Center for Life Ethics
Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7
D-53113 Bonn
Center for Life Ethics
Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7
D-53113 Bonn
14.11.2025 - 19:00 - 20:30
Few ideas reflect the tensions of our time as clearly as transhumanism—the vision of using new technologies to develop humans beyond their biological limits. What once began as a utopian dream is now a project of power politics with global implications.
In the US, classical transhumanism has long been intertwined with economic and political interests: billionaires from Silicon Valley are funding anti-aging research, brain-computer interfaces, and artificial intelligence—driven by the hope of defeating death and taking evolution into their own hands. At the same time, this vision is dividing American politics: while some see technological progress as liberation, others warn of a new technocracy of the rich.
In Russia and other countries, too, the dream of prolonging life has taken on an ideological dimension. Here, “longevity” becomes a national strategy for the future – between biopolitical ambition, religious traditionalism, and geopolitical demonstrations of power.
Euro-transhumanism offers an alternative perspective: it does not focus on immortality, but on responsibility. Not on perfection, but on diversity. And it does not seek control over life, but rather a better understanding of its possibilities.
The lecture sheds light on the political, cultural, and ethical dimensions of humanity's new dream – and shows why the struggle for a longer life has long since become a battle for the interpretation of our future.
Projektmanagerin Haus für junges Denken
Projektkoordination iCare
Center for Life Ethics
Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7
53113 Bonn
PR Officer
Center for Life Ethics
Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7
53113 Bonn
Center for Life Ethics
Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7
53113 Bonn
November 14, 2025
7:00 p.m.
14.11.2025 - 19:00 - 20:30
Students
Scientists
All interested parties
German
Haus für junges Denken
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Haus für junges Denken
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner is a philosophy professor at John Cabot University in Rome, Director and Co-Founder of the Beyond Humanism Network, Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), Research Fellow at the Ewha Institute for the Humanities at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, academic Advisor of Humanity+, and Visiting Fellow at the Ethics Centre of the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena. He is editor of more than 10 essay collections, and author of the following monographs: Metaphysics without Truth (Marquette University Press 2007), Menschenwürde nach Nietzsche (WBG 2010), Transhumanismus (Herder 2016), Schöner neuer Mensch (Nicolai, 2018), Übermensch (Schwabe 2019), On Transhumanism (Penn State University Press 2020), We have always been cyborgs (Bristol University Press 2022), Philosophy of Posthuman Art (Schwabe 2022), Transhumanismus (mit Philip von Becker, Westendverlag 2023), Homo ex Machina (together with Bernd Kleine-Gunk, Goldmann 2023, in German), Homo ex Machina (together with Bernd Kleine-Gunk, Mirae N Co, Ltd 2024, in Korean translation), Philosophy of Posthuman Art (Epikentro 2024, in Greek translation). In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief and Founding Editor of the “Journal of Posthuman Studies” (a double-blind peer review journal, published by Penn State University Press since 2017). Furthermore, he is in great demand as a speaker in all parts of the world (World Humanities Forum, Global Solutions Taipei Workshop, Biennale Arte Venezia, TEDx, Colours of Ostrava) and a regular contact person of national and international journalists and media representatives (Die Zeit, Cicero, Der Standard; Die Presse am Sonntag, Philosophy Now, Il Sole 24 Ore). www.sorgner.de & www.mousike.de
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