The “Trans” Issue that Matters Most

Transhumanism is rapidly advancing upon us.  At the same time a transhuman precursor has already engulfed our culture – transgenderism.

The nearly complete loss of society to transgender madness should be setting off alarms for the grave spiritual harm rushing toward us that is transhumanism.

A Recap of Transhumanism

There is no single definition of transhumanism, but it broadly involves using technology to enhance and evolve humanity into something “better.” Most definitions envision a transformation into something “post human.”

In prior articles I wrote about the origin and potential ethical and moral problems of transhumanism.  I also looked closely at the spirituality of transhumanism and how it promises a sort of salvation in this life (an unnaturally long, happy life liberated from all suffering) but without God or sacrifice.

This false promise of salvation (there were similar lies hissed in a certain garden) led to a spiritually meaningful definition of transhumanism:

Transhumanism is Satan’s plan to deform humanity into something that can no longer commune with its Creator.

Lessons from the Lost Transgender War

Transgenderism is in many ways a prelude for what awaits us with transhumanism: (1) perpetuating a deformed view of God’s design; (2) causing terrible damage to the lives of those who are drawn into it; (3) the viral rate of spread of the phenomena.

As Doug Mainwaring tells it, “After the Ball,” published in 1989, provided a homosexual PR campaign noting that, “We’re never going to convince people that homosexuality is a good idea. So, what we’re going to have to do is talk about it so much that it becomes thoroughly tiresome.”

The author then lays out a, “program of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long-established principles of psychology and advertising.”

And here we are today.   Who can deny that in a few short decades we have lost the war against transgender ideology?  Even the American Medical Association endorses “transitioning surgery” for minors.  Those who espouse a traditional view of men, women, and families are now rebel freedom fighters trying to reclaim captured cultural territory.

We needed to be battling transgenderism 30 years ago the way we are today. (Recall the landscaper’s wisdom that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.)

This should be a cautionary tale in regard to the transhumanist agenda.  It, too, will probably be advanced in large part by “long-established principles of psychology and advertising.”

We’ve lost the transgender war because we didn’t engage during the earliest skirmishes.  We’re already well behind in taking transhumanism seriously.

Transhumanism in the Works

Many influential organizations such as Humanity+, The Singularity Group and the World Economic Forum are hard at work advancing transhuman research, public policy and public perception.

The defense industry has long had its sights on transhuman technologies for understandable reasons.  What began in the 1980’s with a proposal for an exoskeleton warfare suit evolved into a vision for a Cyborg Soldier for 2050.  The cyborg soldier anticipates “neural implants for brain–computer interfacing (BCI) would allow for seamless interaction between individuals and secondary assets (machines).”  And the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is conducting much of this work.

Commercial efforts such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink are working feverishly to crack the code of directly connecting brains to computers via the neocortex.  No one is ever going to upload our actual minds (which are more spiritual than physical) to a computer.  However, this won’t stop people from trying and potentially doing the same sort of damage that Timothy Leary did by guiding people to “transcend reality” with psychotropic drugs.

Gene Therapies

Perhaps the greatest potential for harm is in the exploding field of gene therapies and “enhancements.”  The World Health Organization (WHO) is positioning itself as an authoritative voice on the implementation of human genome editing.  This is the same WHO that advances the transgender agenda through such things as the “gender mainstreaming manual.”

And, with the advent of gene editing, the US government is now moving beyond the high-security, hush-hush, defense related efforts of DARPA.  President Biden’s recent Executive Order 14081 has now made transhuman technology a “whole of government” priority:

“We need to develop genetic engineering technologies and techniques to be able to write circuitry for cells and predictably program biology in the same way in which we write software and program computers; unlock the power of biological data, including through computing tools and artificial intelligence; and advance the science of scale‑up production while reducing the obstacles for commercialization so that innovative technologies and products can reach markets faster.”

The Ethical Paradigm

However, the ethics of transhumanism requires making a key distinction. The distinction is between medical technologies that restore health and those that promise “enhancements” beyond normative human functioning.

To be sure, making that distinction means sorting out subtle and important questions. But who will do that sorting?  Thus far, the Catholic Church has made no meaningful inroads on the subject.  There have been the occasional meetings and symposia, but no concerted effort to prepare the faithful.

Commenting on the recent meeting of Cardinals in Rome (the 2022 consistory) Cardinal Muller commented “there was no opportunity to discuss the burning issues, for example, about the frontal attack on the Christian image of man by the ideologies of posthumanism and gender madness…”

As for the secular world, individuals and organizations give lip service to “important ethical questions.” Beyond lip service, however, it’s all systems go.

Saintly Advice

Alphonsus Liguori, in his essay Uniformity With God’s Will (5. Special Practices of Uniformity), on uniting our will to God, gives this advice on the role of medical intervention:

“But one thing is necessary,” and it is not beauty, not health, not talent. It is the salvation of our immortal souls.  It is especially necessary that we be resigned in corporal infirmities. We should willingly embrace them in the manner and for the length of time that God wills. We ought to make use of the ordinary remedies in time of sickness — such is God’s will; but if they are not effective, let us unite ourselves to God’s will and this will be better for us than would be our restoration to health. Let us say: “Lord, I wish neither to be well nor to remain sick; I want only what thou wilt.” (emphasis added)

A world hell-bent on transhumanism won’t pause to give a second thought to the great Saint’s wisdom.

Protecting Our Humanity

It falls to each of us to protect our humanity.

Our spiritual souls distinguish us from animals. We are made in the “image and likeness of God” most importantly in our spiritual powers of intellect and will.

In addition, relationships make our humanity manifest (which is to say, real).  That is the point of the two great commandments – love God and love neighbor.  They are commandments to enter into relationship.

We diminish our humanity when we diminish our relationships with others.  This is why, for example, pornography is a grave evil. It turns the other person into an object.  And it transforms relationship into a one-dimensional use of the person.  A sure litmus test for whether something is leading down the path of transhumanism is if it impairs our relationships with God and one another.

Say “No” – Embrace a Gloriously Unsafe and Inconvenient Life

True transhumanism is not here yet.  But we are being groomed for it with the empty calories of technology.  Technology itself is neither moral nor immoral, but it is a powerful tool in the hands of the enemy. “For the witchery of paltry things obscures what is right and the whirl of desire transforms the innocent mind” (Wisdom 4:12).

Technology that slithers into our lives, typically packaged as for our convenience or our safety, should be held suspect.  Technology that promises results without effort should be held suspect.  Technology that impedes actual in-person contact should be held suspect.  Technology that makes the beauty of God’s creation seem boring in comparison should be held suspect.

In short, we must be wary of technology that is foisted upon us with the “long-established principles of psychology and advertising.”

Here, in no particular order, is a sampling of transhuman teasers we live with on a daily basis.  We should accustom ourselves and loved ones to saying “no” to these.  If we do not, it will be that much harder if not impossible when the real transhuman technology is deployed in the next few years and decades.

Surveillance

We are fast approaching a point where most every activity can be tracked by some centralizing entity.  Siri and Alexa are capable of continuously monitoring us.  EarthNow will soon have satellite surveillance of nearly the entire planet.  We’ve all experienced the ability of commercial organizations to track our purchasing habits.  Of course, most governments can’t resist surveillance for regulation and revenue.  The most often used carrot for tracking you and storing your data is the promise of convenience.

Payments

Venmo is now ubiquitous.  Apple PalmPay and Amazon One will soon be widely available with the near-mystical promise that goods and services will simply fly to us with little more than the wave of our hand.  More and more people don’t even have paper checks, let alone know how to balance a check book.

Preferred Pronouns

We are created man or woman.  Anything other than that is a reinvisioning of God’s design and a descent into Babble.

Communism

No list would be complete without this ideology.  It is usually re-branded as Democratic Socialism, Critical Theory, or DIE (Diversity, Inclusion and Equity).  The underlying philosophy, however, sees people not as individuals, but as collectives and units of production.

Social Media

Be it Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, or, Snapchat– all of it is toxic.  All of it lends to voyeurism, “relative positioning”, debasement, low and earthly thoughts, and so on.  A reliable approach is a complete avoidance of (anti)social media.  For those who feel they must rely on it to stay connected with relatives – use it for that alone, and nothing else.  And for those who view social media as a mission field, it is a good idea to spend as much time detoxing in meditative prayer as is spent evangelizing social media.  In fact, two minutes in prayer for every minute in the digital pagan cesspool would be even better.

Google

Let Google “think” for you at your peril.  Use it only as a last resort.  The search algorithm has been completely hijacked by woke ideology.  Find alternates, such as Results Hunter.  No, they won’t anticipate our questions but nor will they return 10,000+ woke replies to our query in the blink of an eye.  They are gloriously inefficient.  Rejoice in it.

Plastic Surgery

This is the granddaddy of transhumanism.  We need to embrace pattern baldness and wrinkles as a fashion statement.

Virtual Anything

Metaverse, Second Life, online “gaming” – all of it is an affront to authentic Christian community.

Internet of Things

Here we again encounter the gateway drug of convenience – having every appliance, every wall switch, and every adjustable aspect of our home bent to our almighty will.  Creepy.

Mainstream Media

There’s virtually nothing left in news or entertainment media that is uncorrupted.  Most of it either has a woke agenda, is debased, or is simply so loud and crass, that it deadens our soul one way or another.

Health Emergencies

Pandemic lockdowns, church closures, social distancing, masks and gene-therapy-based vaccines are hot-button topics for sure.  But two things are certain: (1) most of the organizations that promulgated these are also squarely behind transgender ideology, and (2) Satan rejoices in all of it.

Airport and School Security

Why wasn’t this security necessary decades ago?  What has changed?  We know the answer.  But ever-present security is grooming society for how much better life will be when we develop a behavior gene therapy that moderates aggression.  Wait and see.

Abortion and the Culture of Death

A society that normalizes the taking of life will ultimately have no ethical limits on merely “changing” the nature of life.

Where Does this Leave Us?

You can, no doubt, add many of your own observations to the above list.

Stepping back from that list, might leave a person thinking, “what’s left?”  The answer is, “not much of secular life.”  And that’s exactly the point.  Here again we encounter a parallel with transgenderism.

There is virtually no aspect of secular culture that doesn’t push the transgender agenda upon us – endless rainbows, “pride” events, drag shows, token gay characters, activist lawsuits and on and on.  Just so, the prevailing culture is steadily pushing a lifestyle on us that is increasingly transhuman.

And so we must resist this transhuman infiltration on all fronts.  Certainly, we should resist legislation when it comes up (e.g. the legality of surrogacy, euthanasia, gender transitioning, and so on).  But most importantly we should resist it by denying it in our lives.  Instead we should focus on living simply and living Sacramentally.

We need to have meaningful human interactions with people and spend time with God in daily meditation.  And, in the words of St. Paul, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).