, what is the importance of mealing times and daily rhythms, and how different cultures have developed different folk wisdoms for eating for health, longevity and immortality. In the part four, various approaches which are either already in practice or are still in the testing and research phases are discussed and evaluated critically, for example intermittent fasting and calorie restriction, food-based short peptides, senolytics, Ayurvedic compounds, optimal food for old people, and food for the prevention of obesity and other metabolic disorders. The overreaching aim of this book is to inform, inspire and encourage students, researchers, educators and medical health professionals thinking about food and food habits in a holistic context of our habits, cultures and patterns. Food cannot be reduced to a pill of nutritional components. Eating food is a complex human behavior culturally evolved over thousands of years. Perhaps the old adage “we are what we eat” needs to be modified to “we eat what we are”.
