To Be a Machine

This book is a really fun investigation by a brilliant journalist who leads readers through a thorough yet skeptical look at the Silicon Valley-based movement known as “radical life extension” or “transhumanism.”

From hobbyists, to hackers, to scientists, to venture capitalists, a broad contingent of people in and around the “tech” space are convinced today that techno-scientific advancement will eventually allow humanity—or at least a certain small cadre of the wealthiest and savviest humans—to live forever.

There are heavy ideas here, and the book will give you a lot to think about, but it manages to be a breezy read… show more.

Mark O’Connell’s witty, weird, and worrying book explores the fringe scientific movement known as transhumanism. This disparate group of philosophers, engineers, rogue scientists, and hackers want to augment or merge the human body with technology, largely in order to advance their intellect and escape ageing and death.

While meeting a variety of transhumanists, O’Connell discusses the possible ways that technology could transform us as a species. From freezing ourselves to be re-awoken in the far distant future, to uploading our minds to a computer, there are all sorts of ambitious ideas out there to escape the limitations of nature.  

But… show more.