BIOENGINEERED POST-HUMAN: SCIENCE FICTION FORECASTS AND SOCIAL-PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS

Abstract

The relevance of the research is due to the unceasing development of bioengineering technologies and robotics, which not only give reason to talk about a new scientific and technological revolution, but also become the subject of reflection in philosophical discussions and works of art, in particular in the genres of science fiction, utopias and dystopias, neo-noir, etc. The authors of such works reflect the main trends that are manifested in the development of these technologies, and try to predict the further steps of mankind in these directions. The purpose of the research is to identify and socio-philosophically analyze the works of science fiction, in the plots of which the scientific and technical perspectives and social consequences of the creation of a post-human by means of bioengineering technologies are understood. The hypothesis of the research consists in treating the works of science fiction as imaginary experiments that can be included in the prognostic analysis of the possible consequences of the introduction of certain technologies. Those works that talk about technologies aimed at “improvement”, “improvement” of human nature (according to the ideas of transhumanism), in particular, through bioengineering technologies or cyborgization, deserve special attention. The results of the study showed that the peculiarity of such works is that their authors always try to show that, having received an “improved” body, a person does not become happier, more self-confident, more capable of self-realization. New opportunities and abilities appear in a person, but they do not give a feeling of a full life. Therefore, a number of questions arise: Do such technologies need to be widely distributed? Does everyone need them? And if not to everyone, then to whom and in what cases? Is it necessary to aim for a complete replacement of the human biological body with an artificial one? The search for answers to these questions should be carried out in accordance with the basic values of the socio-cultural existence of humanity, the existential and mental foundations that have allowed humanity to survive and develop for thousands of years.