I attended a lecture at Wham City in Baltimore recently, and I wanted to jot down some quick notes on the subject. “Noetic Transhumanism” was the main idea tonight, espoused by a neighbor of mine, C.K. Our humble lecturer is in the early stages of an experiment with the idea of Noetic Transhumanism. He gives lectures like the one given tonight, to develop his ideas.
Noetic Transhumanism is a kind of transhuminist idea. Transhumanists believe that humans can overcome their own natural limitations, to become more than, or other than the humans we are now. Science fiction cyborgs come to mind with this idea, as well as the science realities of genetic modification, steroid use, psychoactive drugs, etc.
Noetic Transhumanism is a similar idea, although it has less to do with the physicality of the human condition. Noetic Transhumanism is the idea that humans can overcome our inner limitations: limitations of the mind, emotions, and spirit, in order to become more than, or other than we are now. This transition may be a transition away from physicality altogether — but in what sense, and is that possible?
In some sense, as C.K. described, people have been escaping physicality into the realm of ideas, for centuries: Greek heroes, prophets, legendary people of all stripes, etc., but this isn’t exactly the kind of transcending that C.K. seems to have in mind.
C.K. seems most interested in what some people have called the Noosphere, and he describes it as though it were a realm, or a dimension related to ours.
This lecture was pretty much the outset of C.K.’s ideas on the subject. There wasn’t much need, in an introduction, to delve into the details, comparisons and so on. The second part of the lecture was C.K.’s discussion of his attempts to pursue this idea, to address any questions that arise along the way, and to attempt an end result — that being a noetic transition of some sort.