Transhumanism and Superheros?
Throughout this semester in my Black Mirror and Digital Culture course, we examined the good and bad of technology and how it affects us every day. We have often examined Black Mirror and how it relates to the past present and future of technology and where it will take us. Black Mirror depicts a variety of different ideas in technology relating to transhumanism to downloadable consciousnesses. An aspect I feel lacks in our course is how things in technology affect underrepresented populations such as African Americans. A show that I feel could add insight on transhumanism is Black Lightning starring Cress Williams, China Anne McClain, Nafessa Williams, Christine Adams. The show takes place in the fictional town of Freeland and follows black metahumans and they overcome the struggles of their power and the responsibility that accompanies it. The show focuses on the often untold or misinterpreted truth of blacks being forced low-income communities and how they struggle to get out of the communities and the mindset while also showing that there can be black superheroes, release the idea of the “white savior complex” often seen on television.
Transhumanism is the idea that humans can evolve beyond their current physical and mental limitations. In class, we watched the Black Mirror Episode Men Against fire where the idea of transhumanism was explored in the military. The military’s job was to kill “Roaches.” The soldiers had an implant called MASS that dampens their sense of smell and hearing, so they are unable to smell the blood or hear the human speech and screams of the “Roaches” they kill. It also causes soldiers to view all “Roaches” as subhuman creatures with slimy white skin, sunken eyes and sharp teeth when they are in fact regular human beings. This is done to prevent them from feeling remorse or emotion when they kill them and allowing them to kill more effectively. This example of transhumanism was seen as unethical to many people in the class because of how the soldiers were deceived into killing people who were merely weak. Along with the episode, we read “Transhumanism” by P.D. Hopkins published in the Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics and it discusses what transhumanism is and how it is viewed from different perspectives. For the out of class assignment, I’d assign a Black Lightning episode along with this reading on transhumanism. In class, I’d have everyone pick a superpower geared to address one issue going on in the world right now. I’d have them explain why that superpower and how they believe it would effectively treat that issue.
In Black Lightning, the main character was infected by a virus that caused him to develop powers. When he then reproduced his kids were born with powers as well, although their mother was not a metahuman. This show explores their powers and how other powers can be spread through drugs. Although. The idea of superpowers may seem far fetched the show does a good job connecting them to current events and exploring how problems facing underrepresented communities may be approached differently, an idea that has never before been seen on television. I find it important to not only talk about the issues the Black Mirror episodes we have watched like: how social media causes us to view ourselves, how we view government and how technology can shift that view, etc. None of those episodes have addressed a major problem plaguing the country, which is the issue of race and how underrepresented communities are often forgotten. Black Lightning addresses that while both exploring possibilities of transhumanism and underrepresented communities.
Transhumanism is complex, and some may even say far-fetched. Eventually, it will be a popular idea linking minds.
Black Mirror "Men Against Fire" by Charlie Booker Black Lighting directed by Salim Akil Hopkins, P. D. “Transhumanism.” Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Second Edition), edited by Ruth Chadwick, Academic Press, 1 Jan. 2012, pp. 414–22.
