History Quotes / Transhuman

->'''Player:''' What do you think that a posthuman future would mean?\\
'''Racter:''' Freedom. The ultimate freedom to direct our own progress, and to steer ourselves as a people in whatever direction we wish. Consider, my friend: every aspect of [[MiniMecha Koschei]] was tailor-made for a purpose. Dreamed up, designed, and built by a singular guiding intellect. [...] think of the circumstances surrounding your own birth. The building blocks that shaped you into the living being that you are. Your mother and father exchanged fluids - sloppily, no doubt, and with all the mindless abandon that such biological imperatives entail. [...] The *important* thing is that the forces that shaped you - and me, and the others upstairs, and anyone else you could care to mention - were ultimately mindless ones. Blind, manipulative biological drives that led a sperm and an egg to collide. Add in a roll of the dice and a dash of Mendelian genetics, and here you are. Any attempt to guide the process on a societal level gets branded eugenics and decried as monstrous, for obvious reasons. The natural processes of evolution and sexual selection guide the development of our species through trial and error. Throw a few billion darts at the wall and see what sticks. In the future that I foresee, this process will be reigned in. Guided by our own controlling intellects. To co-opt an antiquated phrase, the myth of "intelligent design" will become a reality, but we will be our own gods, reshaping ourselves as we see fit.\\
'''Player:''' Lemme get this straight. You're a scientist - possibly mad - who is literally telling me that he wants to play God. How clichéd is that?\\
'''Racter:''' Look around you, [Player]. Everything *about* the world that we inhabit bears the stamp of metahuman tampering, from the food that we eat to the homes that we live in, to the air we breathe. "Playing God" is a meaningless term. We've been reshaping our environment since time immemorial. All that I'm advocating is a further refinement of the process.\\
'''Player:''' So essentially, you want us all to be... what? Robots?\\
'''Racter:''' No. I suspect that there must always be some biological component to metahuman life. A degree of randomness, the possibility of mutation... these are good things, and even if we could shed them entirely, I suspect that we shouldn't.\\
'''Player:''' Then let's say that you're right. At what point do we cease being human, and become something else instead?\\
'''Racter:''' ''[Shrugs]'' Whenever we choose to define ourselves in that way. "Humanity" is an intrinsically human concept. If we decide to rebrand ourselves as a different species, that is our decision to make. I strongly suspect that nobody else would care.\\
'''Player:''' There are other forms of intelligent life out there, Racter. Dragons, for example. They might care.\\
'''Racter:''' Perhaps. But for the sake of our continued development, that's a risk that I am willing to take. We cannot limit ourselves out of fear of what others might think. We have placed such unnecessary limitations on ourselves, my friend. It fills my heart with sorrow to know what we could be, but are not. I would see those limits stripped away. Peeled back and discarded, for the betterment of all. In the future that I foresee, we will open our eyes to the possibilities that surround us. Bodies reshaped to thrive in the deep ocean and the depths of space. Bodies inspired by nature, or the human imagination, or both. Bodies that can be used, and shed, and used again, inhabited as their wearers see fit. The timely realization of such a future is what drives me forward. It is the cause to which I have devoted my life. And, thankfully, it is inevitable ...Assuming, of course, that we don't destroy ourselves first.
-->--''[[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Shadowrun Returns: HongKong]]''

'''Racter:'''Look around you, [Player]. Everything *about* the world that we inhabit bears the stamp of metahuman tampering, from the food that we eat to the homes that we live in, to the air we breathe. "Playing God" is a meaningless term. We've been reshaping our environment since time immemorial. All that I'm advocating is a further refinement of the process.\\

'''Racter:'''No. I suspect that there must always be some biological component to metahuman life. A degree of randomness, the possibility of mutation... these are good things, and even if we could shed them entirely, I suspect that we shouldn't.\\

'''Racter:'''[Shrugs] Whenever we choose to define ourselves in that way. "Humanity" is an intrinsically human concept. If we decide to rebrand ourselves as a different species, that is our decision to make. I strongly suspect that nobody else would care.\\

'''Racter:'''Perhaps. But for the sake of our continued development, that's a risk that I am willing to take. We cannot limit ourselves out of fear of what others might think. We have placed such unnecessary limitations on ourselves, my friend. It fills my heart with sorrow to know what we could be, but are not. I would see those limits stripped away. Peeled back and discarded, for the betterment of all. In the future that I foresee, we will open our eyes to the possibilities that surround us. Bodies reshaped to thrive in the deep ocean and the depths of space. Bodies inspired by nature, or the human imagination, or both. Bodies that can be used, and shed, and used again, inhabited as their wearers see fit. The timely realization of such a future is what drives me forward. It is the cause to which I have devoted my life. And, thankfully, it is inevitable ...Assuming, of course, that we don't destroy ourselves first.

-->--''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturnsHongKong''

->''"You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!"''

-->-- ''The People Of Sand And Slag", by Paolo Bacigalupi

->''The Crowned Pawn was like a ship turned inside out. It centered around a core of massive magnetic engines, fed by drones from a chunk of reaction mass. Outside these engines was a skeletal metal framework where Lobsters clung like cysts or skimmed along on induced magnetic fields. There were cupolas here and there on the skeleton where the Lobsters hooked into fluidic computers or sheltered themselves from solar storms and ring-system electrofluxes.\\
They never ate. They never drank. Sex involved a clever cyber-stimulation through cranial plugs. Every five years or so they "molted" and had their skins scraped clean of the stinking accumulation of mutated bacteria that scummed them over in the stagnant warmth.\\
They knew no fear. Agoraphobia was a condition easily crushed with drugs. They were self-contained and anarchical. Their greatest pleasure was to sit along a girder and open their amplified senses to the depths of space, watching stars past the limits of ultraviolet and infrared, or staring into the flocculate crawling plaque of the surface of the sun, or just sitting and soaking in watts of solar energy through their skins while they listened with wired ears to the warbling of Van Allen belts and the musical tick of pulsars. I saw within them the first stirrings of the Fifth Prigoginic Leap -- that postulated Fifth Level of Complexity as far beyond intelligence as intelligence is from amoebic life, or life from inert matter. They frightened me. Their bland indifference to human limitations gave them the sinister charisma of saints.''
-->-- ''Cicada Queen", by Creator/BruceSterling

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->-- ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', "Night"

->''"I turned them into post-human warriors. You're a soldier, think of it as a necessary sacrifice. ''[...]'' The Ceph are coming, Prophet. Soon. You think we'll defeat them with ordinary human soldiers? This isn't a war ordinary humans can win. [[PoweredArmor This is the future]]. Death's an inconvenience now. [[{{Nanomachines}} Nothing more]]. We are ''all'' dead men walking!"''

->''"It's in this context we should look again at [[Creator/GeneRoddenberry Roddenberry's]] famous 'Box' for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', forbidding any kind of interpersonal conflict among the crew, even disallowing children to mourn their parents. Indeed, Roddenberry's idealized ''Enterprise'' seems suspiciously inhuman, or a level above human. Perhaps his 'New Human Movement' wasn't just a throwaway."''

-->-- '''Creator/GregEgan''', ''Crystal Nights''

->"If someone came from the past, to meet us here and now, what do you think they'd say about us? Would they even call us human?"
->Lisa looked at me seriously. "No. [[ClarkesThirdLaw They'd call us gods]]."
-->-- ''The People Of Sand And Slag," by Paolo Bacigalupi

->"The Crowned Pawn was like a ship turned inside out. It centered around a core of massive magnetic engines, fed by drones from a chunk of reaction mass. Outside these engines was a skeletal metal framework where Lobsters clung like cysts or skimmed along on induced magnetic fields. There were cupolas here and there on the skeleton where the Lobsters hooked into fluidic computers or sheltered themselves from solar storms and ring-system electrofluxes.
->They never ate. They never drank. Sex involved a clever cyber-stimulation through cranial plugs. Every five years or so they "molted" and had their skins scraped clean of the stinking accumulation of mutated bacteria that scummed them over in the stagnant warmth.
->They knew no fear. Agoraphobia was a condition easily crushed with drugs. They were self-contained and anarchical. Their greatest pleasure was to sit along a girder and open their amplified senses to the depths of space, watching stars past the limits of ultraviolet and infrared, or staring into the flocculate crawling plaque of the surface of the sun, or just sitting and soaking in watts of solar energy through their skins while they listened with wired ears to the warbling of Van Allen belts and the musical tick of pulsars. I saw within them the first stirrings of the Fifth Prigoginic Leap -- that postulated Fifth Level of Complexity as far beyond intelligence as intelligence is from amoebic life, or life from inert matter. They frightened me. Their bland indifference to human limitations gave them the sinister charisma of saints."
-->-- ''Cicada Queen" by Creator/BruceSterling

'''Tuvok:''' ''(queasy)'' Another time, perhaps.

->"We regard the present human norm as a transitional state. We will not give up our humanity, but we will perfect it in a thousand diverse ways."
-->-- Ian R. Walker, TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace

->Long before the cult of the Nailed God, long before warrior tribes invoked the names of Dagon and Baal, the most accomplished Tzimisce attempted to transcend the limitations of mortal clay: [[MagicPlasticSurgery reworking the structures of their bodies]], they reshaped themselves to conform to their [[UltimateLifeForm visions]] - [[OneWingedAngel or nightmares]] - of perfection.
-->-- ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire: The Dark Ages]] - Transylvania By Night''

->Although flesh may blacken and fail, fear not, for this too can be replaced. You can be reincarnated - reborn in steel by the will of the Omnissiah.
-->--'''The First Litany of the Doctrina Augmentata''', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000, Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus 8th Edition''

-> “Is human nature perfect? No. Therefore, improvements are to be welcomed."
-->-- '''JC Denton''', ''Videogame/DeusExInvisibleWar''

-> All previous versions of humanity will no longer be supported as of this update.
-->-- '''Registry Update 40000.b595135.omega''', ''Videogame/CivilizationBeyondEarth''

->''"I turned them into post-human warriors. You're a soldier, think of it as a necessary sacrifice. (...) The Ceph are coming, Prophet. Soon. You think we'll defeat them with ordinary human soldiers? This isn't a war ordinary humans can win. [[PoweredArmor This is the future]]. Death's an inconvenience now. [[{{Nanomachines}} Nothing more]]. We are ''all'' dead men walking!"''

->''"''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' centralizes the debate surrounding transhuman augmentation. Would you, it asks, supplement your body with machinery? What do you mean, would I? I already wear spectacles. And a wristwatch. And I always carry a phone which I am currently in to process of duct-taping to the side of my head. Anyone who talks about technological development being 'unnatural' deserves to be abandoned in the wilderness wearing nothing but a fig leaf, but even if I weren't biased, if there's a conflict growing between people with ocean-liner pistons for forearms and a group of people who insist that everyone should be forced to be as shit as they are, I know which side I'd rather be on. Hey, I've got a better name for the pro-humanity movement -- the sore losers club!"''

->''"I turned them into post-human warriors. You're a soldier, think of it as a necessary sacrifice. (...) The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Ceph]] are coming, Prophet. Soon. You think we'll defeat them with [[PunyEarthlings ordinary human soldiers]]? This isn't a war ordinary humans can win. [[PoweredArmor This is the future]]. [[SuperSoldier Death's an inconvenience now]]. [[{{Nanomachines}} Nothing more]]. We are ''all'' dead men walking!"''
-->-- '''Jacob Hargreave''', ''VideoGame/{{Crysis 2}}''

->"We regard the present human norm as a transitionalstate. We will not give up our humanity, but we will perfect it in a thousand diverse ways."

-->-- ''Cicada Queen" by Bruce Sterling

->'''Seven of Nine:''' Meditation, it rejuvenates you?\\
'''Cmr. Tuvok:''' Indeed it does.\\
'''Seven:''' I suggest you try Borg regeneration. It's much more efficient. A simple [[EyeScream cortical implant]] would be required...\\
'''Tuvok:''' ''(queasy)'' Another time, perhaps.
-->-- ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', "Night"

->''"I turned them into post-human warriors. You're a soldier, think of it as a necessary sacrifice. (...) The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Ceph]] are coming, Prophet. Soon. You think we'll defeat them with [[PunyEarthlings ordinary human soldiers]]? This isn't a war ordinary humans can win. [[PoweredArmor This is the future]]. [[SuperSoldier Death's an inconvenience now]]. [[{{Nanomachines}} Nothing more]]. We are ''all'' dead men walking!"''
-->-- '''Jacob Hargreave''', ''VideoGame/{{Crysis 2}}''

->''"It's in this context we should look again at [[Creator/GeneRoddenberry Roddenberry's]] famous 'Box' for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', forbidding any kind of interpersonal conflict among the crew, even disallowing children to mourn their parents. Indeed, Roddenberry's idealized ''Enterprise'' seems suspiciously inhuman, or a level above human. Perhaps his 'New Human Movement' wasn't just a throwaway."''
-->-- '''[[http://secretsunjr.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-delicious-subversion-of-burn-witch.html Christopher Loring Knowles]]'''

->Long before the cult of the Nailed God, long before warrior tribes invoked the names of Dagon and Baal, the most accomplished Tzimisce attempted to transcend the limitations of mortal clay: [[MagicPlasticSurgery reworking the structures of their bodies]], they reshaped themselves to conform to their [[UltimateLifeForm visions]] - [[OneWingedAngel or nightmares]] - of perfection.
-->--''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire: The Dark Ages]] - Transylvania By Night''

-> All previous versions of humanity will no longer be supported as of this update.
-->-- '''Registry Update 40000.b595135.omega''', ''Videogame/CivilizationBeyondEarth''

-->--''The People Of Sand And Slag," by Paolo Bacigalupi

-->-- '''Registry Update 40000.b595135.omega''' ''Videogame/CivilizationBeyondEarth''

—->-- '''Registry Update 40000.b595135.omega''' ''Videogame/CivilizationBeyondEarth''

->''"It's in this context we should look again at [[GeneRoddenberry Roddenberry's]] famous 'Box' for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', forbidding any kind of interpersonal conflict among the crew, even disallowing children to mourn their parents. Indeed, Roddenberry's idealized ''Enterprise'' seems suspiciously inhuman, or a level above human. Perhaps his 'New Human Movement' wasn't just a throwaway."''

-->--'''{{Greg Egan}}''', ''Crystal Nights''

->'''Seven of Nine:''' Meditation, it rejuvenates you?
->'''Cmr. Tuvok:''' Indeed it does.
->'''Seven:''' I suggest you try Borg regeneration. It's much more efficient. A simple [[EyeScream cortical implant]] would be required...
->'''Tuvok:''' ''(queasy)'' Another time, perhaps.
-->--'''''Series/StarTrekVoyager''''', "Night"

-->--'''[[http://secretsunjr.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-delicious-subversion-of-burn-witch.html Christopher Loring Knowles]]'''

-->''"I'm not human, but my ancestors were, and what they dreamed, we are."''

->'''Seven of Nine:''' Meditation, it rejuvenates you?\\
'''Cmr. Tuvok:''' Indeed it does.\\
'''Seven:''' I suggest you try Borg regeneration. It's much more efficient. A simple [[EyeScream cortical implant]] would be required.\\
'''Tuvok:''' ''(queasy)'' Another time, perhaps.

-->-- '''Jacob Hargreave''', ''VideoGame/{{Crysis 2}}''