THE HISTORY OF TRANSHUMANISM: FROM ADAM TO SILICON VALLEY
Earlier this week Father Peter Heers (YT channel) had an interview with podcaster and author of "Return to Babylon", Dr David Patrick Harry (YT channel). The material of the book consists of Harry's dissertation for his recent PhD. The book deals with the all important issue of Transhumanism and Techno Paganism. The disconnect seems to be, the pairing of pure materialism with a corrupt version of the spiritual, which is precisely what makes it so dangerous. But where does it come from? What is the historical relation? Dabbling in the occult with high tech. What could go wrong, you might ask?
Dec 10, 2025 Orthodox Ethos: Return to Babylon: Interview with Author David Patrick Harry.
Now Transhumanism -- the merging of man with tech -- is not limited to AI, but the people working in that field run the gamut, from Elon Musk and his boyhood dream of an extraterrestrial civilization to Peter Thiel and his manipulative fake Christianity (link). But there are even worse elements, as becomes clear from the interview with Harry.
In the post, "AI: How Demonic is it?" (link) we summed up its material aspects as follows: 1. it is not a life form, 2. it cannot become one since it is a glorified marble trap, 3. the word intelligence is propaganda: computation is not intelligence. But could an evil entity (or a legion) take up residence, turning it effectively into an idol. Sure, it could.
It would seem that the Transhumanist movement have gotten hold of the Orthodox concept of Theosis, misunderstanding and corrupting it to serve their own Promethean goals: not to elevate man to God's likeness, but to replace God, which is of course the cause of the Fall of man and the scattering of nations in the first place.
From the interview we gather that at least some of the people in Silicon Valley see the entire field of Transhumanism as a tool for Ecumenism, or even some form of a universal, integrated religion.
Harry traced the genesis of Transhumanism back to the year of our Lord 800, which also happens to be the institution of the fake, rival Papal-Carolingian (Holy) Roman Empire, 'fake' and 'rival' because such an empire already existed at the time based in Constantinople. But that is a whole other subject by itself.
But more importantly in terms of my own investigation, Harry discovered in John Scotus Eriugena (link) an important link to Western Neoplatonism that I have been looking for. Like the Transhumanists of today, Scotus saw the technological revolution of that time as a path to the 'redemption' of man.
"His principal work, Periphyseon (also known as De Divisione Naturae), presents a comprehensive metaphysical system centered on (...) the dialectical movement of exitus (procession) and reditus (return) of all things from and to God. The work synthesizes Christian theology with Neoplatonism (...)".
This is Gnosticism, foreshadowing Kant's and Hegel's dialectics and cosmologies in the Liberal Enlightenment.
Harry mentions a few other milestones in history. If you are interested in these breaking points from Orthodox theology to Western occultism and on to Modernity, check the links to Giacomo Fiore (link), Hugh of Saint Victor (link), John Dee (link) and Francis Bacon (link).
I can't find the image of our Lord with compass and scale, a precursor of Freemasonry, but here's one in a manuscript dating to 1179 in the Austrian National Library of Vienna (link). And another on a site for Medieval Occult Craft (link).
While we are on the subject, how did the ancients understand the source of technology? How does that relate to the Fall? What does that mean for our own age and the age to come? Why do printers never work? Father Stephen and Father Andrew discuss the relations between man and tech throughout the ages in this episode of The Lord Of Spirits on Ancient Faith Radio (playlist).
Dec 15, 2023 Ancient Faith: Lord of Spirits - The Art and Science of Technomancy [Ep. 81].
Check out also Dr Zac Porcu's playlist on these subjects (link).
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