A Postmodern (Singularity) Future with a Post-Human Godless Algorithm: Trans-Humanism, Artificial Intelligence, and Dataism

Abstract

The objective of this manuscript is to reveal that the challenge in understanding the ethical consequences of a post-human condition characterizing trans-humanist ontology is linked to postmodern epistemology lacking any metaphysical and theological essence. The introductory section provides an overview of trans-humanist thought and the concerns deliberated against it at the recent conference titled A.I Ethics: An Abrahamic Commitment to the Rome Call, charting a path ensuring that technological innovations do not undermine the ethical, spiritual, and moral values animating the telos of the human being. The second section traces the philosophical genealogy of trans-humanism from the Age of Reason (i.e., modern epistemology) to our current Age of Feeling (i.e., postmodern epistemology). This section also stresses that the ontology accenting both periods—the death of God and the death of human—is latent in trans-humanist ideology, which seeks to extinguish the quest of knowing God with an ateleological state that crucifies the human in pursuit of worshipping technology. The third section scrutinizes the conceptual framework of trans-humanism by deconstructing concepts structuring its worldview such as Singularity, Artificial Super Intelligence, and the pseudo-religion known as Dataism. Additionally, this section examines how trans-humanist proponents—while adhering to postmodern philosophy—alter the definitions of sacred concepts that exclusively animate a human state of being, such as consciousness, intelligence, and awareness, by anthropomorphizing AI. The final section recalls the wisdom of the Nicomachean Ethics and the Alchemy of Happiness, composed—respectively—by Aristotle and Al-Ghazali. It highlights the immoral significances of choosing to ignore the implications of Dataism and its techno-scientific objectives, which obscure the use of techne in a virtuous manner attaining eudaimonia and the essence of humanness seeking a path—using God-given sensoria—knowledge of Divine Beauty.