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Humanity

Humanity – or post-humanity? We can belong to one or the other. Humanity is given to us, by God or by nature, but it comes with imperfection. Post-humanity – humanity enhanced by chemistry and technology – is something we choose, in the hope of bringing us closer to perfection. But it comes with a risk. By opting for perfection, we risk creating a world that does not tolerate imperfection or disability. In such a world, “mistakes” of birth must be avoided – or if that isn’t possible, they must be repaired. Yet it is precisely these “imperfect gifts” that inspire our tenderness. If they disappear, we will lose the sense of our own radical, metaphysical frailty – the source of the compassion that distinguishes us from mere machines. So are we really talking about post-humanization here – or planned dehumanization?


Illustration by Claude Maclean, L'Arche Beloeil, Québec, Canada

Jacques Dufresne
We amputate part of our humanity, we lose our integrity when we are dispossessed – in favour of “experts” – of powers as essential as the ability to console another human being. The result is that our sense of belonging is diminished, because it is to the extent that we feel in possession of our abilities that we are able to forge rich and varied ties with one another.
Jacques Ellul
Six videos on The Betrayal by Technology.  Depth and simplicity!
BBC: Tuesday, 6 January 2009 The UK's equality body - the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - has criticised the government's delay in signing the UN disability treaty.  And the EHRC has written to the government asking it to explain the large number of proposed opt-outs. The official name of the disability pact is: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons...

L'être humain

"At the heart of every human being, from earliest infancy to the tomb, there is something that, even in the teeth of all experience of crimes committed, suffered, or witnessed, nevertheless indomitably expects good and not evil to be done toward him or her. It is this, above all, which is sacred in every human being."

Simone Weil, Écrits de Londres et dernières lettres.

 





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Jacques Dufresne's
Blog

The editor of L'Encyclopédie de L'Agora and well known newspaper chronicler and philosopher, analyses actuality through the looking glass of Belonging.
Latest posts
Justice for innocent priests and religious men and women!
To Live or To Function?
An Alternative to Performance Sports: Sustainable Sport

 

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