In Part 1, we exposed how quietly and rapidly transhumanism is advancing—not just in laboratories and tech forums, but into the fabric of everyday life. From brain chips to gene editing, the march toward “Human 2.0” is being celebrated as progress. But what if this so-called evolution comes at the expense of something far more valuable than enhanced IQ or longer lifespans? What if, in trying to perfect the human being, we lose what makes us truly human?
In Part 2, we explore the deeper, more unsettling consequences of the transhumanist agenda. Beyond the gadgets and scientific breakthroughs lies a direct challenge to the soul of our civilization: religion, the sanctity of life, and the irreplaceable beauty of human relationships. Join us as we uncover how transhumanism isn’t just shaping our future—it’s rewriting the meaning of life itself.
Wendy Wixom, President
United Families International
Human 2.0 or Human Lost?
The Hidden Cost of Transhumanism (Part 2)
By Alexis Tarkalson
In Part 1 of our series, we took a look at some of the prevalent beliefs the transhumanism movement holds and how they are eerily similar to the very beliefs our society is obsessed with today. We put under a microscope the transhumanist undercurrents of the gender ideology movement as well as the pervasive reproductive technology sector. And, we discussed some of the more aggressive players in the transhuman arena: Martine Rothblatt and FM2030.
It’s unfortunate that we can’t end there. There are still another two transhumanist beliefs reflected back to us in our current cultural values: rejection of religious beliefs and the family unit, and the devalue of life and human relationships.
There is a lot of money backing the progression of transhuman ideals, and the pockets of its largest proponents are arguably deeper than any in the world. It’s no small wonder that this futuristic movement is so intimately threaded throughout the tapestry of our cultural values today when one considers the influence, wealth, and determination of its activists. We can no longer ignore the force that is the transhuman movement.
Religion and family is being dissolved
Many big name transhumanism advocates such as Max More and Nick Bostrom try to dissuade any potential newcomers from taking FM2030 (their forefather whom we will discuss more in depth) too seriously. Indeed, they only dedicate a few sentences to introducing FM2030 and then hurriedly state his claims are “of dubious validity” and brush off his projections.
But if one genuinely looks at Humanity+ (aka the World Transhumanism Association) or reads the writings of Max More and Nick Bostrom, they would find they are just more subtle in their efforts to push the same ideals. They acknowledge that to the general public, FM2030 might come off as too extreme, and instead try to spoon feed you the exact same goals as FM2030, just in a more diluted form.
After all this talk about FM2030, who was he and what was his vision for the future? We briefly touched on him in Part 1 of this installment, only to introduce his belief that a true transhuman would abandon family and reject religious values, engage in reproductive technologies only, and participate in body transformation of any kind.
The reality is FM2030, originally Fereidoun M. Esfandiary, lived a life many of us would call “normal”. Born during the Great Depression to an Iranian diplomat, educated at UCLA and UC Berkeley, worked as a diplomat for the UN, and wrote many times for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, etc. That is the life of someone with such strong views about the future that he changed his name to FM 2030; 2030 being the year he would turn 100 and hopefully still be alive. When he died, he was frozen by the company Alcor in the confidence that he would return when cryonic technology has been perfected.
His radical book, “Are You a Transhuman?” has many important predictions for the future. He did not hide his distaste for the family unit, and wrote, “First let us remember the obvious: the more backward a society the more the emphasis on reproduction–family–marriage. The more advanced a society the less emphasis on reproduction and the shakier family and marriage.”
He predicted that as artificial insemination increased, the knowledge of our biological parents and the desire to have that knowledge would diminish. Indeed, “It won’t matter to them. People will have many mothers and fathers.” Rather than the nuclear family, instead we will have single units, group living, and weekend ‘linkups’.
Technology has progressed so much since the publication of his book in 1989. In the 36 years that have passed, we carry around smartphones in our pocket that allows us to talk to anyone in the world by text, call, or facetime. Those same smartphones can answer any question we have and give us access to billions of apps. We now have things like virtual reality and gene editing. Autonomous cars traverse the roads and AI solves all our problems.
Now consider this quote from FM2030, “It is unrealistic to think that we could have profound changes in all areas of our lives–except in our homes.”
Max More, the very same transhumanist leader mentioned before, wrote in his very popular Extropy: Journal of Transhumanist Thought, “Family structure is no longer a given, to be entered into unconsciously, and by which to be bound for life. The male provider and head of the household is being challenged, as is the need for a large family, a partner of the other sex, and lifelong commitments. We have a growing choice of ideas, gadgets, cultures, sports, and games to choose from, and the choices grow at an accelerating rate due to population growth and economic pressures…The 21st Century – the era of the transition from the human to the transhuman – can only boost this current.”
And what about religion? The dissolvement of the family can only mean the dissolvement of religion, and vice versa. The transhumanist community is split in two on the subject of religion, some believe transhumanism is a religion and others believe transhumanism has no room or tolerance for religion. Yet both opinions end at the same destination: The disappearance of God and turning the self into God.
Nick Bostrom wrote, “While not a religion, transhumanism might serve a few of the same functions that people have traditionally sought in religion. It offers a sense of direction and purpose and suggests a vision that humans can achieve something greater than our present condition. Unlike most religious believers, however, transhumanists seek to make their dreams come true in this world, by relying not on supernatural powers or divine intervention but on rational thinking and empiricism, through continued scientific, technological, economic, and human development. Some of the prospects that used to be the exclusive thunder of the religious institutions, such as very long lifespan, unfading bliss, and godlike intelligence, are being discussed by transhumanists as hypothetical future engineering achievements.”
Max More holds rationality to be a core characteristic of the transhumanist, and writes, “Rationality does not allow room for accepting ideas on faith.” These men sneer at the blunt delivery of FM2030’s ideals, and yet propose them in more disguised and nuanced ways.
Transhumanist, computer scientist, and artificial intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel wrote, “Spacetime engineering and future magic will permit achieving, by scientific means, most of the promises of religions ̶ and many amazing things that no human religion ever dreamed. Eventually we will be able to resurrect the dead by “copying them to the future”.” This shows that advocates for transhumanism want all of the benefits of religion without any of the inner changes and commitment, the changes so necessary to handle the benefits appropriately.
An article covering the domination of religion by transhumanism wrote, “It stands in opposition to religion in terms of its core assumptions, the values it espouses, its promises to the human being, and the ultimate goals it seeks to achieve. Therefore, the development of the transhumanist movement means changing all traditional value systems and meaning frameworks, especially religion and family. The loss of power of religion means the disintegration of the sacred dome around the family of which it is the protector.”
Transhumanism lessens the value on life and human connection
Humanity+ provides the philosophical implications of their movement on their website. While pondering the many benefits we will receive from such ideals, they write, “Creatures with similar levels of sapience, sentience, and personhood are accorded similar status no matter whether they are humans, animals, cyborgs, machine intelligences, or aliens.”
Now this might seem extreme, and too far out there to consider realistically. But if we think about it, how has the level of humanizing animals increased over the past few years? Dramatically. Pew Research Center did a study in 2023 finding that 97% considered their pet to be part of the family and 51% claimed their pet was on the same level as a human being. That is not something to laugh at.
It was G.K. Chesterton who warned us, “Wherever there is animal worship there is human sacrifice.”
You might say, “Okay I can see how we are giving personhood status to animals, but what about machines?” There have been quite a few studies done on the phenomenon of people turning to AI for human relationships–both platonic and romantic.
Sexual roleplaying is one of the top uses for ChatGPT currently. There are AI-powered systems designed to act as a virtual companion like Replika, Character.AI, and Chai.AI. Currently Replika’s ability to create a digital romantic partner has 30 million users.
This year Institute for Family Studies (IFS) surveyed young adults and found that 1 in 4 believe AI romance could replace real life romance. They also found monthly searches for AI romances are at 70,000. Viewership of sexual images of men and women generated by AI is at 53%. Men were more likely to be excited by the prospect of AI relationships and especially if they habitually viewed pornography.
Additionally, there is currently a loneliness epidemic in America, with one in two adults experiencing loneliness and a 2022 study finding only 39% of adults reported feeling a close connection with another person. Experts assumed AI might be able to alleviate this epidemic, but IFS research has found usage of AI companionship is actually linked with stronger levels of depression and loneliness, especially among women.
Forbes covered the topic and found that, “One major concern is that these relationships could lead to further social isolation, as individuals might prefer the uncomplicated nature of AI companions over the more challenging dynamics of human relationships. This could potentially exacerbate the loneliness epidemic rather than alleviate it.”
As we have raised the importance of animals, machines, and technology in our lives, our own quality of life and value for human life has diminished. This is seen by the loss of a vast number of human embryos without any alarms being raised and legalization of the right to kill the baby in your womb. This is also seen by the decriminalization/legalization of euthanasia in more and more countries.
Nick Bostrom wrote, “The transhumanist position on the ethics of death is crystal clear: death should be voluntary. This means that everybody should be free to extend their lives and to arrange for cryonic suspension of their deanimated bodies. It also means that voluntary euthanasia, under conditions of informed consent, is a basic human right.”
The money that lines the pockets of transhumanists
This movement has huge funders backing it, from Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, to Martine Rothblatt and Sam Altman. These funders are just the ones not afraid to openly donate and create companies dedicated to transhumanists principles; there are many more covertly sending money to the “4th Industrial Revolution.”
The transhumanism market in 2022 was estimated to be at $24.38 billion and is projected to reach $126.1 billion by 2029. The largest contributor to the market is North America currently, with an expected share of 35% by 2029. This is largely due to Silicon Valley, California where the pioneers of high-tech reside.
Let’s take a look at the top transhumanism technologies and their monetary value globally:
- Nanotechnology: Valued at $79.14 billion in 2023 and expected to reach $332.73 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.6% in the forecast period
- Biotechnology: Valued at $1.55 trillion in 2024 and expected to reach $4.61 trillion by 2034 with a CAGR of 11.4%
- AI Technologies: Valued at $184 billion in 2024, it is expected to reach $826 billion by 2030
- Virtual Reality: Valued at $20.83 billion in 2025, it is expected to reach $123.06 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 28.9% during the forecast period
There is a lot of money being poured into this movement. Jeff Bezos is a major contributor to the reverse aging biotechnology company, Altos Lab. Sam Altman donated $180 million to a longevity start-up. Elon Musk started his own brain-interface device company, Neuralink, that allows one to control a computer with their mind. Ray Kurzweil, transhumanist and credited for mainstreaming the ideology, works with Google as a principle researcher for AI advancement. The technology epicenter of the world, Silicon Valley, has a market cap of $14.3 trillion with a $128, 308 GDP and has a higher input than the country of Finland at $275 billion, all because half the world’s tech billionaires live there.
The grip transhumanism has on the world
This series is by no means intended to be an attack on science and technological progression. We have seen a lot of miracles happen because of the advancements of mankind. Bertrand Russell, in his book “The Future of Science”, wrote, “Science enables the holders of power to realize their purposes more fully than they could otherwise do. If their purposes are good, this is a gain; if they are evil, it is a loss.”
Currently, the scientific community appears to be barrelling forward at full speed with little regard for what their exploits mean for humanity. The ethical implications for scientific creation and modification (IVF, IVG, gene manipulation, birth defect screening, sex-changes, reverse aging, longevity, virtual reality, AI relationships), the abandonment of family for a nomadic existence and technology as the replacement for religion, all need to be examined in depth. We cannot carry on at this speed without permanently harming human civilization.
The transhumanist movement is portrayed in such a way that most will hear of it and scoff with incredulity. But the fabled wolf loves it when his severe and most appalling characteristics are extolled because it makes it that much easier for him to wear the innocent costume of the sheep and slip in unnoticed.
Whether you believe the transhuman ideology and all its extreme baggage to be worth losing sleep over is not the question. The question is, do you believe in the perilousness of its core beliefs: morphological freedom, reproductive technologies without restraint, rejection of the family and religion, devalorization of human life and human connections? Because those core beliefs have arrived in our everyday interactions. It’s time you decide whether the fear of transhumanism has some merit.
Alexis Tarkalson graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with her degree in Political Science and an emphasis in American Government. She loves spending time with her husband and little boy, reading, hiking mountains, and learning new hobbies. The family unit is immensely important to her, as is protecting the associated rights, which is why she volunteers her time towards United Families International.