The Impossibility of the Posthuman Event

Philip K. Dick’s fiction dealt consistently with a central question– what is human?  The posthuman movement and, to a lesser extent, the cyborg and hybrid/furry movements– anthropophobes– poke and prod the definiton of human, but is it really possible for a human to move far enough beyond or away from the defining qualities of  “human” as to be considered actually post- or pre- human?

Most antrophophobes don’t go far enough, and that in the wrong direction. The cyber, hybrid, and furry movements are purely asthetic philosophies– arcs of style. Of course, even converting oneself fully into, say, a wolf, is to deny the inherent value of the human base.   This is a questionable waste.  A truly posthuman expression must be exactly that– post human; a move beyond what it is to be human, not a regression into unarguably more primitive states.  Even the cyber movement is a regression after a fashion– no computer is capable of what the human mind is capable of.

Regardless of how far from base human traits, is it really possible to quit said base?  Is even the most extreme xeno, animal, or mechanical modification sufficient to make one anything more than a modified human?  Is the aspirant anthropophobe or posthuman capable of becoming anything more than a human with an enhancement or deprivation, whether that enhancement is fur and muzzle, metal limbs and hydraulics; or the lack something as fundamental as sentience, social cognition, or a physical body?  The most dedicated posthumans– those who “abandon” basic human cognitive traits– often do little more than experience a kind of self-induced autism.  Even going so far as to affect the insect mind is simply that– affectation.  The bug-brain in question is an afflicted human, not posthuman.  Is this a state to which one should aspire?  Is the eschewing the result of millions of years’ evolution anything more than fleeing responsibility?

While it’s interesting to explore divergent avenues of physical and cognitive expression, that exploration itself stems from that most defining of human traits– profound curiosity, and the modes by which the exploration is made are, to use an antique term, man-made. Doesn’t such profound dedication to curiosity via human technology make the explorer even more solidly, passionately human?

Phil Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep asked throughout the text whether the androids bounty-hunter Rick Deckard was hunting identifiably human.  When we consider the foundational expressions of humanity– curiosity and a drive to continue on through our creations– the answer is a definite “yes”.  If these wretched, hunted, synthetic creatures can be fundamentally human, what hope does any human have of moving past his humanity?