A Thousand and One Thebasian Noons: Transhumanism and Acedia
Benjamin Parks, MDiv, PhD, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics, Mercy College of Ohio

Common accounts of transhumanism often point out the way that transhumanism has been influenced by various religions even as some of those religious traditions have in turn critiqued transhumanism. Critiques from a Christian perspective usually focus on transhumanism’s disdain for the human body as well as that movement’s unorthodox soteriology and eschatology. When such critiques turn to identify the sins of transhumanism it is usually to decry its pridefulness and vanity. While not disagreeing with such assessment, I argue that transhumanism springs from the sin of acedia as much as it does pride or vanity. My aim in doing so is twofold: to contribute to a fuller understanding of the transhumanist movement and to further demonstrate why transhumanism and Christianity are not compatible contra the so-called Christian transhumanists.

​ In order to make my case, I will proceed as follows. First, I will give a working definition of acedia for the sake of the argument because of all the classical sins acedia is the most multi-faceted and slippery. Two, following along with Aldous Huxley with help from philosopher Nolen Gertz, I will identify acedia as the sin of modernity and by extension modern technology. Three, I will then give examples of how transhumanism displays this particular sin. Finally, I will conclude with some thoughts on why the acedia of transhumanism is especially dangerous, even more so than acedia in antiquity.