transhuman
The Physicality & The Metaphysicality of the Transhuman
Technology is a way of revealing. — Martin Heidegger (1)
The inaugural issue of Immortalists Magazine was full of intelligent, revelatory, inspirational content (2). Science, philosophy & art coming together to accentuate the benevolent potentiality of our futures. It’s a ‘soulagement’ to witness the depth, the precision and the humanity in our deliberation. At the heart of Transhuman & Posthuman culture lies a pervasive call to positive progress and a reverence for life itself. The only place these two movements diverge is at their philosophical roots (3). Transhuman thought, stemming from Enlightement, stands for progress, for human enhancement. For reason, science and technology to reveal the ‘better angels of our nature’ (4). “We may become Gods, why not. Why would anyone want to stop us. It’s natural. It’s good.” Posthuman thought on other hand, originating in Postmodernism, serves as a lucid chaperone of this potentially wild-child experiment. “Yes we may become Gods, and it may be good, and it needs to be designed equitably, averting the vertigo of preeminence.” Deconstructing, decentralizing at every turn, Posthumanism shines a light into every crevice of transhuman design, on all that may be innocently or overtly overseen in the race to enhancement. Posthumanist cautionary critique keeps any runaway anthropocentrism at bay and ensures the futures ahead are pluripotent in equity and abundance for all. Transhumanism keeps us fresh, innovating, advancing, accelerating, excited. Posthumanism keeps us honest. Both are necessary on this quest for exquisite yet lucid futures.
‘Who’ is the human we are revealing in this particular time in transhumanist history. Who is the human that can live to 100+, 125+ healthy, vibrant, impactful, showing up positively for life, for the world. These are the questions I concern myself with through all my professional endeavors - in medicine, in design, in writing. What is the physicality we are designing for. What kind of body can handle biological superlongevity. What kind of mind must be cultivated in order for this delicate biological physicality to keep regenerating, keep repairing, keep thriving (5). And most urgently, what is the physicality, the metaphysicality of the near-future human - and ‘near’ being the operative word here, since we can only speculate on what comes beyond singularity. In this piece, I specifically concern myself with the question of OUR physicality, OUR metaphysicality - the humans on the ground right here, in this body right now. Us, you and I.
Our Physicality
We are bio-oscillators of infinity. — Nassim Haramein (6)
Perhaps. Sounds about right to me, given all the experience I have had living thus far in my physical body, experiencing altered states of consciousness and working with the human body professionally, as a physician. Yes, we’ve got a clear carbon-based materiality to us — palpable, visible — the skin, the limbs, the organs, the tissues, the cells underneath the sheaths and the flesh. But when you really observe the healing process of the body, you witness this peculiarity of the energetics. The biological form appears to be at the mercy of a relentless physics-driven oscillation designing matter. If we only focus solely on the materiality, the biological pathways and combinatorial systems, you will miss the root of lasting wellness — The Harmony. The Tao.
In the book ‘Juvenescence. Investing in the Age of Longevity’, the authors Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi introduce numerous longevity experts expressing their varied views on longevity science (7). The one chapter that truly caught my eye is an inconspicuous piece provided by Joon Yun M.D. titled ‘Homeostatic Capacity and Functional Longevity’. Here, he puts forth the key point that ‘the myriad features of aging may well be epiphenomena of eroding homeostatic capacity that reduce our ability to contend with stressors and entropy.’ Theoretically, increasing buffering capacity of the aging body could help avert, for instance, senescence. And so much more I’d argue. Homeostatic capacity is relevant to all hallmarks of aging. A conceptual change like this aligns with biophysics and supports even further the need to redirect our relentless search for ‘whack-a-mole’ linear remediations. This, in my view, ought to be a key foundational chapter in Juvenescence. Without robust bioregulation, the body cannot sustain extended longevity, no matter the sophisticated pharma or biotech you throw at it. Modulating central genes and fundamental pathways that regulate allostatic capacity of the body is the cornerstone of longevity. We are Taoist technology, after all.
Your bioresilience can be supported here and now of course, via transformative technology, functional/naturopathic/regenerative medicine, via the endocannabinoid system, via hormetic oscillatory uses of eustress, via vagal tone recalibration, and most directly via reestablishing the embryogenic potential of the tissues, which swiftly resets your autoregulatory function to a more youthful metabolic resilience. The latter we can achieve clinically via pluripotent stem cell intravenous therapy (8). In addition of course, do the obvious. Eat well. Sleep well. Move. Be kind. Be in love. Let go. Forgive. Help others. Evolve. Repeat all that Ad Infinitum. In the farther future, we will see gene therapy & nanotechnology adding further value to this taoist calibration. I foresee that wuwei 無為, the philosophy of effortless action, will prevail in all sophisticated future endeavors at dealing with the physicality of our enhanced bodies. Looking forward to witnessing how this all unfolds.
Our Metaphysicality
Ensouled flesh emptying mind, the work of being human. — rensen
What about the mind. Our essence beyond the soma. The psychology, the mysticality, the mercuriality, the transcendentality. How do we curate the intangible (the mind, the emotions, the spirituality) to directly design a healthy and sustainable tangible (the body, the physical reality). What is the mindset that can uphold physical longevity for the human, the psychology of immortality. These are key questions. I witness human psychology being at the root of so many physical ailments, day in day out. Our perspectives have a direct effect on our physiology. This is no longer being contested in clinical settings nor in literature. When you fear, distrust life, your nervous system shifts to sympathetic hyperfunction and all pathways calibrate for survival metabolism. Good luck digesting, resting, repairing the body in this state. When you relax, trust life, your vagal tone shifts to myelinated ventral firing and all pathways are a go for repair and regeneration. Your mental filter, your existential maturity directly designs your physiology.
In the book ‘Stealing Fire. How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work’, the authors Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal introduce us to the trillion dollar ‘altered states’ economy (9). They pin the 21st century normal human mind — overwhelmed by cortical hyper-frontality and relentless hyper-rumination — against the mind of the future human, skilled in cycling in and out of the highly present, innovative, post-dual, ecstatic flow state. Flow can be experienced as an altered state of consciousness where you feel your best and perform your best. It’s characterized by a sense of selflessness, timelessness, richness and effortlessness (acronym STER) and occurs when you are fully immersed in an activity of high salience. Neurophysiological signature of flow looks quite different from the logico-linguistic prefrontal dominance that most humans live in. Whereas norepinephrine, cortisol and high frequency beta brain waves dominate the regular awake human, in the flow state things change. The brainwaves slow down to alpha and deeper theta and our neurophysiology is flooded by ‘high-performance pleasure-producing compounds such as dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, serotonin, oxytocin.’ Why is this important. Flow shuts the most reactive and hyper-critical parts of our brains and allocates focus and attention to the task at hand. It drops the human into presence, into the deep now. Flow boosts motivation, amps up brain’s pattern recognition ability and lateral thinking, and unlocks boundless innovation. Ultimately, we ‘experience an afterglow of serotonin and oxytocin, prompting feelings of peace, well-being, trust, and sociability’. This is the upgraded human mind.
Transhumanist philosopher David Pierce takes the metaphysicality of the future human even further up the hedonic scale (10). Future sentience, he notes, will be underpinned by gradients of superintelligent bliss. Of course it will. Genetic recalibration towards a hyperthymic civilization is a given if the inherent benevolence of the transhumanist agenda keeps evolving. Suffering will be of the past and hedonic set-points will be set naturally much higher than it is even fathomable to us in this time. Transhuman psychedelia, supersentience, reversible mind-melding are all but a few of his predictions of our biohappiness revolution ahead. In the meantime however, it’s high time for our psycho-emotional inconsistencies and existential confusions to be resolved. The quest for self-refinement is not self-help. It’s an intelligent quest for existential maturity that the future human, the ‘near-future’ you, must possess for sustainable longevity. This is non-negotiable. Cultivating empathic post-dual perspectives and persistent non-symbolic experiences of the awakened flow-based human is an integral part of the transhuman revolution. Hacking consciousness is as imperative as biohacking for human performance and enhancement. And for those that critique the consciousness dialogue as soft, I leave you with this straight-up lucid assessment to propel each and every one of us toward evolved loving hyper-agency,
We have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and god-like technology. — E.O. Wilson (11)
Written by Denisa Rensen | Age Reversal Expert, Longevity & Lifestyle Boutique Medicine, CEO blissDesigned™, Medical Director Stemaid™ Institute.
denisarensen.com | blissdesigned.com | stemaidinstitute.com
Article First Published in the IMMORTALISTS MAGAZINE
THE PHYSICALITY & THE METAPHYSICALITY OF THE TRANSHUMAN
by DR | DENISA RENSEN
References:
(1) Heidegger, Martin. The Question Concerning Technology. 1977
(2) Delfin, Dinorah. Immortalists Magazine. Edition: I’m Transhuman. Issue 1. 2020
(3) Ferrando, Francesca. Philosophical Posthumanism. 2019
(4) Pinker, Steven. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. 2011
(5) Rensen, Denisa. Ageless | blissDesigned — A Salon Series. blissdesigned.com
(6) Haramein, Nassim. Resonance Academy. resonancescience.org
(7) Mellon J., Chalabi A. Juvenescence - Investing in the Age of Longevity. p. 227. 2017
(8) Hanly, B., Rensen, D. Whole Body Rejuvenation | Pluripotent Stem Cells & Exosomes. stemaidinstitute.com
(9) Kotler S., Wheal. J. Stealing Fire. How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. 2017
(10) Pierce, David. Hedonistic Imperative. hedweb.com
(11) Wilson, E.O. On Human Nature. 1978, 2004
