Abstract

Inventions and technological achievements that were the preserve of science fiction a couple of years back, have now become real. The progress in nanotechnology, challenging the traditional definition of identity and humanity by extending human capabilities, has now entered into the world of posthumanism. Posthumanism, as N. Katherine Hayles says, is an amalgamation, a collection of heterogeneous components, a material-informational entity that undergoes continuous construction and reconstruction, and nanotechnology plays an essential role in doing so, as it allows atoms to be moved individually and providing molecular structures and specific designs at the nanometer scale (where 1 nanometer=10−9 meter).
Nanotechnology, through posthuman engineering, provides an imaginative gaze to our lives, exploring the possibilities to transcend our physical and cognitive abilities, facilitating the eclipse of man and the dawning of the posthuman condition. Cyborg systems and cryonics are examples of posthuman nano-modified bodies. Their correlation, where ‘matter’ matters the most and embodiment is fundamental, everything reduced to materiality, destroying metaphysical identity and unbound the body into a constant flux of possible bodily conformations not just improvises, augments, and enhances humans but duplicate personhood, xeroxed flesh, mimeographed minds, control life and death, and question our rationality, privacy, autonomy, equality, human dignity, and desire to live.
The paper aims to analyze the interrelationships between nanotechnology and posthumanism and their advancements which when combined leads to Nano-enhanced posthuman bodies and vulnerable identities associated with the ethical dilemmas such as risk of dynamic shift of power at both national and international level, uncertainties at socioeconomic and cultural levels. The research focuses on key areas such as personal identity, autonomy, justice, and meaning in a world where human enhancement could become normalized. Through critical analysis of existing theories and technological trajectories, this study highlights the risks of losing essential human values under technological augmentation and proposes the need for a balanced ethical framework rooted in critical posthumanism and responsible innovation in order to preserve humanity or human identity.

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