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Scientia et Fides

Waking up from transhumanist dreams: reframing cancer in an evolving universe
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Waking up from transhumanist dreams: reframing cancer in an evolving universe

Authors

  • Geoffrey Woollard Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5440-4228

Keywords

transhumanism, cancer, evolution, relationship to nature, quest for perfection, immortality, vulnerability and suffering

Abstract

Technological dystopias incarnate transhumanist dreams of a this-worldly blissful immortality. Underlying these and others is a globalized technocratic paradigm, the loss of an overarching cosmic world view, rise in consumerism, a gnostic repudiation of the body, and a neo-pelagian aspiration to individualistic self-sufficiency. One response to these transhumanist dreams is to remind ourselves of how nature actually works, its origins, constrains, and future. Our relationship with nature spills over to how we feel standing face-to-face with pain and suffering. In this article I reframe cancer as a journey of maintaining harmony with nature instead of a war against death that we are destined to lose. I argue that understanding the limits and constraints of the natural world help us come to peace with the reality of cancer, and perhaps find meaning in suffering. Instead of avoiding the inevitable at all costs, vulnerability and suffering have their own lessons. In contrast to transhumanist dreams, being human presents an opportunity to welcome the reality of imperfection, to be liberated from our addiction to control and excessive technological manipulation of nature, to draw together as a community, and to live the lessons of each stage of our finite life to its fullest. I hope this reflection, grounded in scientific literature and engaging with richly embodied medical humanities readings, can help us all change how we relate to cancer, from books to bench to biotech to bedside.


Author Biography

Geoffrey Woollard, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto

Geoffrey Woollard (BSc, MSc) is persuing his PhD in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. He studies biological molecules using single particle electron cryo-microscopy. Prior to this he was an Associate Scientist for Structura Biotechnology Inc., a commercial venture in the area of cryo electron microscopy in Toronto, Canada. He has co-authored articles in peer reviewed scientific journals in the area of structural biology and early stage drug discovery. He also published three articles in Scientia et Fides, including the issue on the 10th anniversary of Mariano Artigas' death. Following the footsteps of Artigas he is interested in building philosophical bridges between science and religion, through avenues such as the relationship of the human person with technology and nature as well as human and divine creativity. He is currently writing a book on scientific creativity.

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Published

2019-09-26

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1.
WOOLLARD, Geoffrey. Waking up from transhumanist dreams: reframing cancer in an evolving universe. Scientia et Fides. Online. 26 September 2019. Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 139-164. [Accessed 5 July 2025].
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