Transhumanist technologies as enhancers of human nature and its dignity

The world is currently experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution which began at the dawn of the third millennium. It is dominated by the merger of physical assets and advanced digital technologies especially artificial intelligence, to automate manufacturing, analyse data and ensure rapid progress and efficiency. Undergirding the use of advanced technologies is transhumanism. As a philosophy influenced by secular humanism, transhumanism advocates for abolishing normative ethics and religion as entropic forces that stifle the growth of human civilisations. Its key aspiration is the utilisation of advanced technologies to enhance human nature and continue biological evolution by intelligently guiding homo sapiens to the next species, the posthuman. Human enhancement is a highly controversial philosophical objective, thus provoking opposition, especially on the claim that it violates human nature and dignity. This paper explores these issues, critically assesses the arguments based on the above claim, and finds them indefensible. Thus, as against the conventional claim, it sees the employment of transhumanist enhancement technologies as improving (rather than violating) human nature and its inherent dignity.