TRANSHUMANISM, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE SECURITY ENVIRONMENT OF THE FUTURE
TRANSHUMANISM, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE SECURITY ENVIRONMENT OF THE FUTURE

Author(s): Alba Iulia Catrinel Popescu
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Economy, Security and defense, Military policy, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: transhumanism; security; emerging technologies; superman; cryonics; virtual reality; artificial intelligence; gene therapy; brain-machine interface;
Summary/Abstract: Half a century ago, the idea of biological perfection of the human race through genetic manipulation or the creation of human-machine hybrids was automatically labelled as a dangerous fable, reminiscent of the Nazi ideology of Super - Man. Today, after several decades of research into transhumanism, the question is no longer ‘if' the supermen will become a reality, but 'when' and 'how' hybrid humans will look like. It is therefore only a matter of time before the supremacy of man born of the random play of genes will be overthrown by “hybrid man”, “improved man”, “superman”. A “superman” in symbiosis with artificial intelligence. What might the world look like, then? Will it still be structured according to the same criteria of power? What could be the security impact of the emergence of cyborgs capable of processing information in billionths of a second? This article aims to bring research into transhumanism and emerging technologies to the fore and to examine the potential impact of their materialization on the international security environment.

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