When the Christian Transhumanism Association first became organized, I was invited to lurk on the fringes and even, for a brief period of time and very nominally, invited to be a theological presence in a kind of consultatory capacity. From the beginning, I was ambivalent about this, because I have always been very deeply unimpressed with transhumanism as a cultural and pseudo-philosophical movement, and nothing that has transpired since I first began researching transhumanism in earnest in about 2006 has shifted this impression.
In 2012, I wrote that "democratic transhumanism," aka "technoprogressivism," seemed to me to be the least objectionable formulation of these ideas--at least, this group seemed to be attempting to hold on to democratic norms of distributive justice and the like. But even then, this generosity was less a matter of affirmation than an attempt at hopeful construction: an invitation, to the H+ corner that might be most receptive to it, to be serious and less insular and join other kinds of thinkers on a joint project to imagine a better world for everyone and to think through the impossiblities and injustices insisted upon by their more libertarian (and increasingly over time, frankly authoritarian) counterparts. These folks were the most willing to dialogue with religious thinkers and theologians, and it seemed like we might build enough common ground to be useful interlocutors for each other. And this seemed like the branch of transhumanism that the emerging CTA was most in dialogue with.
So, when the CTA first organized, I was there at its inaugural conference, hosted at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN, one of the flagship educational institutions of the Churches of Christ. I even chaired a panel as a favor, since I was there anyway for the Christian Scholar's Conference that same week--the weirdest and wildest moderating I've ever been tasked with.
Since then, I've been a name on the roster in the Facebook group although the number of times I've participated in a comment thread can't be more than half a dozen. I've been periodically tempted to leave over the years, but every time I've thought, well, this might be useful for research purposes?, and I've ended up deciding to continue to lurk on the fringe. In the past couple of years, I have seen an increase in posts there of the most wide-eyed, credulous sort: posts about ChatGPT theologizing (whuuuuuutttttttf) and all sorts of I-just-read-this-unvetted-hype-can-you-believe-what's-just-around-the-corner posts. There's very little actual theological work happening, and when there is, it seems to be sui generis blog posts, as if no previous serious theological work on transhumanism/posthumanism exists or can be found. (And there is plenty! Including, of course, mine. I mean, not to be petty, but as this is my blog I might as well acknowledge how very special that particular feeling of erasure is.)
All of this to say: I have always been dubious about the very idea of Christian Transhumanism, and ambivalent at best about the CTA as an organization.
But in the last year or so, I have become increasingly alarmed, not at the routine silliness of the posts and discussions in this space, although these continue to frustrate and baffle me, but at the absolute refusal of the CTA to say anything at all--anything at all--about the implications of the emergence of tech and transhumanism as political players on the side of the undeniably authoritarian Christotechnofascist Trump government. (Well, "government.") Not a single post. Nothing.
Nothing about Elon Musk's interference in the election with his giant pots of money and crazy stage stunts; nothing about his political downfall, meltdowns, racist chatbot, unethical business practices and repeated lies; nothing about Peter Thiel's influence over various members of the Trump entourage, including his orchestration of Vance's career (well, "career") and putative religious conversion, or Thiel's very weird "theology" lectures; nothing about the gleeful, reckless stuffing of "AI" into various government agencies as the replacement for all the people unlawfully fired by Musk and the DOGE-bros; nothing about the role of Palantir and surveillance tech; nothing about the gutting of scientific research, the insertion of literally anti-science kooks into leadership, or the coercion of universities on false pretences.
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing about the H+ and H+ adjacent Tech Bros and their very public shift of political allegiances to far-right authoritarian extremism, for the simple reason that it works out just great for them.
So, guys. Look, this is a moment that calls for real theology. The kind of theology that produced principled dissent in the past, and resulted in documents like the Barmen Declaration. It calls for self-examination, and repentance. It calls for taking a good hard look at what has actually become your driving motivation, and therefore the determiner of who you're willing to ally with, what projects you're taking on, and how, and why. And if what really matters to you is some batshit H+ fantasy of life extension and neato gadgets--and that to get at that, you're willing to sit tight and keep silent while thousands of people are currently dying and thousands more will, because you traded your trust in actual science for self-serving H+ bullshit--well, then, Christian Transhumanism was just an early adopter of the whole Christotechnofascism thing all along, I guess, and I really misplaced my early ambivalent generosity.
So, I'm waiting. What will it take? One more war? One more murdered protestor? One more story of Palantir or Anthropic or Open AI aided government surveillance and kidnapping and concentration camp deaths? Will it take the installation of a Chat-GPT Trump as Forever President after Our Dear Leader finally shuffles off his mortal coil to ring the alarm bell that these guys are not the Good Guys? Is there anything that would prompt a public theologically and ethically grounded repudiation of these technologies that are obviously, explicitly, intentionally causing harm in order consolidate power and profit, from the CTA?
...?
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