S4F: More or Less Human

Share |

By David Siegel Bernstein, PhD

“I teach you the overman. Man is something that is to be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

Have you ever wanted to be a better you? Smarter? Stronger? More attractive? Of course not! You are one of those rare perfect beings. However, I bet there are plenty of people out there who wouldn’t say no to some self-improvement, and extrapolating this urge is another staple of science fiction and the theme of this S4F.

I find most science fiction readers willing to accept the idea of improved people stories if the backstory is consistent. For example, consider a fictional Earth where at some time in its (future) history it will be popular for humans to experiment with memory enhancing drugs and anti-aging treatments. Plausible. Now trust readers to know that small changes become cumulative over time, so start extrapolating. As time passes, perhaps these people add nanotechnology and bio-engineering to the mix. How about neural interfaces to connect to information webs?

If these cumulative changes keep occurring, then at some point the capabilities of these augmented beings will radically exceed those of base-line humans to such an extent that they themselves may not even be considered human. In fact, their thinking and experiences may be so profoundly different from ours that we can’t conceive it. These beings are called posthumans in science fiction.

Many science fiction authors have written works set in a posthuman future: H.G Wells (the Time Machine), Charles Stross (Glasshouse and Accelrando), Dan Simons (Illium and Olympos) and Hannu Rajaniemi (Quantum Thief) to name just a very very few. Here is The Essential Posthuman Science Fiction Reading List (It is a comprehensive list that I mostly agree with).

As a fiction writer, predicting what posthumans will self-evolve into is tricky—but fun. They could blend the human with the machine (cyborgs), or become completely synthetic, or they could do away with bodies entirely and become enhanced uploads. Posthumans may not only reshape themselves, but also their environment in ways that I’ll leave up to you to envision. If you are planning on writing about a universe cohabited by both humans and posthumans, think of all the ways they could interact. The posthumans would probably dominate, perhaps being worshipped as Gods. In my story Chronology, published in M-Brane SF, they are godlike, but hardly worshipped.

I can’t complete this S4F without a brief mention of the television show Star Trek. In the series there is a repeating theme that transcending the human condition leads to disaster. In season 1 of TOS, you see humans turning posthuman and mayhem ensuing in episodes such as, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and “Charlie X”. In the same season you also meet aliens who have ascended (dumped their bodies) such as Trelane from the “The Squire of Gothos” and the Organians from “Errand of Mercy” where once again mayhem ensues. All this posthuman plotting in a single season! Don’t even think about getting me started on the Q and Borg from TNG.

See you in time and space… and S4F

Comments: No Comments »

Genres: . Authors: . Form: . Length: . Editor who accepted this story: .

3 Responses to “S4F: What’s the Matter with Antimatter?”

  1. William Haloupek Says:
    March 8th, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    Interesting article!

    Stealth is easier than cloaking, and we already have the technology.

  2. David Siegel Bernstein Says:
    March 30th, 2012 at 7:41 am

    William you are absolutely correct. Invisibility (a descendant of Stealth) is not only easier to achieve, but a future topic. I thought I’d go over invisibility first to please those who enjoy Harry Potter, but want to write hard science fiction.

  3. donnagalanti Says:
    April 5th, 2012 at 5:39 am

    Fascinating post. We are so much empty space and mostly water. Amazing to think how we can be beings of intelligence and creativity.

Comments