Are you a human, a transhuman or a posthuman?!
... They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.” First article of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights
... only the former has the capacity for rational thought. Reason
belongs solely to the human and, as such, serves to unite the human race.” Neil
Badmington
... and share their lives, even if this simply means sharing a personal
post on facebook.
Professor Steve Fuller's point of view reinforces the need to reflect about the “human” existence, given we “have failed in the humanist project”, which aims for racial, gender and class equality, for instance.
Shouldn't we consider transhumanism then?
“Here we are evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human
condition and the human organism opened up by the advancement of technology.
Attention is given to both present technologies, like genetic engineering and
information technology, and anticipated future ones, such as molecular
nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.” Nick Bostrom
...and augmentation
of human intellectual, physical and emotional capacities.
2) As we rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence (“Is Google making us stupid?” )
3) Based on the misery noted in many regions of the planet, the opportunity to have a “transhuman education” may be restricted to a small elite group; this will likely further increase the disparity between the poor and the rich in our current society.
2) use artificial intelligence to personalize teaching and learning.
Photos by Carline Piva (myself) in India.
Note: To produce this artifact I tried a new tool that I really liked: http://pixlr.com/express/.
Some humans try to...
Some of them...
but in fact, technology
has more worshipers than many religions nowadays...
Some of them...
Professor Steve Fuller's point of view reinforces the need to reflect about the “human” existence, given we “have failed in the humanist project”, which aims for racial, gender and class equality, for instance.
Shouldn't we consider transhumanism then?
“We favour allowing individuals wide personal choice over how they
enable their lives. This includes use of techniques that may be developed to
assist memory, concentration, and mental energy; life extension therapies;
reproductive choice technologies; cryonics procedures; and many other possible
human modification and enhancement technologies.”
TheTranshumanist Declaration
TheTranshumanist Declaration
And
what about a posthuman?
It's already considered
a radical enhanced human.
Posthumanism goes
beyond what we would ever deem possible in regards to human beings and their
use of technology.
Now
comes the question: What would a transhumanist theory of education look
like?!
I think it would
definitely be linked to technology and digital education.
“'Technology-enhanced learning’ appears
to have become the new acceptable term globally for what used to be called
‘e-learning’” EPSRC
Technology Enhanced Learning Research Programme
After
reflecting the following statement: what is considered utopic (desirable) and
dystopic (undesirable) according to a “transhumanist education”, I may say:
Dystopic points
1) can be extremely
overwhelming, specially through the interaction of massive social medias
2) As we rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence (“Is Google making us stupid?” )
3) Based on the misery noted in many regions of the planet, the opportunity to have a “transhuman education” may be restricted to a small elite group; this will likely further increase the disparity between the poor and the rich in our current society.
Utopic points
1) have
a variety of computer-based simulations and games to stimulate learning, thus expanding
the student’s problem-solving skills, and further increasing their ability to
apply the new acquired knowledge.
2) use artificial intelligence to personalize teaching and learning.
go
beyond written texts; new technologies can enhance embodied learning
“There is increasing support for the idea that the way we think
maybe ‘embodied’, or inseparably linked to our physical experiences. Evidence has
largely come from the way that we use gestures when explaining ideas, for example, moving our
hands up and down to explain the notion of balance. These gestures do not just help
listeners’ comprehension; they help the speaker’s own thinking”. Andrew Manches (pg 33)
3) have collaborative learning environment: online discussion forums and
infinitely content tools allow teachers and students to work, study and learn
together.
References
used on my Digital Artifact submission for the course "E-learning and
Digital Cultures" #edcmooc
Badmington, Neil (2000) Introduction: approaching posthumanism. Posthumanism. Houndmills; New York:
Palgrave. http://www.palgrave.com/PDFs/0333765389.Pdf
Bostrom (2005) ‘Transhumanist values’ reproduced from Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4, May (2005)http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html
Bostrom (2005) ‘Transhumanist values’ reproduced from Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4, May (2005)http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html
Carr, M. (2008) Is Google making us stupid? http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
http://www.unicode.org/udhr/assemblies/first_article_all.pdf
System
upgrade: realising the vision for UK education (2012) EPSRC Technology Enhanced
Learning Research Programme. http://tel.ioe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/TELreport.pdf
Paintings
by Alex Grey.
Photos by Carline Piva (myself) in India.
Note: To produce this artifact I tried a new tool that I really liked: http://pixlr.com/express/.
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