The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan

Offworlders Review of Zoltan’s Posthuman Future:

I really enjoyed reading “The Transhumanist Wager” by Zoltan Istvan as it was an eye-opening powerful read that’s sure to ruffle some feathers. The story follows the transhumanist quest of Jethro Knights – a man who eats, dreams, thinks posthumanism and its supreme goal of living forever. As Jethro Knights says: “I’m interested in how to create the strongest and most advanced ‘I’ that I’m capable of in my universe.”

Spoilers Follow. . . .

The antagonist in the novel is played by the Christian fundamentalist preacher Reverend Belinas, who sees transhumanism as the biggest threat facing humanity:

Belinas’ mission was simple. Unbridled materialism and technology were the domain of his enemies: the atheists and anti-theists. Give it all up and get back to almighty God, he preached— and to helping the faithful, the downtrodden, and the destitute.

“The Transhumanist Wager” offers no middle of the road compromises. Working as an assistant for the magazine International Geographic, Jethro Knights steps on a land mine while covering a story in the Congo. The mine was luckily a dud and did not explode, but the experience changed Jethro and solidified his belief that death must be conquered.

After graduating from college, Jethro Knights goes on a pilgrimage of sorts by sailing solo around the world. During his time at sea and in port Jethro fine tunes and codifies his transhumanist beliefs. During his journey, he meets a physician named Zoe Bach. They fall in love and later in the progression of the story they marry. Zoe supports Jethro’s Transhumanist ideas, while at the same time she sees death as a part of a natural cycle. Zoe is a breath of fresh air in the novel. During a heated discussion of their inner philosophies Zoe says: “Death is the ultimate arbiter of life, a perfect expression of the soul of the universe. Perhaps the death is even the ultimate journey for the transhumanist to undergo.”

The Transhumanist agenda is frequently described as the Mark of the Beast, the Antichrist, and much more. On the side of science, you have cloning researcher Richard Seed and his declaration: “We are going to become Gods. Period. If you don’t like it, get off. You don’t have to contribute; you don’t have to participate. But if you’re going to interfere with me becoming God, we’re going to have big trouble. Then we’ll have warfare.”

Earlier I mentioned that “The Tranhumnist Wager” offers no compromise between transhumanism and religion. That’s not entirely accurate, because Zoe Bach represents a compromise viewpoint as she loves transhumanism and the mysteries of life as seen through her zen-like spiritual view of life and death. She believes in transhumanism but rejects Jethro Knights’ fixed “my way or the highway” approach. When Zoe is killed by terrorists hired by Belinas, the Christian fundamentalist, any chance for a tempered implementation of transhumanism is a non-starter for Jethro. Not that the story ever suggested he would compromise his beliefs.

During that same discussion of philosophy mentioned earlier, Jethro clearly states how he feels about religion and its view of the afterlife:

It’s the same blind argument as their leap-of-faith positions. They want you to dedicate your life and subjugate your reasoning to some mentally ill carpenter that lived two thousand years ago. Or to some blue-skinned deity with four arms. Or to the teachings of some suicide-prone warlord with twelve wives. All because they like it and it feels right to them. Their beliefs are absurd, completely lacking sound judgment.

After Zoe dies along with their unborn child, Jethro digs in and starts soliciting funding for his cause. He is wildly successful in raising the money necessary to make his transhumanist philosophy a reality. Jethro eventually builds a floating city called Transhumania and embarks upon a program of world domination after the city is attacked by a cabal of world governments. Knights and his scientists bomb all major religious buildings and centers of government and take over the world. The people of the world are forced to embrace Jethro’s Transhumanist Wager or be killed. Indeed, towards the end of the novel Knights strangles the antagonist Belinas effectively stomping out organized religion.

After I finished reading this book my first thought was that Zoltan’s Transhumanist Wager is blowing this all out of proportion. Christian fundamentalist and Transhumanists cannot possibly hate each other to such a degree that the end result will be world war. A quick search for the keywords “transhumanist” and “transhumanism” on the net changed my opinion on that. The Transhumanist agenda is frequently described as the Mark of the Beast, the Antichrist, and much more by the religious right. On the side of science, you have cloning researcher Richard Seed and his declaration: “We are going to become Gods. Period. If you don’t like it, get off. You don’t have to contribute; you don’t have to participate. But if you’re going to interfere with me becoming God, we’re going to have big trouble. Then we’ll have warfare.” Seed’s statements mirror those of Jethro Knights.

A middle ground needs to be found on the issue of post-humanism and “The Transhumanist Wager” is an important work because it brings to the surface the philosophy behind the transhumanist agenda. Science and technology are increasing its discoveries at an exponential rate and its no longer a matter of IF humanity will merge with machines but WHEN.

The Wager draws its blood from the real world conflict that currently exists and the battle lines have already been drawn. Where do I stand on this debate? To me that is an extremely difficult decision. I am more like Zoe Bach and would have to place myself somewhere in the middle. Faith can be extremely inflexible in its view of how to live one’s life. In “The Transhumanist Wager,” both religion and transhumanism come across as systems run by stubborn dictatorial and tyrannical extremists. I stand with science while at the same time I believe in god.

A middle ground needs to be found on the issue of post-humanism and “The Transhumanist Wager” is an important work because it brings to the surface the philosophy behind the transhumanist agenda. Science and technology are increasing its discoveries at an exponential rate and its no longer a matter of IF humanity will merge with machines but WHEN. It’s my opinion, however, that a posthuman world does not mandate the wholesale destruction of individuals who choose not to partake in mankind 2.0. The post-human revolution will bring huge advances in medical treatment that human 1.0 types will benefit from and use to extend their lives. If Aunt Edna can surgically implant a new 3D printed Spleen and live 5 or ten years longer will she say no to the procedure? I doubt it. Will Edna have her arm removed to be replaced with a better model? Absolutely not.

If humanity conquers death does that really make us gods? I think not. If we can achieve life spans of hundreds of thousands of years, there will be those individuals that will still worship god into the eons. If death is vanquished and society becomes less based on geographical boundaries will war even be necessary? I know what you are thinking – I am one of those glass half full optimists. Correct! I will always be an optimist. I choose to view the sexy, confident side of transhumanism and believe that in the hearts of men there is a desire to explore and learn. I see the dawning of a post-human society as a great thing. I would never want to be like Jethro Knights as Zoe describes him: “Just a man afraid of the unknown in his heart. When there’s so much more out there to embrace.”

Yes. The science behind transhumanism is alluring and powerful. One must not forget that there is also love and an infinite myriad of other wonders “out there” to explore that transcend science. Zoe Bach never lost sight of this simple principle.