Transhumanism is a really interesting concept, although I wouldn't consider myself a transhumanist - the quiz also proved the same! There were interesting presentations done for the topic which allowed me to broaden my understanding on Transhumanism. Even more, our in c-ass session sparked some very intriguing debates that i would like to share here.
Pre-Class
While reading the online lecture, one of the probing questions made me ponder on my idea of mortality.
"If you could extend your life by a few hundred years, would you?"
Honestly, I wouldn't.
This immediately brought to mind a thought that was instigated through a show named Lucifer wherein season 3, a character named Cain was immortal. Through the season we see how he hates the idea of immortality because its almost like "a punishment" to see the people you love die before you. This got me thinking. What truly is the purpose of your life here on earth? To me, it is to live and make memories while I can. If I know that I will never die, I would never live because I'd have the whole of eternity to do the things I can - that would make human life valueless, if you think about it. But because we have a start and end date, like all living things, we can try to make the best out of our time here on Earth. Hence, I want there to be an end to myself. I don't want to live forever even if technologies would advance to keep life living for longer than it should in the near future.
During Class
A very intriguing discussion about mortality and uploading one's conscience to the web was sparked. Students argued about how the thought of death freaks them out and how they would want to live on forever to "experience evolution" by uploading their conscience to the internet or creating empty shells which will feed this info into new people. However, others argued that the emergence of new "shells" will probably overpopulate the planet. Its rather best to leave than live in an overpopulated society which will impose more destructive ideologies than what currently exists. There's also the fear of being hacked or losing control over your transhuman body if an error or malfunction occurs.
Below is an image of a 3D model I worked on for a past project about a robot that recalls her past human life.
Even though she’s not Transhuman, this was set in a world where robots take on the lives of humans through "living" off their consciences from the web.
Customizing a child
We then spoke about "customizing your own child" - which is kinda sad!
Everyone wants to have the perfect child, but there's no such thing as a perfect person. We are all human and it is human to make mistakes while learning from them and growing. By wanting to customize your child, you are not giving them the chance to be the best version of themselves. You are taking full control of a person you chose to give life to, and I'm sure once the child grows to mature, they will resent you for being a control freak. this was the point I wanted to put forth.
Post Class
This week we focussed on completing a couple of drafts for the creative media project. I worked on the remaining edit with the films and voice overs. It's turning out pretty well! I am also working on the vfx edit of the eyes when I "see" the invisible monster and my eyes transform into those of the bird box possessed eyes/ autopsy of Jane Doe's eyes.
We also worked on our pitch presentation and we are excited for the upcoming class to pitch our work. Here's a screenshot as a snippet of how the presentation looks. Might edit this image to fit as a poster or thumbnail for the video. oooooh, I'm really excited for this!
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