The lines between reality and imagination are blurring. The incredible advancement in technology is changing our mindsets and belief systems on a massive scale!
At what point does science fiction become a scientific reality? In an eye-opening and incredibly relevant new documentary, Transhumanism: Recreating Humanity, Chuck Missler, Tom Horn, and other experts on both sides of the discussion express the growing concerns and dangers regarding the futurist ideology of Transhumanism.
This is a massive effort by scientists, corporations, and governments to technologically advance humanity in the most radical—and subtle—ways. Some of the more publicly expressed goals include the enhancement of the human intellect, networking directly to the mind, and modifying the human body by genetic reengineering.
This new era of biological manipulation, or bio-hacking, is dawning upon us and very soon will be widespread and fully integrated into society, just like smartphones and Facebook.
The age of Transhumanism cannot be ignored. This film asks the hard questions regarding bioethics, political motivations and the sinister ideologies with which this movement is fraught.
The most peculiar ideas only seem odd or bizarre because they differ so vastly from what we experience as normal everyday reality. Take for example science fiction comics of the 1950s, and compare the spectacle of the weapons or technology they imagined with the real ones of today.
Most storylines could be categorized as Good-Guy vs. Bad-Guy, Spook vs. Mad Scientist, or Astronaut vs. Martians. Compare that with the sci-fi comic books of today and notice a tangled web of psychological thrillers where realities are subjective and characters interact in dimensions that are a mix of altered states of consciousness that cross into physical reality.
The lines between reality and imagination are blurring. The incredible advancement in technology is changing our mindsets and belief systems on a massive scale! Our modern zeitgeist is being redefined and molded at breakneck speed.
Invisibility cloaks, telepathic communication, genetically modified soldiers, quantum computing, cyborgs and weather modification machines—these are not just topics from a sci-fi novel, but rather the focus of huge financial investments and decades of research made by the U.S. government. These “fantasies” are rapidly becoming our reality, and Christians must be prepared to confront them with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Crossing the Line
Where is the line drawn regarding the ethics of such scientific investigation? The topic of stem-cell research was a controversial debate a decade ago but has almost completely subsided today. Testing on human embryos is no longer illegal in almost all countries and seems to be widely accepted by most scientific rationalizations. In fact, the opposition to stem-cell research is often slandered as those who are against the development of a better humanity. With increasing rapidity we are breaking down the barriers between imagination and reality.
Hollywood and the mainstream media are conditioning global society, convincingly altering our thinking to embrace these changes as progressive, presenting Darwinian evolution as the justification to accept this modification of humanity as necessary.
We are moving into an era where belief in a Biblical Divinity is disdained and mocked and replaced with a new religion Frank Peretti coined as “Scientism.” Science is transitioning into a religiosity that is characterized by a type of faith, as opposed to its definitive tenets of observational and provable methodology. Society is being guided to blindly accept these invasive technologies without considering the philosophical Pandora’s Box that is being opened.
“The Singularity”
In an upcoming Hollywood thriller titled Transcendence, featuring Johnny Depp, the film delves into an ideology coined by Ray Kurzweil as “The Singularity.” This is based on the premise that artificial intelligence will one day become transcendent, essentially a sort-of divine “artilect,” a word coined by Professor of Cybernetics, Hugo De Garis.
This assumption is based on what is commonly known as Moore’s Law, the observation that technology doubles in computational power every couple years. This exponential growth has been mathematically predicted to cross all barriers by 2045. There is no sure way of knowing what this progression entails, but there is conjecture that this heightened A.I. will pave the way, or somehow manifest what the Scriptural book of Revelation describes as The Beast. This technological hybrid of man and machine is no longer a science fiction, but rather an eerily close and unstoppable storm of achievable ideas and inventions.
Chuck Missler gives an example of the Singularity in the recently released documentary titled Transhumanism: Recreating Humanity, by using the illustration of a computer to explain the relationship between spirit and body.
Even though an engineer can know every capacitor and wire contained within the machine of the computer, he can gain no knowledge of the software installed by physically taking it apart. The software that resides in the computer environment has no mass, it can be sent through the air and through walls. By bridging a connection between the digital world and conceivably implanting those receivers directly into our physical body, Missler warns that we could be opening up a two-way communication with spirits from the supernatural realm. He continues to explain that, in demonology, such contact is called an “entry.” These spiritual connections include the metaphysical encounters experienced in playing with a Ouija board, or séances practiced within occult rituals, both of which may lead to demonic possession.
In Transhumanism: Recreating Humanity Rachel Haywire, a transhumanist spokesperson, was interviewed regarding the imminency of the Singularity and says, “Transhumanism is the next step of evolution, it’s going to happen, it’s inevitable.”
What Does the Bible Say?
If this movement is as radical as this documentary asserts, that all of humanity will eventually be implanted and changed by technology, then people should be aware of the consequences. In relation to Transhumanism, it appears that the Scriptures have a staggering amount of insight. Granted, the words Singularity, Transhumanism, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, etc., do not appear in the Bible. However, if one has an elevated perspective and the spiritual capacity to understand, the future is revealed in incredibly surprising detail.
“As in the days of Noah,”[1] so it shall it be when the Messiah returns to earth. This is a surprising reference that has been generally understood to mean that everyone on earth will be going about their regular day-to-day lives, “marrying and giving in marriage.” It has led to the assumption that the time immediately preceding the Triumphant Return will be “ordinary” and like any other day. However, a studious Christian will note that this conclusion is actually opposite to the intended meaning.
To come to this conclusion, one must recognize that the Tower of Babel was constructed during the days of Noah, albeit after the Flood. Here, God makes a remarkable statement about humanity that appears to go against even His own omnipotence! God imposes a stopgap on humanity to discourage the apparently attainable goal of achieving anything man could imagine. This was the second time in Scripture that God mandated an order that restricted Man’s ability to become immortal—the first barrier set by God to dissuade Man from achieving godhood was a fiery ever-turning sword and cherubim placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. This was installed to barricade Adam from eating of the Tree of Life, which would result in immortality, and man would become like God.[2]
The second stopgap God created was the confusion of languages at Babel. God expressly states in His Word that “nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them!”[3] And if we take God’s statement literally, then we understand that we are entering again into an era where man will be able to accomplish anything he sets out to do through the unity of a global language.
The New Common Language
We have become united once again, like in the days of Noah and Babel, but this time through the use of technology. Through computers we all speak binary, a language consisting of only two characters: 0 and 1. God created multiple languages for the express purpose of dissuading mankind’s unity, so that we would not rebel in any unified effort against Him. Today we have given this unified rebellion a name: Humanism.
Consider the example of Pentecost. As the Apostles were preaching, God removed the language barriers because of the unity of the Body of Christ. Confusion is intended for the adversaries of Truth, not for those who are filled with, and acting in, the authority of the Holy Spirit.
The Hybrid Age
Understand that the era we currently live in is one that the Bible tells more about than even the time when Messiah walked the earth: the time just preceding His triumphant return. Missler notes that there are still some events that must take place before that day arrives, but consider this an early harbinger. We are entering into what Tom Horn considers the Hybrid Age.
For Biblical Christians, this is not an unfamiliar theme. In Genesis we read about a time when fallen angels reproduced with humans and created a sort of super-race. God found these creatures to be an abomination because they threatened the very existence of His special creation, who were made in His image and into whom He breathed Life.
Horn mentions in the conclusion of the film that these events should spark thoughtful debates about the exceptionalism of what it means to be human, as was mentioned in the writings of C.S. Lewis and other revered theologians.
The Flood was the first purge of humanity, essentially the “unmixing” of contaminated and “organic” humans created by God.
The second purge was during the time of Joshua and the early Israelites all the way through to King David in Israel. This was an attempt to keep God’s Chosen People and Promised Land free from the unclean, the polluted DNA of the transhuman Nephilim.
Some have taken this struggle as a metaphor of a young man battling against a giant obstacle in his life, instead of the literal fight for survival of the species. Up until recently, the metaphor seemed more realistic. Now, however, we realize that the knowledge of widespread genetic modification threatens us once again.
The scientific community is gaining momentum and is creeping toward the day when we can create a hybrid species that is no longer human, but rather post-human. Something that many in the Transhumanist movement would consider a more highly evolved species, a Human 2.0.
Transhumanism: Recreating Humanity, produced by Jeremiah Films, is available on DVD. Learn from experts Chuck Missler, Tom Horn, Frank Peretti and Joseph Farah, who enlighten us with their thoughts on the new dangers we and our children will face in the very near future. They warn and encourage Believers to be educated and equipped for the coming technological age, to be relevant and informed on issues that very soon will affect every person alive, and to know what the Word of God says regarding this very strange world toward which we are heading.
