Julian Huxley: Transhumanist

Thom Quinn (swo@execpc.com)
Fri, 24 Apr 1998 22:27:41 -0500


The following is from a 1957 (reprinted in 1968) article by Julian
Huxley:

Human life as we know it in history is a wretched makeshift, rooted in
ignorance; and....it could be transcended by a state of existence based
on the illumination of knowledge and comprehension.....
The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself--not just
sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in
another way, but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this
new belief. Perhaps _transhumanism_ will serve: man remaining man, but
transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his
human nature.

The 1957 version can be found in a book called _New bottles for new
wines_ printed by Harper & Brothers.

The 1968 version can be found in an article called TRANSHUMANISM in the
_Journal of Humanistic Psychology_, 8(1).