Abstract

The primary goal of transhumanism is for individuals to attain immortality in a “better than well” state. Seeking a kind of transcendence that humans were never meant to attain, this goal works at cross purposes with both the Christian conception of persons made in the image of God and with the ability to tell a good story. Zoltan Istvan’s novel The Transhumanist Wager fails in ways that are specific to the problems that arise when humans seek immortality through technoscience rather than through divine direction. The kind of transcendence promised by transhumanism is thus revealed as incomprehensible for human beings and incompatible with the Christian understanding of human flourishing.