“640K应该足够任何人使用。”
——比尔·盖茨，1981年
1.1什么是超人主义？
超人主义是一种思考未来的方式，它基于这样一个前提，即人类目前的形式并不代表我们发展的结束，而是恰恰相反——我们正处在一个相对早期的发展阶段。我们正式界定它如下：
（1）肯定通过理性手段，尤其肯定通过发展和广泛使用有效的技术来消除衰老与大大提高人的智力，是可能与可取的智力和文化运动。
（2）有关那些能使我们克服人类根本限制的技术的影响、承诺和潜在风险，以及发展、使用这些技术所涉及的伦理问题的相关研究。
（3）超人主义可以视为人文主义的延伸，人文主义是超人主义的部分源泉。人文主义者认为，人类的问题，也是每个人的问题；我们也许不是完美的，但我们可以通过理性思考、自由、宽容、民主和关心我们的同胞来使事情做得更好。超人主义者同意这些，并强调我们有潜力做得更好。正如我们用合理的手段来改善人类的状况和外部的世界，我们也可以使用这些手段来提高我们的人体机能。这样，我们就不仅限于传统的人文方法，如发展教育和文化。我们还可以使用技术手段，最终可以使我们的活动超越“人类”所能想象的范围。
什么对我们有价值，并不是由我们的形状和当前人类生物学的详细说明来界定，而是由我们的愿望和理想，我们的体验和各种先进的生活方式来界定。对一个超人主义者来说，更多的人能按照他们最深层的价值观来塑造自己、自己的生活和自己与他人的关系，就是一种进步。超人主义者高度重视自主：每个人都有计划和选择自己生活的能力与权力。当然，有些人可能因为某些原因而选择放弃使用技术对自己进行提高的机会。
超人主义者谋求建立一个世界，在这个世界里，独立的个人可以选择保持自己的机体形态或选择改进自己，而无论选择保持还是改进，这些选择都应该得到尊重。
由于技术发展和科学认识速度的加快，我们正在进入人类历史上的一个全新的阶段。在不久的未来，我们将面对真正的人工智能的前景。新的认识工具将通过接口技术与人工智能相结合而建立。分子纳米技术具有为每个人制造丰富资源的潜力，并且让我们能够控制自己体内的生化过程，从而使我们能够消除疾病和不必要的老化。例如，大脑-电脑连接和神经药理学等技术可以扩展人们的智能，增加情感福祉，改善我们的能力，以使我们能有足够的时间和精力去实现我们的梦想以及和我们所爱的人在一起，甚至，尽可能的扩大情感的范围与丰富的程度。另一方面，超人主义者认识到一些未来的技术可能会给人类的生命带来巨大的伤害，甚至使我们整个物种的生存都处于危险之中。尝试了解这些危险并致力于防止灾害发生是超人主义者议程的重要组成部分。
如今，超人主义正在融入主流文化之中，随着越来越多的科学家、科普作家和思想家开始认真对待围绕超人主义所产生的各种可能，超人主义者的群体在迅速扩大，超人主义者在情趣和关注上又有所不同。在世界上的不同地方，他们组成许多的讨论小组，这些小组聚齐在世界超人协会——一个非盈利的民主会员组成的机构——的旗下。
原文：1.1 What is transhumanism?
Transhumanism is a way of thinking about the future that is based
on the premise that the human species in its current form does not
represent the end of our development but rather a comparatively
early phase. We formally define it as follows:
(1) The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.
(2) The study of the ramifications, promises, and potential dangers of technologies that will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations, and the related study of the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies.
Transhumanism can be viewed as an extension of humanism, from which it is partially derived. Humanists believe that humans matter, that individuals matter. We might not be perfect, but we can make things better by promoting rational thinking, freedom, tolerance, democracy, and concern for our fellow human beings. Transhumanists agree with this but also emphasize what we have the potential to become. Just as we use rational means to improve the human condition and the external world, we can also use such means to improve ourselves, the human organism. In doing so, we are not limited to traditional humanistic methods, such as education and cultural development. We can also use technological means that will eventually enable us to move beyond what some would think of as “human”.
It is not our human shape or the details of our current human biology that define what is valuable about us, but rather our aspirations and ideals, our experiences, and the kinds of lives we lead. To a transhumanist, progress occurs when more people become more able to shape themselves, their lives, and the ways they relate to others, in accordance with their own deepest values.
Transhumanists place a high value on autonomy: the ability and right of individuals to plan and choose their own lives. Some people may of course, for any number of reasons, choose to forgo the opportunity to use technology to improve themselves.
Transhumanists seek to create a world in which autonomous individuals may choose to remain unenhanced or choose to be enhanced and in which these choices will be respected.
Through the accelerating pace of technological development and scientific understanding, we are entering a whole new stage in the history of the human species. In the relatively near future, we may face the prospect of real artificial intelligence. New kinds of cognitive tools will be built that combine artificial intelligence with interface technology. Molecular nanotechnology has the potential to manufacture abundant resources for everybody and to give us control over the biochemical processes in our bodies, enabling us to eliminate disease and unwanted aging. Technologies such as brain-computer interfaces and neuropharmacology could amplify human intelligence, increase emotional well-being, improve our capacity for steady commitment to life projects or a loved one, and even multiply the range and richness of possible emotions. On the dark side of the spectrum, transhumanists recognize that some of these coming technologies could potentially cause great harm to human life; even the survival of our species could be at risk. Seeking to understand the dangers and working to prevent disasters is an essential part of the transhumanist agenda.
Transhumanism is entering the mainstream culture today, as increasing numbers of scientists, scientifically literate philosophers, and social thinkers are beginning to take seriously the range of possibilities that transhumanism encompasses. A rapidly expanding family of transhumanist groups, differing somewhat in flavor and focus, and a plethora of discussion groups in many countries around the world, are gathered under the umbrella of the World Transhumanist Association, a non-profit democratic membership organization.
References:
World Transhumanist Association. http://www.transhumanism.org
"Poor human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy
name!"
Emma Goldman
