I regularly comment on issues of relevance to the futuristic social movement that goes by the name of transhumanism. I am not impressed, both sharply disagreeing with its fervent anti human exceptionalistic/eugenic mindset, and finding its yearning for corporeal immortality rather sad. As I have written, transhumanist remind me of the great old Woody Allen joke: Mable has gone to a new restaurant and her friend Edna asks how it was. “Terrible,” Mable responds, “The food was awful—and such small portions!” Similarly, transhumanists think we are not smart enough, strong enough, beautiful enough, or diverse enough—and we all die so soon!
But the would-be post humanists are not my prime focus here at Secondhand Smoke. For those hankering for more, the New Atlantis runs a blog dealing with all things transhuman called Futurisms, described as “critiquing the project to re-engineer humanity.” That’s a good thing. Here’s the link if you want to check it out.
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…