Asteroids and nuclear war, climate change and artificial intelligence...the universe is a dangerous place. In response to these and other "existential risks," 21st century futurists claim that only extraordinary investment in technology can save humanity from extinction. Thanks to advances in genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, urban design, and spaceflight, futurists hope that we will transcend earthly life, becoming immortal and traveling to distant stars.
Futureproofing Humanity offers a provocative new reading on this narrative of existential risk and the modern hope for technological salvation. We do, indeed, need a mythical view for our modern world. But to futureproof our species - to ensure we live for centuries and millennia to come - requires a responsible myth, one committed to our shared human (and possibly posthuman) civilization.
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Robert M Geraci is the Knight Distinguished Chair for the Study of Religion and Culture at Knox College and is one of the world's leading experts on religion and technology. He is the author of Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality (Oxford University Press 2010); Virtually Sacred: Myth and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life (Oxford 2014); and Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. (Oxford 2022).
Review :
In Apocalyptic AI, Robert Geraci was far ahead of most of us in calling out the foibles of a small group of technologists who were attempting to foist off digital technology as a new God. In his new book, Futureproofing Humanity, he poses the same important questions about humanity, computing, and religion. Like Stewart Brand before him, he points out that the power of these new computing and genetic engineering technologies brings new responsibilities for humanity, and if we are to survive as a species we must take that responsibility seriously.
- John Markoff
Author of Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand and Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground between Humans and Robots
An insightful perspective on recent technology developments, the potential impact on our survival and our civilization, and on the possible futures envisioned by some of our contemporaries. Informed by a surprisingly rich history of thinkers worried about the possibilities we face today, Futureproofing Humanity is recommended to anybody concerned about the survival of humankind.
- Matthew T. Mason, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute and Chief Scientist, Berkshire Grey
In Futureproofing Humanity, Robert Geraci offers a timely and important book. Part intellectual history, part cultural critique, and part fiction-Futureproofing Humanity examines how genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and space exploration have become the vessels for humanity's oldest religious longings: immortality, resurrection, and cosmic purpose.
What makes this book so valuable is its refusal to simply debunk or celebrate the transhumanist vision. Instead, it takes seriously the religious dimensions of technological utopianism while asking hard questions about who gets saved and who gets left behind. From Nikolai Fedorov's "Common Task" to Ray Kurzweil's Singularity, from cryonics to colonizing Mars, the author traces how the promises once made by gods have been transferred to silicon and code-and what we lose and gain in that translation.
This is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of our current technological moment, when billionaires promise us the stars while the planet burns and AI chatbots pass the Turing test. The author writes with clarity, wit, and a scholar's rigor, but also with genuine care for the human stakes involved. He reminds us that civilization-with all its flaws-is worth preserving, and that the myths we tell about our future shape the choices we make today.
- Ilia Delio, OSF, Ph. D.
Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair Villanova University
