In philosophy, Postnaturalism is the "idea or belief that intelligent life-forms are the central force in the universe and have a moral status or value higher than that of all other organisms" Adherents of postnaturalism (i.e., postnaturalists) assert that constructed systems are the rules that should govern the structure and behavior of the world, and that adhering to the "naturalist fallacy" is inherently self-destructive. The transition to a post-naturalist era is widely regarded as the biggest philosophical shift of the 21st Century.
History[]
From the Enlightenment up to the mid 21st Century, "natural" was considered more virtuous than humanist self-determination. Naturalism is often credited as the basis for the successes of many progressive social movements following the enlightenment. From the American Revolution to the Gay Rights Movement, naturalism was the basis for the arguments for political change. Naturalism formed the basis for the moral order of people before the genetic and cybernetic revolutions of the 21st century, going so far as to be the foundation of morality in media. Popular films and TV shows in the early 21st Century are often seen as the pinnacle of naturalism in popular culture from super-hero movies that depicted anyone who tries to improve themselves or mankind through "Unnatural means" as the villain; to children's films that depicted humanity and/or civilization as a negative. Many film critics consider a perfect example of naturalist thinking gone wrong to be the film Gattaca, which depicted an unaugmented human in a society of augmented humans as a hero fighting against a failed utopia.
Postnaturalist philosophy traces its origins to the turn of the 21st century and the earliest attempts at cloning, genetic engineering, and bionic augmentation, however it is rooted much deeper in the "Naturalist fallacy" introduced by British philosopher G. E. Moore in his 1903 book Principia Ethica. Moore's original work laid the foundation for the confrontation against Naturalism, which was the defining philosophical system of the Enlightenment and the following 3 centuries. At the turn of the 21st Century, Naturalism began to reach its zenith in the political landscape, and was used to justify virtually any argument for or against social and scientific progress. However, early post-naturalists like Dr. Craig Venture and Ray Kurzweil began to argue that it was morally superior to tailor nature to suit humans than humans to acquiesce to nature. At the time, these views were largely ignored by the general public, and naturalism tended to win out in the political arena when faced with technologies and social constructs that would lay the bedrock for post-naturalism, such as bioengineering and cybernetics. The early 21st century saw the first examples of cyborg hate crimes, and mass public opposition to genetically modified organisms and cloning. In 2017 Valery Spiridonov became the first recipient of a head-to-body transplant, prompting greater debate in bioethics as people with less serious conditions (Spiridonov suffered from spinal muscular atrophy). In 2019, Washington State became the first state in the US to call for opt-out, rather than opt-in organ donor registration, opening the door for hospitals to use the bodies of the recently deceased for organ harvesting and potential bodies for transplant. This was met with a backlash from religious leaders and conservative groups reaching the supreme court where a 5-4 decision in Wesson v. Washington State upheld state's rights to opt-out organ donor registration, and by extension body transplants.
In 2027, Carson City resident Olivia Weishaar's body was crushed in a car accident, leaving her in a vegetative state. In a radical procedure, previously unavailable to humans, doctors removed her brain and transplanted it into a prosthetic body, making her the first true cyborg. The procedure was controversial because the decision was made by Weishaar's sister who held power of attorney at the time. However, Weishaar's mother sued the hospital for violating the family's religious beliefs by performing the procedure and not allowing her daughter to die naturally. The case was thrown out at the Nevada State Supreme Court based on the fact that Olivia Weishaar made no objection to the procedure upon regaining consciousness. The procedure compelled 6 state legislatures in 2027 to ban the use of prosthetic bodies. The first use of the word "post-naturalist" in the modern context was used by conservative Democratic Congresswoman Hilda Stackhouse during the Congressional floor debate for the Defense of Life Act. The bill gained little traction, as support for organ and body replacement procedures were popular across much of the country. However, opposition to genetic modification in humans remained high in many regions of the world during this period. 21 European countries had banned genetic modification of human embryos by 2020, and in the US only 15 states permitted the practice in any form.
After the DOLA debate, postnaturalist philosophy became more widely known, and the term was adopted as a badge of honor among its tenants, though the adoption of their ideas by the general culture was very limited. The late 2020s and 30s saw more countries and states tear down restrictions to genetic engineering in livestock and produce to combat the effects of climate change on the world's food supply. Some politicians began using postnaturalist arguments in favor of these measures, however historians have yet to reach a consensus if these arguments significantly impacted the public's perception of GMOs. After the immigration reforms of the 2030s, many states began to reduce, and even encourage access to in vitro genetic modification. The result was that by the middle of the 21st Century half of all births were the result of IGM treatments.
One area in which Postnaturalism caused significant change was that of environmentalism. Ever since the inception of the environmentalist movement in the 1960s, it was traditionally believed that human technology was inherently harmful to the Earth's ecosystems, and that a hands-off "back to nature" approach was the most desirable form of conservation. The Flood changed this, as geo-engineering became an important tool in the fight against climate change. One of the most influential texts calling for human interference in environmental emergencies was California writer Peter Shay's classic 2029 book Humanity's Garden. In this book, often called the "Silent Spring of the 21st Century", Shay compared the Earth's biosphere in its present state, as an artificially-altered ecosystem, to a garden, and humanity to a gardener. He went on to argue that, just as a gardener tends and weeds his garden to promote the growth of flowers, humanity ought to preserve the species they favor--whether for practical reasons or mere aesthetic pleasure. Humanity's Garden is widely credited with inspiring the "de-extinction" movement that began around the same time, which led to the revival of a number of recently extinct species.
The Third World War saw a surge in postnaturalist writing and philosophy as genetic and cybernetic augmentations for the military entered widespread use. The writer Douglas Sai, at the time an embedded journalist, argued that to win the war, the US had to have, "Superior warriors," to the Japanese and Turks, and that natural techniques for physical and mental training would hinder the war effort. This melding of patriotism to postnaturalism was common for much of the 2040s to the late 2050s, and was a critical component to postnaturalist thinking gaining wide acceptance. By the late 2050s and 60s, the general public began to move away from the nationalist postnaturalists in the face of the post-natal augmentations that became available to the general public. By mid-century, the Aug Generation drastically began to reject the virtues of naturalism as technology that enables humans to control biology entered the forefront. Many works of art began to be seen as genoist, and offensive. Older generations, particularly in Eurasia, radically rejected postnaturalism in this period for its tenants towards human mastery over nature, and a rejection of fatalistic interpretations of social order that were common to naturalism. Postnaturalism ended up becoming the dominant philosophy in the 22nd century.