Perfecting Human Futures ― Technology, Secularization, and Eschatology

?This book explaines trans/poshumanism as an expression of technological utopianism and eschatology. The volume exposes the connection between beliefs about the future of humanity and technological innovation. Under the category of trans/posthumanism, the volume will discuss beliefs, narratives, practices, and policies generates by technological enthusiasts who believe that by means of science and technology the human race will transcend its biological limitations so as to usher the posthuman phase. The book exposes the degree to which the transhumanist imagination secularizes traditional religious belief, thereby contributing to the ?post-secular moment.“ The book explores the social ramifications of transhumanism and offers a framework for social-scientific analysis of the appeal of transhumanist ideas to diverse religious communities, especially in the United States. Through several comparative studies the book suggests new ways to understand how the anticipation of the future engenders agency and shapes social reality.

Hava Tirosh-Samuelson (Ph.D. Hebrew University, 1978) is Irving and Miriam Lowe Professor of Modern Judaism, the Director of Jewish Studies, and Professor of History at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. J. Benjamin Hurlbut is trained in the history of the modern biomedical and life sciences and in science and technology studies. He holds an A.B. from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in the History of Science from Harvard University.