What Is Human?

A photograph of an acrylic and drawing ink painting on two sheets of thin A1 card. This is the product of my Final Mini Project for college, titled "what is human?"

I was inspired by both the work of H. R. Giger (famous for Ridley Scott's Alien) and Deus Ex: Human Revolution and it took a total of 8 weeks to design, plan, develop, and paint. But the real inspiration was a discussion on SporeWIki's IRC channel about how indigenous tribes in places like the Amazon Rainforest see Westerners and theri technology akin to demons (WOrmulon once said there is a tribe who refer to westerners as "the white demon") because we are something incomprehenseable to them.

So I thought, if they fear modern society for its advancement, how would we today see a transhuman? Someone who had decided to make themselves superior through implanting technology onto their bodies and replacing theri own flesh. The aim was to reflect and ask if we as a species could still ourselves with these enhancements or will we end up evolving into something different, perhapos something consdiered terrifying in our modern society.

This is a picture of contrasts, a mix of old and new which is what our own lifestyles are like. Some things cannot change while others are only a glimpse over the horizon. They could be small or they could be paradigm-shifting.

The subject in this picture has gone so far as to replace what he can - arms, legs, even his eyes. His clothes reflect his improved station, a product of his enhancement and becoming superior to other humans. Just as modern humans are seen as gods and demons in the Amazon, would we of today see a transhuman as something, well, inhuman.

Credit goes to , and for contributing to the conversation that I drew inspiration from.