Transhumanism, New Technologies and the Right of Physical Integrity

Abstract

Transhumanism presents multiple challenges to legal science. Some positions defined as transhumanist propose ends and means that could be questionable. This article discusses the topic of implants of new technologies in the human body, after briefly summarizing what transhumanism is and mentioning some of the possible inconveniences that it generates. In this regard, it is argued that producing modifications in the natural human capacities to take them to the limit of what is humanly possible or to include in the human being capacities that go beyond his species, except when they are carried out to recover the functionality that existed and has been lost or to have the same potentiality as any human being. The legal acts carried out in relation to these practices would be ineffective due to their object and, in some cases, due to their purpose if they violate human dignity. An object implanted in the body will be part of the body if its incorporation responds to a natural need and if it has a functional union with it. If it does not meet such conditions and, for example, has been implanted to grant superhuman abilities, it cannot be considered part of the body, but rather a thing, regardless of its possibility of being seized.