New Book Announcement Media contact: Byron Belitsos December 15, 2013 415/720-6508 • [email protected] www.TranshumanPotential.com
Is Cosmic Evolution Leading Us to Biological Self-transcendence?
A prominent economist declares that the “posthuman era has arrived”— and reframes thetranshumanism debate with an original ethical vision. Formerly the chief economist of GeneralMotors, Ted Chu displays enormous erudition in this expansive study of the trajectory of human and cosmic evolution. Chu celebrates the prospect of new forms of intelligent cosmic life that,
he shows, will be the ultimate expression of humanity’s evolutionary purpose.
Today we can radically alter biological organisms; and in the coming century, futurists say, such technologies willusher in the much-heralded “posthuman era.” But critics like Francis Fukuyama complain that transhumanism hasbecome a narrow and dangerous idea, paying insufficient attention to ethical consequences. Ted Chu’s HumanPurpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision for Our Future Evolution (Origin Press, March 2014)responds to the movement’s many detractors—providing the first systemic attempt to reclaim the philosophical highground in this increasingly timely and worldwide debate.
To retake that ground, Chu establishes an interdisciplinary stance and interrogates the transhumanist project withtoday’s most pressing questions:
• Given our revolutionary new technologies (including nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence,and genetic engineering), what is the relationship of these new biological designs to cosmic evolution?
• Could it be that the human species is a means rather than an end—and that our true purpose is togive rise to evolutionary successors?
• Why should evolution stop with the advent of humans on the stage of cosmic history? Can there be ahigher, nobler goal than the individual’s happiness and society’s well-being?
Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential:A Cosmic Vision for Our Future EvolutionBy Ted Chu, PhDWith a Foreword by John Haught, PhDPub Date: March 1, 2014 • Origin Press504 pages • 5.5″x8.5″ Cloth • $26.959 illustrations • Index • BibliographyLCCN: 2013955162Hardback: ISBN 978-1579830250 $26.95EPUB: ISBN 978-1579830236 $14.99Kindle: ISBN 978-1579830243 $14.99Apple ebook: $11.99
“Looking at the big picture of cosmic evolution since the Big Bang,” writes Chu, “I am convinced that our purposeis to transcend our limiting biology and the resulting limitations in our consciousness, thus enabling the rise of newkinds of sentient beings, freed from our genetic limitations.”
A New Goal and a “New Covenant” for HumanityChu goes on to articulate a goal and a purpose for humanity in the face of momentous technological breakthroughs.e pursuit of human happiness is noble, but our ultimate purpose—our “new divine covenant”—is to serve theforward march of evolution through the transcendence of our own biology. Renowned evolutionary theologian JohnHaught puts it this way in his Foreword: “It is now conceivable to many thoughtful people that the human period ofevolution may eventually turn out to be a transitional chapter in cosmic history. How are we to address such aprospect? In the remote cosmic future, will human history appear to be anything more than an ephemeral crossing-over to more fascinating episodes in an enormously inventive cosmic narrative whose eventual playing-out iscurrently unimaginable? If you care about such questions, read this book.”
e upshot of Chu’s argument becomes clear: A deeper understanding of our place in the universe reveals thathumanity is not the end-point of creation. We may not be the pinnacle of evolution. is new understandingemerges as he plumbs the depths of the world’s wisdom traditions and surveys the most cutting-edge evolutionarytheory and scientific advances. While confronting the many risks ahead, Chu offers an original cosmic vision withenormous real-world political and economic implications.
Formerly the chief economist at General Motors, Ted Chu was also chief economist for Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, oneof the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. He is currently professor of economics at New York University at Abu Dhabi. During his 25 years as a business economist, Dr. Chu also held positions as macro economist for the World Bank and Arthur D.Little. For the last 15 years, his second career has been conducting independent research on the philosophical question ofhumanity’s place in the universe, building on his lifelong interest in the frontiers of evolutionary progress. As part of these research efforts, he founded the nonprofit CoBe (Cosmic Being) Institute in Michigan and serves as a senior scholar at ChangCe, a Beijing-based independent think tank. Born and raised in China, Chu graduated from Fudan University inShanghai, and earned his PhD in economics at Georgetown University.
“Ted Chu’s elegantly written and well-researched book is a contemporary transhumanist reprise of Nietzsche’s ideal of theOverman. . .If we are sufficiently courageous and daring, he tells us, we can fulfill our cosmic destiny by making possiblemodes of intelligence far greater than our own. Even critics of this 'Cosmic Vision' will find Chu’s book required reading.”—Michael E. Zimmerman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado at Boulder
“Dr. Chu's wide-ranging knowledge and cross-cultural wisdom allows him to as easily quote from Darwin and Spinoza, asfrom Confucius and Japanese Zen Master Ikkyu. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking a detailed and judiciousyet joyful account of a Cosmic Vision toward which we all may aspire and work.”—Michael LaTorra, Assistant Professor of English, New Mexico State University, author of A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao
“is seminal book is essential reading for every pioneering spirit on Earth.”—Barbara Marx Hubbard, President, Foundation for Conscious Evolution
Ted Chu on the Advent of the Posthuman Era:“Today we stand at a new frontier. Until now, civilization’s progress has been the result of themainly successful and often heroic fight for greater human liberty—economic, political,cultural, religious, and personal freedoms—along with a host of scientific discoveries andtechnological breakthroughs that have improved our well-being. Now, having won many suchbattles, we have within our sight—if not yet within our reach—a radically new humanfreedom. It is the freedom from our inborn genetic condition—the liberation from theconstraints of our biological form, such as our inevitable aging process. e human era as wehave known it is coming to an end. e posthuman era is about to begin.”
