The anti-human agenda

and how we all might have more in common with Bryan Johnson than we care to admit

A few weeks ago, The Free Press released an interview with Bryan Johnson, who starred in the Netflix documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever.” If you’re unfamiliar, most simply stated, Johnson subjects his body to experimentation in order to seize on our unique scientific moment in the hopes of never dying. He believes we are so close to this new reality that humans will actually be able to defy what every person in the history of the world has inevitably succumbed to: death.

When I first listened to him speak to Bari Weiss, I dismissed him out of hand as an unrelatable kook, and I had a bizarrely comforting sense of superiority. Clearly (as he stated), he has no faith in God and views nothing higher than himself - on a moral or physical level. He bragged that he was elevated both spiritually and in his conscience to heights the normal person can’t understand. He categorized himself as having the physical makeup of an elite athlete. With each confident statement (as vacuous as they seemed to me), the more I realized that he was clearly experiencing a “dark night of the soul” type of moment (if his childhood faith was still with him at all.) It didn’t make me feel “good,” but it made me feel safe. I didn’t want what he was selling because I already have the truth. I am promised everlasting life, but not because I play a part in it - because I have been saved from myself. I, unlike Bryan Johnson, have accepted that I will die.

So, why haven’t I stopped thinking about Bryan Johnson since early January? Why can’t I shake his vacant gaze?

I think it’s because I am more like Johnson than I want to admit. So are you. We have been living in a transhumanist soup for well over 60 years, and while we may not wear shirts that read, “DON’T DIE” or take part in routine hyperbaric oxygen therapies, we may also not see how many damaging lies have taken root in our individual lives.

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First of all,

I’m not against technology, so I’ll start with that.

I use a computer daily, contribute to our family finances by working on social media, and have been known to use AI to create drafts for long-term projects.

I’m not a Luddite casting my gaze backward to a bygone era before the internet was born when we were all better off (although I think that argument can easily be made, and I don’t hate the idea, honestly). I’m just an unsettled wife and mother. I worry for the future and the difficult challenges we, as Christians, men and women, will have to face in a world that is quickly eroding God’s vision for human dignity and flourishing.

I think when the term '“transhumanism” is used, the great majority of people consider this a singularly modern problem, but really, it’s been around for some time. Transhumanism stems from atheistic beliefs that reject God's design for humanity. It’s a control mechanism. A philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates for the enhancement of the human condition through the use of advanced technologies. Immediately, most minds jump to AI and regenerative robotics. Elon Musk and walking/talking robots who will deliver our UBER eats delivery! Self-driving cars! Drones dropping off Amazon packages! And yes, those are certainly some of the manifestations of the movement, but let’s go back in time to the era of Margaret Sanger (yes, the founder of Planned Parenthood.)

If we are honest, birth control, eugenics, and transhumanism are all interconnected movements that share both history and ideology. It’s inescapable. And while birth control proponents would certainly not want to be classified as a eugenics parallel, you can’t escape the truth.

Transhumanism has its origins in early 20th century eugenics movements, which sought to improve the human race through selective breeding. Both aim to enhance human capabilities, though through different means. Like eugenicists, transhumanists (those who knowingly adopt that label AND those who don’t even think they are part of the movement) seek to "improve" humanity but focus on using tech advancements (the pill and other options) rather than selective breeding. Both movements share utilitarian commitments and views on human agency (MY BODY! MY CHOICE!, AUTONOMY!)

Margaret Sanger, a pioneer of the birth control movement, aligned herself with eugenics in the 1920s and 30s, viewing contraception as a means to prevent reproduction among those deemed "unfit." Of course, in recent years, the behemoth pro-choice organization Planned Parenthood distanced itself from Sanger and her racist undergirding. However, they still adhere to her methods - eliminate the inconvenient, suppress the natural, pursue the “liberation - and allow technology to help.

Overcoming biological limitations, including those related to reproduction, was the intent of Julian Huxley, who was considered a founder of transhumanism. He advocated for "reform eugenics" in the 1930s, linking evolutionary ethics to social agendas, including reproductive controls. The use of technology to shape human evolution and promote human enhancement (with no guardrails or limiting principles) began its fast acceleration when we decided to convince the population that suppressing natural law (female fertility) with a tiny little pill was not only normal, but it was good. I can’t be convinced otherwise.

Since then, we have seen the steady march toward more technological creations, which further separate God’s plan for man from our world’s understanding of what it means to be human. We continue to watch humans try to overcome humanity.

• We created a pill to delay children until perfect conditions are set.

• We tell children they can change their biological existence. We convince them that male and female are interchangeable and, therefore, meaningless.

• Multiple generations have been convinced that the act of sex is transactional and, therefore, no longer sacred, and as such, we are now witnessing the bastardization of what God created for good. The physical has been separated from the spiritual, and as such, there is a skyrocketing rise in pornography addiction, sex trafficking, divorce, single-parent families, and hook-up culture.

• We adopt new forms of anti-aging remedies to keep our outer bodies fresh and invigorated while our souls are slowly decaying and thirsty for deeper meaning.

• We remove from our vernacular the real meaning of man, woman, and marriage and allow our laws and vocabulary to be adjusted until we have new definitions - removing the fundamental and God-ordained plan for the human race.

• We abort babies in utero at a staggering rate, with the large majority of those abortions being cited as “preference,” not “need.” Children are expendable. We got so used to killing babies that now the new horizon is planned and assisted euthanasia for the elderly or mentally unwell.

• We are fed hundreds of messages each day with little to no time to ponder or examine, so we stifle original thought and contemplation - we exchange it for stale and contrived platitudes, many regurgitated and owned by someone else. What do we believe? Have we cut off the circuit between our thinking mind and our feeling soul?

• We watch machines replace humans in all manner of business, communication, and interpersonal relationships - our phones are our companions.

• We adjust our language to include imaginary things that do not exist in reality, but by adopting new terms, we create a facade—an alternate reality where the lies become the truth (i.e.xe, zer, zim, bisexual, androsexual, alloromantic etc.)

• We struggle to connect with our fellow man because we have allowed our minds and hearts to be so easily tethered to the screen in our pockets. It feels foreign to have long-form conversations without a sense of uneasiness. What is this distraction-free talking all about?

• We replace in-person church communities with virtual worship and wonder why our hearts yearn for connection.

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We live in an augmented reality where the goal is to convince society that humanity is broken and technology and science can help to rebuild and build back better (!) until we come to the non-ending epoch of our ultimate liberation: no death and the ultimate destination of transcendence! Forever? I mean, they truly believe they aren’t going to die - that’s the ultimate endpoint for many who buy into this movement.

But then what?

That’s what’s really bothering me. What is the point of it all? Why do they (we) buy into the insidious separation of our souls from our humanity? Is it because we are bored or scared?

Or is it because we often forget that transcending humanity is antithetical to the Gospel? And because we forget, we reimagine and do so poorly. We don’t need to be reinvented as some would like to propose - we need to be saved! We need to be redeemed! God came to earth and took on flesh in order to rescue humanity - not simply to create it, only to have humans throw off the shackles of an Almighty being and save themselves.

We will die. Everyone. But if we believe and accept the life-giving promise of salvation, we will live forever with our Creator in true freedom.

And even though there’s a smug part of me (and possibly you) who would watch the previously mentioned interview and bloviate about how far apart our personal experience is from the vocal transhumanist…we would do well to exercise a little humility. In our technological age, we are closer to that backward thinking than we might care to admit. All the more reason to keep reminding ourselves of the truth of Scripture and hold fast to God’s promise to this broken and dying world.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalm 139:14

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4