Review—Future Superhuman by Elise Bohan

Elise Bohan doesn’t shy away from our most difficult challenges.
As a transhumanist myself, I agree wholeheartedly with the quote by Anders Sandberg on the book’s cover: “This is the book I want to give to friends who ask, ‘but what is transhumanism, really?”’
Future Superhuman will surely challenge you to think and rethink and confront many ideas previously taken for granted: our beloved “sacred cows—the untouchable, immutable constants of our reality, from ageing and death to childbirth and embodiment.”
Bohan urges us to “start thinking bigger than humanity, bigger than biology and bigger than this planet.” We need to upgrade our thinking and confront our situation in the 21st century: “Our brains are adapted for a Palaeolithic world. But they are not purpose-fit for a global civilisation of this scale.” “We are first and foremost animals who carry many vestigial inheritances in our design that no longer serve us well.” “That’s why the next step in our civilising process must be to change our animal programming by tweaking our biological natures and upgrading our bodies and minds.” To make these changes, “we’ll need help from minds that are less tribal, myopic and self-interested than our own. Our most crucial task in the 21st century is to invent them.”
According to Bohan, we are now living in a “make-or-break century.” Her prescription is to look beyond our “blind spots”—to places where we may be “most afraid to look.” This is where she feels “the most radiant forms of growth are kindled—in individuals, and the species.”
Perhaps most importantly, this book can serve as a catalyst to inspire deeper thinking about our tremendous challenges and foster more creative ways to nudge our apish dispositions away from tribalistic, fear-driven endarkenment and toward brighter paths. In effect, Bohan is simply exhorting us: Do better, dear humans, before it’s too late.