Transhuman Book Collection

The Foundation Library at the Transhuman House is organized by collection. While some of those collections are not Transhuman specific, there are two collections that are specific to transhumanists.  The first is the Transhuman Collection and the other is Transhumanist Fiction.

Transhuman Collection

The following are two of the important titles in the Transhuman Collection:

The Transhumanist Reader – By Max More and Dr. Natasha Vita-More

The first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and the current state of transhumanist thinking.  The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns.

Citizen Cyborg -by James Hughes

A provocative work by medical ethicist James Hughes, Citizen Cyborg argues that technologies pushing the boundaries of humanness can radically improve our quality of life, if they are controlled democratically. Hughes challenges both the technophobia of Leon Kass and Francis Fukuyama and the unchecked enthusiasm of others for limitless human enhancement. He argues instead for a third way, “democratic transhumanism,” by asking the question destined to become a fundamental issue of the twenty-first century: How can we use new cybernetic and biomedical technologies to make life better for everyone? These technologies hold great promise, but they also pose profound challenges to our health, our culture, and our liberal democratic political system.

other important titles include:

• Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era – Our Final Invention – By James Barrat
• Artificial Superintelligence – A Futuristic Approach – by Roman Yampolskiy
• Designer Evolution – A  Transhumanist Manifesto by Simon Young
• Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow – By Yuval Noah Harari
• Merchants of Immortality – Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension by Stephen S. Hall
• Radical Evolution – The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – and What It Means to Be Human – By Joel Garreau
• Superintelligence – Paths, Dangers, Strategies – By Nick Bostrom
• Technopoly – The Surrender of Culture to Technology – Neil Postman
• The Clock of the Long Now – Time and Responsibility by Stewart Brand
• The Second Machine Age – Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
• The Singularity is Near – When Humans Transcend Biology – By Ray Kurzweil
• The Transhumanist Wager – By Zoltan Istvan

This is just a sample, as there are many more Transhumanist related books in the collection not listed here.  Come to the library and see for yourself.