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- Convenors:
-
Ojochogu Abdul
(Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria)
Leo Igwe (Independent Researcher, Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation)
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner (John Cabot University)
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- Chairs:
-
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
(John Cabot University)
Ojochogu Abdul (Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria)
- Discussants:
-
Kgomotsego Brenda Ramokopelwa
(TAFFD’s)
Bolarinwa Harrison (KU Leuven)
Osinakachi Akuma Kalu (TAFFD's)
- Format:
- Panel
- Streams:
- Anthropology (x) Futures (y)
- Location:
- Neues Seminargebäude, Seminarraum 14
- Sessions:
- Friday 2 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
Transhumanism seeks human enhancement through advanced technologies and this idea is gradually penetrating the African continent. Our panel explores a narrative of this transhumanist project in Africa as a remaking of the African story from the origins of humankind to the laboratory of its futures.
Long Abstract:
Transhumanism is an intellectual and cultural movement which seeks the enhancement of the human condition through advanced technology. In recent years, this worldview has witnessed growing interest from scholars and activists operating in Africa, and a conversation has opened over the project of promoting transhumanism on the African continent. One interesting narrative in philosophical anthropology building around this nascent trend is that of Africa--being the continent from which Homo Sapiens emerged and where, over a million years ago the making of stone tools at Olduvai Gorge, Rift Valley represented the first step in the great human journey of shaping ourselves and our world--now again poised as that “global workshop” space where new tools in the form of emerging technologies could be adopted, fashioned and applied to drive humankind’s next evolutionary stage. Historically, the evolution of our tools have co-developed with evolutions both of our ideas and of us as humans, and just as the stone hand axe from Africa accompanied and defined our ancestors in the worldwide spread out of Africa, so also within the “laboratory of the future” narrative Africa can again; through much technoscientific creativity and cultural (re-)imagination, be remodeled from its history as the birthplace of humanity to a new fertile playground identity for experimentation with and expansion of ideas and technologies by which its futures and the futures of our H. sapiens species may be designed. Our panel shall explore this idea/project of transhumanism in Africa in its contextualization as remaking humanity’s origins into its futures.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -Ojochogu Abdul (Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria)
Paper short abstract:
Homo faber is the concept that humans are able to control their fate and manipulate their environment through the use of tools. Contemporary technological innovations by Homo faber africanus are expected to contribute in shaping the next evolution of humankind.
Paper long abstract:
Homo faber (“toolmaker man”) is the concept, as articulated by Hannah Arendt and Max Scheler that humans are able to control their fate and understand/manipulate their environment through the use of tools. According to paleoanthropological research, the transition from pre-human to human can be associated with tool use and construction, and thus in the study of evolution, the implicit self-definition of humans in this is that of incipient and planned control over life-world through tools, thereby rendering the defining characteristic of being human as ultimately technological. From the Oldowan industry by our hominin ancestors millions of years ago to the emergence of modern humans—Homo sapiens-- in Africa between 100,000 and 300, 000 years ago, the continent possesses the world’s oldest record of human technological achievement in terms of tool production and use. The Homo faber africanus (“African toolmaker man”) has therefore been a key agent of technological change shaping human evolution. The contemporary African innovator is one with a set of emerging technologies ranging from biotechnology to artificial intelligence at their disposal, and these to create and use through an African genius and resilience in response to uniquely African environmental challenges, but with solutions bearing potentials to spread globally and impact humanity’s future. Hence, just as the interactions between technological, cultural and biological adaptations historically played a key role in the evolution of our lineage, so also may we expect these dynamics as fashioned by contemporary African technological innovations to contribute in shaping the next evolution of humankind.
Leo Igwe (Independent Researcher, Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation)
Paper short abstract:
The literature on emerging technologies has stressed the tendency of societies to leapfrog into development. But little attention has been paid to the technoscientific research base of countries. This piece examines the link between research capacities and technological futures.
Paper long abstract:
Discussions on emerging technologies and development have stressed the tendency of developing societies such as those in Africa to leapfrog into wealth and prosperity. This argument, advanced in response to the criticism that emerging technologies would widen the gap between developed and developing economies, have noted that the futures of African economies are predicated on nations stage skipping their way to technological progress. Thus African technological futures rest on the (in)ability of African economies to technologically leapfrog. However little attention has been to the technoscientific research base in these countries. In fact, research and development capacities that will enable the technological leaps and thrusts have not been adequately examined. The presentation explores the research capacities of Africans countries, and how the capacities relate to their technological development and possibilities. It argues that while African futures rest on technological leapfrogging, robust technoscientific research and development capacities are critical to delivering those technological leaps and futures.
Bolarinwa Harrison (KU Leuven)
Paper short abstract:
Transhumanism is a movement that aims to enhance the human condition and limitations through various technological means such as genetic engineering. How transhumanism is influencing feminism, and Afro-feminism in particular is less understudied.
Paper long abstract:
Transhumanism is a movement that aims to enhance the human condition and limitations through various technological means such as genetic engineering. How transhumanism is influencing feminism, and Afro-feminism in particular is less understudied. As feminism aims to promote equal rights and opportunities for women, the question is what is the normative import of the intersections between these two ideologies for human reproduction choices in Africa’s futures. Since the transhumanist movement became popular in recent years, there has been ongoing research and debate about the sustainability prospects and possibilities of transhumanism for women, particularly in the area of reproduction and procreation. Transhumanist-feminist advocates for the development of technologies, which could give women more autonomy over their reproductive choices. Noting that in African societies, there is a significant amount of expectation placed on women and their social roles in the society, particularly in regards to child-bearing in the face of numerous physical and biological challenges, how can transhumanism shape the cultural stereotypes and conversation around human reproduction in Africa? To address some of the challenges of reproduction, the medical procedure known as Assistive Reproduction Technology (ART) which includes procedures such as surrogacy, In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) among others, was developed. However, these assistive reproductive techniques have been faced with numerous sociocultural and ethical criticisms in Africa. Considering the transhumanist ideology, the purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of womanhood and motherhood, reproduction and the African idea of personhood in order to analyze the prospect of assisted reproductive technology for promoting reproductive rights in Africa within a transhumanist framework.
Keyword; Assistive reproductive technology, transhumanism, reproductive rights, dignity
Osinakachi Akuma Kalu (TAFFD's) Kgomotsego Brenda Ramokopelwa (TAFFD’s)
Paper short abstract:
Afrolongevity seeks to explore biotechnology and biomedical approaches that work for Africans in the treatment of ageing and age-related diseases to bridge life expectancy gaps for healthy living in Africa.
Paper long abstract:
At the twilight of the 21st Century, Transhumanism's manifesto echoes - super intelligence, "super-longevity," and "super well-being", forming the pillars of the movement and setting the pace for the future of humankind, which starts now. A recent report by Statista stated that "for Africans born in 2021, their average life expectancy at birth across Africa was 63 years for males and 66 years for females" when the average life expectancy globally was 71 years for males and 75 years for females in mid-2021 which raises significant concern about the future of Africa. Thus, there is a need to improve the quality of life and close the life expectancy gaps in the continent through the lens of Afrolongevity. Afrolongevity is a concept that describes people of African descent living longer using advanced technologies, precision, and intervention medicines to crusade ageing and age-related disease. It advocates the need for ageing/epigenetic clocks in clinics so that people can regulate their ageing as it's been done with other diseases for an improved health span. The place of advanced biomedicines and biotechnologies in improving the quality of life of Africans who are affected by ageing and its related conditions is what this paper seeks to address with the aim of closing the life expectancy gaps in the continent.
Keywords: Africa, Longevity, Precision Medicine, Intervention Medicine, Health, Ageing.