Sandy Askland

An article, “The Misnomer of Transhumanism as Directed Evolution,” by Andrew (Sandy) Askland, Director of the College of Law’s Washington, D.C., Legal Externship Program, has been published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society.

From the article’s abstract: Transhumanism is sometimes described as directed evolution. The suggestion that the transhumanist project is evolutionary is problematic because the enhancements countenanced by transhumanism do not track the models and processes of evolution. A significant example of this disconnect is that evolution, on most theoretical accounts, is ateleological and transhumanism is wholly teleological. Transhumanist use of the metaphor of evolution suggests an inevitability to transhumanist changes that is misleading. Transhumanists do not seek to 'manage' our evolution. They instead seek to sever us from an evolutionary past and undertake an entirely self-engineered future. When the merits of particular transhumanist enhancements persuade us, and it seems likely that some proposals will persuade us, we will be choosing to change our physical selves, and perhaps imposing those changes on our progeny.

To read the full article, click here.

Askland has taught courses in Privacy and Economics and the Law. He has research interests in environmental ethics and bioethics and in moral and political theory generally.