The Revolt Against Humanity

Imagining a Future Without Us

By: Adam Kirsch

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

From Silicon Valley boardrooms to rural communes to academic philosophy departments, a seemingly inconceivable idea is being seriously discussed: that the end of humanity’s reign on earth is imminent, and that we should welcome it. Anthropocene antihumanism has been inspired by revulsion at humanity’s destruction of the natural environment, and transhumanism, by contrast, glorifies some of the very things that antihumanism decries—scientific and technological progress, the supremacy of reason. But it believes that the only way forward for humanity is to create new forms of intelligent life that will no longer be Homo sapiens. If rational thought leads to the conclusion that a world without human beings in it is superior to one where we exist, then is doing away with humanity the consummation of humanism?

Looking into the future

Adam Kirsh has written an excellent summary of some of the most pressing and troubling questions humanity will face in the coming decades. His analysis is insightful and intriguing.