Transhumanism is the idea that we human beings can and should go far beyond our natural capacity with science and technology, especially by extending our lifetime dramatically, possibly forever. It includes the idea that we can gain superhuman or trans-human mental capacity and fitness.
The Second Mind supports the idea that we are not only individual beings but also relational beings and expansive beings that extend beyond a lifetime and beyond physicality. Does this mean that the Second Mind and transhumanism go together?
A key difference between the two is that transhumanism tends to be about augmenting human nature with external technology, thereby going beyond the human condition. The Second Mind, however, is about becoming more human. It is about realizing the potential that we already have encoded within us. We do not need to be wholly dependent on external technology for this, though there will always be a place for the use of external tech. I'm typing this on my website, after all.
When our Four Engines are not activated, we tend to live at a fraction of our capacity. We are all doing this to some extent, given the culture of our society. For example, for many people, contact with nature is minimal, contact with expansive ideas and practices on a daily basis is less common, and it can be very easy to get caught up in daily checklists and not be attuned to the overall arc of one's lifetime. As a result, it is natural for the urge to be more, do more, and live more fully to arise. It is indicative of our innate capacity.
The Second Mind and the Three Minds Framework say that we ourselves are the ultimate technology, meaning that nature is the ultimate technology. All other technology is derived from that. If we access only an infinitesimal aspect of this great technology and use that to create another technology–which is what we call AI–it can seem very great because it represents a different slice of intelligence. But we are missing the point that the natural intelligence (NI) that is representing itself through us and and through the AI we have created is the source of all intelligence. The Three Minds Framework is simply saying that we have access to this NI directly via the Four Engines, without a technological intermediary.
If transhumanism can grant that some of its goals are better accomplished by becoming more human and not via technological augmentation, it would be a big step forward. If the science of transhumanism can be understood as a full science, which means not only being a science of the objective but also a science of the subjective, then again, this would be a big step forward. But if we believe the answers are out there in the objective world, and that is what will augment what is in here as the human experience, we will have experiences that actually diminish our potential in the long run while giving us exciting experiences that will never be enough.
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