Cyborgs and “Custom-made Babies” 2.0: Acceptance of Posthuman Life Conceptions in Croatian Society Cover Image

Kiborzi i »djeca po narudžbi« 2.0: prihvaćenost koncepcija poslijeljudskog života u hrvatskom društvu
Cyborgs and “Custom-made Babies” 2.0: Acceptance of Posthuman Life Conceptions in Croatian Society

Author(s): Krunoslav Nikodem , Ivana Brstilo
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Hrvatsko sociološko društvo
Keywords: posthuman; posthumanism; transhumanism; bioconservativism; cyborg; “custom-made baby”

Summary/Abstract: Development of contemporary biotechnology and bioscience is opening many possibilities, questions and controversies, not only in the sense of broader so¬cial, cultural and economic changes, but largely in the sense of human identity construction and determination criteria for human beings. This paper is based on the theories of posthumanism, transhumanism and bioconservativism. In the empirical sense it is based on the results of a survey that was conducted dur¬ing the year 2009 on the representative sample of Croatian adult citizens (N = 1000). “Cyborg” and “custom-made baby” are analyzed in this paper, as two conceptions of posthuman life. The general hypothesis is that these conceptions of posthuman life will not be accepted, mainly because of the traditional socio-cultural context in Croatian society. Furthermore, several working hypotheses are proposed. Results have confirmed the general hypothesis; however most of the working hypotheses were not confirmed.

  • Issue Year: 42/2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 61-87
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Croatian