What Is Mormon Transhumanism?

Transhumanism is a growing intellectual movement grounded in ideas about using science and technology in deliberate, ethical ways to improve and even transform ourselves and the world. The term signals an extension of humanism—a tradition that places enormous value on human life, human flourishing, and human agency—into a vision of what we might become beyond our current limitations. Transhumanists envision possibilities such as radically extended lifespans, enhanced cognitive and physical capacities, the reduction of unnecessary suffering, and deeper understanding of the universe we inhabit.

Transhumanism holds that human beings can and should transcend our current state by evolving into something new—something effectively as different from what we are now as we are different from prehumans—and that science, knowledge, and technology will play a crucial role in this transformation.

Mormon Transhumanism

Mormon Transhumanism combines these two visions of human progress and the transformation of the human condition.

Our potential to become gods is aligned with our potential to use science and technology in ethical ways to improve ourselves and attain a transcendent condition. We should use every resource at our disposal to improve ourselves and the world until we have achieved godliness.

When they encountered Transhumanist thought in the early 2000s, the founders of the Mormon Transhumanist Association were struck by remarkable parallels between Transhumanist claims and their own religious tradition. They recognized that Mormonism had unique contributions to make to this emergent conversation about the nature of humanity and its relationship to technology and to God.

While Mormon teachings about the eternal progression of humanity are remarkably compatible with Transhumanist thought, Mormonism also complements Transhumanism by providing a robust moral framework for our use of technology. It teaches that far from being a distraction from human or divine imperatives, technology is intimately connected with our divine nature as co-creators with God. It affirms the divine mandate to take wise stewardship over creation. It holds that becoming like God is our natural destiny. And it insists that these objectives should be pursued out of compassionate rather than selfish motivations.

Which kinds of progress we should strive for and what practical means we should deploy to achieve them, especially regarding how best to make use of emerging technologies, is a subject of ongoing discussion in both LDS and Transhumanist circles. Mormons and Transhumanists often have different opinions when discussing and debating these questions. Our goal is to explore the areas of fruitful overlap between these traditions, to examine how being Mormons can make us better Transhumanists and vice versa.

Addressing Misunderstandings

One important point of commonality between Mormonism and Transhumanism is how often both are misunderstood and even mischaracterized by outsiders, particularly with regard to the questions under consideration here. Mormon striving toward theosis and Transhumanist aspirations toward superhumanity are routinely characterized as, at best, naive, pretentious, and foolhardy, and, at worst, hubristic, grandiose, egomaniacal, and existentially dangerous.

While critiques of some aspects of Mormonism or Transhumanism may be warranted, many are caricatures. Transhumanism is sometimes cast by religious critics as an unholy Tower of Babel erected in defiance of God, and by secular critics as a corruption of the natural order. As Transhumanist thought has entered mainstream culture, immature or radical expressions from Transhumanists themselves have sometimes contributed to these misconceptions.

Part of our mission as Mormon Transhumanists is to correct these misunderstandings through outreach, dialogue, and critique. To religious critics, we strive to clarify that these goals do not oppose divine will and should be pursued with wisdom and compassion. We also call attention to interpretations from religionists’ own traditions that support our views. To secular critics, we strive to share scientific evidence that casts doubt on romanticized notions of an idyllic state of nature from which humanity has supposedly fallen. We emphasize that although technology presents significant challenges and risks, it also affords tremendous blessings and opportunities, and is actually an inseparable aspect of humanity itself.

The following scripture speaks directly to the Transhumanist conversation: the pursuit of greater-than-human capacities must never become the pursuit of greater-than-human domination.

Some misunderstandings result from interpreting Mormon and Transhumanist goals through the lens of individual transformation to godlike capacities. Critics imagine both groups striving toward a vision of all-knowing, all-powerful, immortal individual beings—a vision seen as threatening both to traditional religious sensibilities and to human ideals about democracy and community.

In reality, both traditions emphasize something profoundly different. In Mormonism, godliness is described as a social and relational trait: God is God by virtue of the quality of relationships with other beings. The Mormon God does not create out of nothing but instead creates by organizing preexisting materials through tried and tested methods. Sustainability is one of the highest attributes of godliness, and God is described as continuing to progress in both knowledge and influence. This means that progression toward godhood can be framed in terms of improvements in useful knowledge, social progress, patience, care, trial and error, and sustainability. Excessive concentration of power in single individuals would make the type of communal exaltation described in Mormon scripture impossible.