Death as Means of Human Enhancement

Death is proposed as a pathway to human enhancement or transhumanism, challenging the traditional existentialist view of death as merely life's inevitable conclusion. The author argues that death may serve as a catalyst for inner developmental processes already underway, expanding human agency in a different sense rather than merely restricting it. Central to this argument is the unconscious: by unravelling the limitations of ordinary consciousness, death could act as a catalyst for enhanced subliminality, a key component of transhumanistic self-transcendence.

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Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that death can be viewed as a pathway to what may rightfully be called ‘human enhancement’ or even ‘transhumanism’. This argument stems from an exploration of human limits and the potential transcendence thereof. While death is conventionally regarded as the ultimate limitation of human existence, I propose that it might also represent an avenue for transformation and enhancement, irrespective of what seems to take place at dying. This perspective challenges the traditional existentialist view of death as merely the inevitable conclusion of life. Death may rather be a catalyst for inner developmental processes already started. Through this exploration, I will suggest that the experience of death, while undoubtedly restricting observable human agency in one sense, may simultaneously expand it in another. Central to this argument is the notion of the unconscious. By unravelling the limitations of ordinary consciousness, I contend that death could act as a catalyst for enhanced subliminality, a key component of transhumanistic self-transcendence.