Transhumanism, Theurgy, and the Genesis of a Cyberspace Utopia

If you have watched an episode of the Japanese anime Ghost in the shell or seen the Netflix sci-fiction Movie Altered Carbon, you may be familiar with the question whether ever-upgrading technologies will eventually bring humanity beyond their current natural limitations. But it is not just sci-fi works that are asking this question. Serious-minded scholars are holding academic conferences and publishing their research on this question around the world. However, the idea of transcending the current human condition and ascending to the next level of being is not a novel invention of modern science and technology. As a modern theurgy in the tradition of alchemy, transhumanism is a new mythology of cyberspace utopia.