Mormonism Mandates Transhumanism

If you’re a Mormon, you should be a Transhumanist. That’s my contention. I’ve suggested before that “Mormon Transhumanist” is not redundant. But “Transhumanist Mormon” is redundant because Mormonism mandates Transhumanism.

In other words, you can be a Transhumanist without being a Mormon. But you can’t be a Mormon without being a Transhumanist, at least implicitly. Of course, this is a controversial claim, but here’s the basic argument, reflecting Mormon scripture:

A) God wants us to use ordained means to participate in God’s work (assumption based on scriptures such as 1 Nephi 3: 7, Alma 60: 7-11, Alma 60: 20-23, and D&C 58: 26-29).

B) Science and technology are among the means ordained of God (assumption based on scriptures such as 1 Nephi 17: 8-11, Alma 37: 38-42, D&C 88: 78-80, and D&C 121: 29-33).

C) God’s work is to help each other attain Godhood (assumption based on scriptures such as 3 Nephi 12: 48, D&C 76: 58-60, D&C 76: 92-95, and Moses 1: 39).

D) An essential attribute of Godhood is a glorified immortal body (assumption based on scriptures such as Ether 3: 6, D&C 76: 70, D&C 93: 33-36, and D&C 130: 22).

Therefore,

E) God wants us to use science and technology to participate in God’s work (from A and B)

F) God wants us to use science and technology to help each other attain Godhood (from E and C)

G) God wants us to use science and technology to help each other attain a glorified immortal body (from F and D)

The conclusion, that God wants us to use science and technology to help each other attain a glorified immortal body, is at once a religious mandate (“God wants us to …”) and a description of the Transhumanist project (“… use science and technology to attain a glorified immortal body”). If these assumptions accurately reflect Mormonism, as I contend they do, then Mormonism mandates Transhumanism.