Nietzschean Meditations: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of the Transhuman Era
Authors: Fuller Steve 
Published: November 2022

NIETZSCHEAN MEDITATIONS: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of the Transhuman Era by Steve Fuller. Posthuman Studies 1, ed. Stefan Lorenz Sorgner. Basel, Switzerland: Schwabe Verlagsgruppe, 2019. 240 pages. Hardcover; $146.00. ISBN: 9783796539466. Paperback; $41.00. ISBN: 9783796540608. *Christians turning to Nietzsche for support may be counterintuitive, but that can be the case with regard to radical human enhancement technology. As addressed in the June 2020 theme issue of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, transhumanism presents a treacherous landscape that calls for a thoughtful response from theologians and faith communities. The therapies and technologies already impacting the structure--physical, cognitive, affective, and other aspects--of our lives are growing in precision and potency. And, as indicated in the name of this series, "Posthuman Studies," discussions are underway about the replacement of Homo sapiens with techno sapiens. Whether our technological future is heavenly or hellish depends on the values embedded in the technology and how that technology is used, so we who are alive now have a moral imperative to do our part to ensure that technologies of human enhancement unfold responsibly. *All the religions are far behind where they need to be in understanding and making critical assessment of radical human enhancement technology and its champion, a movement called transhumanism. Judaism and Christianity are ahead of other religions in this regard, but even they have much work to do and quickly, given the fast pace of the developing technologies in areas such as genetic engineering, tissue engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence. *Steve Fuller is well qualified to critique the transhumanist agenda. Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, UK, and co-editor of the relatively new series, Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and Its Successors, he has written twenty-five books about many subjects, including intelligent design, philosophy of science, and social epistemology, an interdisciplinary field he helped develop. *The three sections of Nietzschean Meditations address the philosophical and theological history of transhumanism, the politics of transhumanism, and the role of death in transhumanism. There is a lot about transhumanism in this volume. This review addresses just a few slices relevant for Christian readers. *The √úbermensch, the future superman (also translated "Superior Man" and "Higher Man") Nietzsche made famous, was denigrated following World War II due to its association with the Nazis. Fuller travels back to Nietzsche's early reception when the superior man was not a racially tinged idea. This makes it possible for Fuller to "remain interested in the early twentieth-century image of Nietzsche as someone who took literally the prospect of transcending the human condition--a futurist who was unafraid to confront the puzzlement and even suffering that it would entail" (p. 10). *As with the transhumanist agenda, a happy outcome for Nietzsche's superman project was not guaranteed. Nietzsche's tightrope walker, which may be understood as a metaphor for the human condition, falls to his death. For Fuller, this does not mean that Christians, committed to transformation, should not make use of these technologies or see them as a means of God's grace. "As Nietzsche might put it--and transhumanists would recognize--we are not superior animals but failed gods" (p. 17). However, Fuller says we cannot regain our standing on our own; it is a grace-gift from God. Along the way, Fuller adeptly maps varieties of transhumanism onto theological (but not necessarily orthodox) positions, for example, Aubrey de Grey's Pelagian-like biological superlongevity program and Ray Kurzweil's Arian-like vision of "divine" consciousness escaping the confines of the body. For Fuller, the Arian "supposes that humans 'always already' possess divine capacities which may have yet to be discovered" (p. 47). And, importantly, short of making choices for transformation, "humans may freely fall into a further degraded state, which may include regarding their degradation as satisfactory if not superior to the time when they were close to God" (p. 18). *Christians can find Nietzsche a thoughtful guide for a proactionary (as opposed to a precautionary) approach to technological possibilities for human enhancement. Being proactive does not mean underestimating the risks these programs entail. While the tightrope walker can reach the other side, humility asks us to recognize that it is a "risky project of self-improvement" (p. 20). But we can face the danger and push through the fear. "However much day-to-day empirical realities remind us of our earthbound nature, we are nevertheless more than just that" (p. 34). And then, rhetorically, Fuller asks: "The question then becomes how to give that 'transcendental' aspect of our being its proper due: Is it just something that we release on special occasions, such as a church service, or is it integral to our ordinary being in the world, propelling us to realize our godlike potential?" (p. 34). In this context, Fuller asserts that faith can be understood as a "creative response to radical uncertainty" and a belief in providence, that is, "that God will always provide what we need to know to improve our position--but the trick is for us to figure what that is" (p. 34). *This book, then, is not so much about Nietzsche as it is a meditation inspired by Nietzsche that provides a sober critique of transhumanism and its possibilities. The Christian religion will do well to provide a theological response to radical human enhancement, and Nietzsche, via Fuller, can provide guidance, albeit from an unlikely source. *Reviewed by Calvin Mercer, Professor of Religion, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858.