Book contents
- Transhumanism
- New Departures in Anthropology
- Transhumanism
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- One Is Transhumanism a Revitalization Movement?
- Two Ancestors and Avatars
- Three Happily Ever After
- Four The Social Skin, the Antisocial Skin, and the Pursuit of Morphological Freedom
- Five Decoding the Self
- Six Rethinking Kinship Systems
- Seven From Original Affluence to Posthuman Abundance
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Two - Ancestors and Avatars
Immortality Transformed
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2020
- Transhumanism
- New Departures in Anthropology
- Transhumanism
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- One Is Transhumanism a Revitalization Movement?
- Two Ancestors and Avatars
- Three Happily Ever After
- Four The Social Skin, the Antisocial Skin, and the Pursuit of Morphological Freedom
- Five Decoding the Self
- Six Rethinking Kinship Systems
- Seven From Original Affluence to Posthuman Abundance
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 explores how the transhumanist attempt to achieve immortality in avatar form through the technology of mind cloning, compares and contrasts with the many attempts our species has made to achieve immortality in ancestral form. It asks: what are the conditions that make certain modes of immortality conceivable and desirable? What kind of practices, understandings, and forms of self-discipline are these modes of immortality predicated upon? What kinds of experiences do, and might, these modes of immortality give rise to? Why are these modes of immortality meaningful to the people who pursue them. By juxtaposing the ubiquitous making of ancestors with the making of avatars among transhumanists, the chapter further illuminates the values and beliefs that animate the transhumanist technological imagination, and once again demonstrates that thinking comparatively can sharpen our abilities to grasp the features of a given social phenomenon.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- TranshumanismFrom Ancestors to Avatars, pp. 47 - 67Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020