Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision for Our Future Evolution

Economist Ted Chu, PHD, is before his time with Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision of Our Future Evolution. The book prepares the reader for the next step in human evolution that can enable us to explore the stars. Science Fiction writers have been worried about the approaching Singularity when machines will gain consciousness and maybe take us there. The book might remind one of Arthur C. Clarke who wrote about the next stage in “human evolution” in Childhood’s End. Chu does not go into detail about how this change will occur, but there are posthumans and cyborgs in the horizon presented this philosophical book.

Chu is also not bothered by the fact that we might not be able to visit the other planets in the universe because we are nowhere near ready to create a space ship that can go as fast as the speed of light, but no obstacle seems insurmountable in this exploration. As he points out, we will need to change in order to venture into space. Such a change will not be the result of natural selection, instead probably selected human breeding which will create the Cosmic Being that he envisions as our next step. It is not clear how to categorize this book, but it will interest science fiction fans, astronomers, and explorers.