This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
A little-known faction has arisen called “Mormon Transhumanism.” It is compeling movement which appeals to our intellectual curiosity but ends up taking us down a road to Socialism. The more I explore this faction, the more I see echoes of ancient apostasy and modern social philosophies that are at the core opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Transhumanism is described as the “evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology.” Transhumanists believe in “becoming God” through “cybernetic immortality.” However, the ‘Mormon Transhumanists’ I talk to distance themselves from this kind of sci-fi robot imagery. They say they are merely “guided by life-promoting principles and values” toward the same exaltation that we read of in the scriptures. These values include “a social order where responsible decisions can be implimented” for the “dignity of all people around the globe.” This new world order would give us “reproductive choice technologies” and “human modification.”
Gee, what could go wrong with that?
Platoism
Maybe technology is something we could talk more about in the church. It is clear that technology is a profound element in our development of faith and our fall to apostasy, but how? Scripture and church leaders are full of answers if you know where to look. Spiritual questions of technology are nothing new. James E. Talmage in The Great Apostasy describes the Neoplatoistic faction of early Christianity which created an “unnatural union of pagan philosophy and Christian truth,” with the idea that the light “Logos” mentioned in John chapter 1:1 is a totally immaterial purity and we all should shed physicality to achieve it. The “light that shines in the darkness” is immaterial truth, they believed, with which we try to unite. This philosophy sure sounds like Transhumanism to me, and I don’t think it is coincidence that it developed during a time when Rome was skyrocketing technologically. Technology can be considered the same kind of perfect ideal that Plato spoke of, this immaterial light that transforms physical impurity to perfection.
Think about it this way. Screwdrivers have developed over the years and improved, right? Is there a perfect screwdriver that you can create that can’t get any better? Well, sure. Can the same be true for anything? Automobiles? Human government? The human body? Through improved design we can reach a perfect state. (Except Apple products, apparently, they have to keep updating.) That is the essence of Transhumanism, and it seems to me like that’s what Neoplatonism was all about as well: our impure physical bodies need to be transformed to perfection through an immaterial force. This modern faction is thus the same union with pagan philosophy.
Now, I’m sure Transhumanists would say that this isn’t what they believe. Anytime anyone criticizes Transhumanism they seem to just reply, That’s not we are saying! You are misrepresenting us! Well, what are they saying?
“This gospel is to trust in, change toward, and fully immerse our bodies and our minds in the role of Christ, to become gods and saviors…”
Mormonism Mandates Transhumanism
Inspired by the Platonists, the Gnostics believed Christ was a unity of “all the aeons of God” or divine emanations of God throughout history. The suffering and dying on the cross was just symbolic and did not cause a physical ressurection, they said, but was the divine self shedding inferior material body. The followers of Carpocrates said the world we live in was created by inferior angels, that Jesus symbolically ascended to the perfect immaterial place, and that they likewise ascend to that mystical realm as superior beings to everyone else, even the twelve apostles. They and other Gnostic schools took it upon themselves to descend to the immaterial world and instruct mere humans to ascend like them and Jesus.
Doesn’t that sounds an awful lot like “change toward and fully immerse our bodies and our minds in the role of Christ, to become gods and saviors”? Just as it was in those heady days of the early Great Apostasy, this is highly corruptive and false doctrine. Isn’t the role of Jesus was to create the earth, suffer for sins in Gethsemane, and die on the cross? That’s not our role, though we take up our cross and walk a small step of what Jesus walked. Our role is not to place our bodies on wooden crosses and have nails pierced through our hands. We are not pure prefect saviors who can atone for someone else. Our role is to do the best we can.
So immediately I get a sense that Transhumanism replaces the works of Jesus. With the atonement of Jesus deconstructed, it consequently pushes demands of perfection on each of us which we can never achieve. As those early heretics flogged their backs with whips to purge the impure flesh, do today’s heretics look to cybernetics and popular scientific narratives to lift the pure soul to a superior state? Just as whips failed to achieve this status, I believe technology fails as well. Can technology ever achieve resurrection? I don’t think so. I don’t believe Frankenstein will ever reanimate dead flesh. In any case, technology can never achieve remittance of sin, which is the main issue at hand.
Classic Idolatry
This idea that each of us perform atonement on behalf of others reveals how Transhumanism is not just a harmless sci-fi club. The worship of technology has always been the classic form of idolatry, ever since Nimrod shot his arrow at the sun to show people his rightful place as dictator or when the people sought to reach heaven through the construction of the Tower of Babel. In each case it was really just a worship of one’s self, the dictatorship of the person wielding the technology–the nice benevolent dictator who makes sure everyone is taken care of. In each case, the evil nature of man always gets the upper hand and uses the increased power to authoritarian means.
It reminds me of a Ducktales episode I watched as a kid. Scrooge McDuck’s inventor Gyro creates a large team of powerful robots to do construction work, which upsets the community because it puts people out of work. But then the evil Beagle Boys hijack the robots and use them to wreak havoc on the city. Mankind’s evil nature always seems to win when you use technology to lift yourself above others. In the Babylonian version of Genesis, the evil serpent steals the flower of eternal life from man, just as our evil nature often overcomes our natural inclination toward goodness. In our version of Genesis the, lying serpent promises Adam “ye shall be as gods,” but ends up tricking Adam into a state of mortality. It seems like we just can’t beat the serpent at his tricks when left to our own devices.
Some ancient writers even considered technology a gift from the devil to mankind. The Apocryphal Book of Enoch lays out in detail the technologies that the Sons of Perdition taught Adam’s children to doom mankind, including the working with metal and weapons of war. Interestingly, one of these technologies is writing: “For men were not created for such a purpose, to give confirmation to their good faith with pen and ink.” Is technology a gift from the devil? That is certainly an interesting way to think of it. The Book of Enoch further claims that mortality “could not have taken hold of” mankind if it weren’t for this knowledge. In other words, knowledge of good and evil and what we have learned in this telestial state is the reason we are mortal to begin with. This follows what we read in 2 Nephi 2: “The days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation.” The reason we are mortal is so that we can repent of the sins we will commit while in this fallen state. God limits us to mortality, and no technology can overcome that–the flaming sword guarding the tree of life reamins because otherwise we would be living forever in our sins. Robots live forever while behaving imperfectly. God is a being of flesh and blood. So if we could turn ourselves into immortal robots, it would frustrate God’s plan in exactly the way the scriptures describe.
God gave us enmity so that we could win against the devil, the chief element of enmity being Jesus Christ who overcame in a battle often ritualized as a hero destroying a great serpent. We read about this dragon in the Book of Revelation. Jesus as a figure of “enmity” is not something we often talk about, but we can see this theme in our restored understanding of Abraham who broke his father’s idols, in Alma who subverted King Noah, and in Joseph Smith who stirred up controversy wherever he went. This is good enmity. Our natural tendency to resist that which we consider wrong is an important ability. But we know people also use enmity is used to evil ends and this natural tendency to resist can sometimes lead to apostasy. We can see how the devil uses our inclination to resist and makes people resist that which is good. Perhaps this is where the idea of technology being devilish comes from; it’s not about the invention of technology but the subversion of technology to propagate Satan’s plan, like how the Beagle Boys infiltrated Scrooge McDuck’s robots and gained control over Duckberg. Are we using technology to liberate or to control?
Scientism – We can talk about medical benefits, increased communication, and educational tools that help everyone. Those are nice things, but I would question whether they really increase people’s spiritual faith. Technology itself does not confirm our faith, and to claim technology as a shortcut leads to the worship of “science” that we see in some atheist circles. Skeptics often appeal to science as superior to religion.
But the Transhumanists go on to talk about governmental “policymaking” that is “guided by responsible and inclusive moral vision.” Inclusive? That’s a key buzzword right there. Inclusive. The most telling part is their calling for “a social order.” It reminds me of Thomas Kearns, a big wealthy business owner, who bitterly denounced the Mormon social order before the United Sates Senate in 1905. He said Mormons feigns to be an order of “equality among men” but really establises a “special class” with autocratic “special privilages.” He hated that the church created “not only a system of morals, sometimes quite original in themselves, but also a system of social relation, a system of finance, a system of commerce, and a system of politics.” Don’t we see the same kind of complaints rage from big corporations in Utah today? Which is truly ironic because big corporate bosses like Thomas Kearns are the autocrats today who determine morality and social order. But we see big corporations rage against the church all the time. How dare Mormons perpetuate their own political ideas? How dare they create morals and social ideas separate from popular culture? Mormons need to be inclusive of everyone else! Which, of course, means sacrificing our beliefs for popular culture’s morals and social structure, doesn’t it?
Well, Nimrod also sought a new united and inclusive social order. So did the builders of the Tower of Babel. So did Josef Stalin. The social orders that they erected failed for the same reasons a social order envisioned by the Transhumanists would fail.
- Transhumanism erases any motivation for maintaining a harmonious society. It is naive to hand someone a tool for control and expect them to use it for world peace. The sword was not created for world peace. It was created to kill, and though it can be used for many things, killing will always be the main utility of the sword. The scriptures tell us swords will be transformed to plowshares when Jesus establishes a divine-based social order, when we “walk in his paths” and law–not from any device we create or big corporation.
- Transhumanism does not allow for personal liberty. When it comes down to it, you either fall in line with this wonderful social order or be removed. As human beings are treated more as a product of technology, we inevitably become treated like a piece of machinery, the more we are controlled.
- God made us dependent on only one person from our births: our mothers. Technology makes us increasingly dependent on other people and corporations in order to function on a basic level. We can’t go to the store to get food without a car. We can’t have a place to live without a crazy amount of effort. When Google’s Executive Chairman talks about driverless cars, augmented A.I., and thought-controlled robotic motion, all I see is a future of more dependence on a big corporation. I do not find in the scriptures anywhere that says we should make ourselves dependant on corporations or other people for basic living functions in order to reach exaltation. When have prophets said that? Transhumanism calls itself a process of evolution, but it seems to me that the human body evolved for millions of years to be independent, not dependant.
- Immortality would be achieved without atonement for sin, causing people to live forever in their sins. The human problem of moral fallibility does not seem to improve as technology increases. I find no scriptural basis for the idea that technology helps people repent or atones for sin, nor do I find any practical examples of this happening.
- Transhumanism would erase gender (sex) differences and personal distinction. This is a big one right there, and we can see it play out today as technology spreads across the globe. How much cultural distinction is there compared to 200 years ago? Hardly any. You get the same McDonalds and same TV ads wherever you go, from China to South America. Increased communication means more memetic thought, leading to more group-think and greater censorship of dissenting opinions. Yet those who cry about “diversity” the most seem to demand the most group-think and censorship, don’t they? Inclusivity really means conformity. As we turn into robots, we all become the same kind of robot.
- I watched a Transhumanist lecture which promised direct brain communication between people. How is this a good thing? Isn’t it obvious how direct brain communication would limit our liberty and personal agency, as well as right to privacy? Isn’t it obvious how this will be exploited? This is just another example of technology subverting gospel principles. I don’t see how technology increases personal agency. I think technology is only spiritually insofar as it enables us to practice enmity against the wiles of the devil.
- I watched another Transhumanist lecture which argues that Joseph Smith didn’t really translate a physical set of gold place, but that he merely had a mystical vision in his head. This goes back to the immaterial being superior to anything physical or material. A problem with seeking after an immaterial ideal is that it renders everything immaterial. Everything is just theoretical, something you saw in your head, words you speak. Physical evidence is treated like a relic that persuades people to seek after the ideal but is not in any truly reasonable sense evidence for it. Everything turns into sophistry.
- Technology speeds up time. The more technology grows, the more our mortal time of probation gets naturally limited in order to shield us from the tree of life. Life speeds up, like the city bustle that is faster than the country farm. We move around places quicker, we communicate quicker, we create things quicker–time goes faster. A fast pace is a necessary part of technological improvement but it is also limits us as it takes us further from a state of eternity.
- There are only two ways to try to solve human fallibility: divine justice or social justice. Social justice can never make up for or rectify sin.
Echoes Of Jesuit Catholicism
This talk of “a social order” for “the improvement” and “dignity of all people around the globe” reminds me of the Jesuit faction of Catholicism, going back to the conquistadors who conquered the New World. The conquistadors are actually a perfect example of the Transhumanism problem, as it gives us an illustration of what happens when technological superiority allows one group to enforce their moral code and social order on everyone else. It is easy for us to imagine the consquistadors sailing to Jamestown as crazy supremacists who sang “savages, savages” as they went. But from what I have read in conquistador writings, they just wanted to empower and free people in much the same way self-righteous Socialists talk about freeing people today. The only difference is they had a huge technological advantage. How did that work out for everybody?
One of the first Catholic missionaries, Friar Diego Landa, described how his moral order brought social justice to those technological disadvantaged:
”…but there has come to them, without payment, that which can neither be bought or deserved, which is justice and Christianity, and the peace in which they live. For these they owe more to Spain and the Spaniards, and chiefly to their very Catholic sovereigns, which with such continuous care and such great Christianity have provided and do provide them with these two things… Their first founders did not know what order to give them that they might evade the so many and so great errors in which they lived. Justice has taken them out from that through the preaching, and it must keep them from returning.”
Yucatan Before and After The Conquest
He applauded Spain for advancing the native people out of a barbarous life and lifting the dignity of people around the globe:
“It is with reason then, that Spain can glorify God in that he elected her among the nations for the remedy for so many peoples, and for which they owe her much more than do their founders or progenitors… those were still greater vexations and aggravations which they perpetually inflicted on each other, killing, enslaving, and sacrificing them to demons. As to the bad example, if they have had such, or today have it from some, the King has remedied it, and daily does remedy it by his Justices.”
Yucatan Before and After The Conquest
The conquistador mindset slipped into the Jesuit order, as seen in its founding documents: “A Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine and for the propagation of the faith.” This was expanded to include: “the education of children and unlettered persons in Christianity… to perform any other other works of charity, according to what will seem expedient for the glory of God and the common good.” The common good for everyone around the globe. What was the main goal of conquistadors? A global social order. This has not changed. Today, Jesuits talk about “opening the Church to newfound respect for people of other religious traditions. Their contributions have led the Catholic community to significant engagement with issues of human rights, global justice, and inter-religious understanding.” Well, newfound respect is nice, but has the approach really changed? Would it change if a “Mormon” group were to follow the same path?
The Catholic catechism under today’s Jesuit Pope instructs them to spread “a universal common good. This good calls for an organization of the community of nations able to ‘provide for the different needs of men;… alleviating the miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and assisting migrants and their families. The common good is always oriented towards the progress of persons… built up in justice…” The Catholic church is now sprouting globalist Social Justice organizations, to create a “radical new financial and economic system to avoid human inequality and ecological devastation. The threats that arise from global inequality and the destruction of the environment are interrelated.” Catholic scholars are pushing Marxism and pastors are calling for a “new kind of Christianity.” To me, it all sounds like the same kind of justice and progress that Mormon Transhumanists talk about.
Universal Salvation
The main sticking point against Transhumanism is that it sounds like universal salvation which is the key component of Satan’s plan. Technology will achieve immortality and enforce a perfect moral system, and then we all can live in perfect bliss!
Universal salvation has always been the perfered avenue for apostasy to corrupt Christian teachings. Richard Bauckham remarked: “Until the nineteenth century almost all Christian theologians taught the reality of eternal torment in hell. Here and there, outside the theological mainstream, were some who believed that the wicked would be finally annihilated (in its commonest form this is the doctrine of ‘conditional immortality’). Even fewer were the advocates of universal salvation, though these few included same major theologians of the early church… Since 1800 this situation has entirely changed, and no traditional Christian doctrine has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal punishment. Its advocates among theologians today must be fewer than ever before… Among the less conservative, universal salvation, either as hope or as dogma, is now so widely accepted that many theologians assume it virtually without argument.”
Christians who believe in universal salvation embrace social justice as the vehicle: “Jesus wasn’t just preaching a universal salvation message for the world, but he was also addressing specific political, social, and racial issues. He was helping those who were being abused, violated, and oppressed. Involving ourselves within these issues — serving those who need justice — is an example of following Jesus that today’s Christians must adhere to…”
This doctrine is dangerous because it counters meritocracy. God instructed: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” Strict reverence of equality–to the point that everyone is “saved” regardless of merit–counters this basic concept. Technology is a convenient way to dismiss merit because it places us all on an even playing field. It doesn’t matter how big my muscles are compared to you if we are sitting on the same train car–we will get to the destination at the same time. Social justice enforces equality to the point where individual achievement does not exist and wages do not reflect a person’s work.
There are a few rules of thumb i look for to identify possible apostasy: They speak in vague generalities, they use unnecessary big words, they have mystical music playing in the background, they appeal to church concepts that are frequently twisted by Antimormons such as eternal exaltation to godhead, they use phrases and concepts embedded in popular culture such as ‘inclusivness.’ I find it also extremely valuable to research historical apostate movements, especially the great apostasy of early Christianity, to look for patterns.
I am fascinated by this subject, though. Perhaps I watched the film Terminator at too early an age. The violence, the shocking revelation that the killer was actually a robot, and the added twist that he came from the future–it was all very powerful, and profound questions about time, technology, and fate took on a religious tone for me, even at that early age. Some say we in the church just try to avoid new technology, like Amish people. It’s not really clear how to handle it. Yet we have some unique ideas. I think this is why Mormon Transhumanism has arisen, like some kind of sci-fi convention that got out of hand. Technology is an important issue that has an incredibly huge impact on our lives every day. It’s easy to just tell yourself to avoid rated R movies and be skeptical of what you see on TV, but we have no clue just how huge its impact is. The carefree plans being cooked up by Google and other big tech companies are extremely disconcerting because it is so easy for technology to be subverted by those inspired by evil spirits to use it to authoritarian ends. Where will it lead? We in the church are fortunate because we are so media literate, but I find that I always need to invest even greater consideration into media and technology, as it is a great tool either for good or for evil.