Posthuman
| Missing image Evoskulls.gif This article forms part of the seriesHuman Evolution |
| Ardipithecus |
| Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
| Orrorin tugenensis |
| Australopithecines |
| Australopithecus afarensis |
| Australopithecus africanus |
| Australopithecus anamensis |
| Australopithecus garhi |
| Paranthropus |
| Paranthropus boisei |
| Paranthropus robustus |
| Paranthropus aethiopicus |
| Homo |
| Homo habilis |
| Homo erectus |
| Homo ergaster |
| Homo antecessor |
| Homo heidelbergensis |
| Homo sapiens idaltu |
| Homo cepranensis |
| Homo rhodesiensis |
| Homo rudolfensis |
| Homo georgicus |
| Homo floresiensis |
| Homo neanderthalensis |
| Homo sapiens |
A posthuman is a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards. "Posthuman" does not denote just anything that happens to come after the human era, nor does it have anything to do with the "posthumous". In particular, it does not imply that there are no humans anymore.
Posthumans could be artificial intelligences, or they could be uploaded consciousnesses, or they could be the result of making many smaller but cumulatively profound augmentations to a biological human. The latter alternative would probably require either the redesign of the human organism using advanced nanotechnology or its radical enhancement using some combination of technologies such as genetic engineering, psychopharmacology, anti-aging therapies, neural interfaces, advanced information management tools, memory enhancing drugs, wearable computer, and cognitive techniques.
Homo excelsior (Latin for "higher man") is a term used in transhumanism for the posthuman. The use of the Latin binomial implies the transhumanist idea of participant evolution as a hypothetical human progression through an intermediary form of the transhuman to the new species different from Homo sapiens.
A posthumanist, on the other hand, is simply someone who advocates posthumanism.
"Posthuman" is also a song by the band Marilyn Manson, found on their 1998 glam rock release, Mechanical Animals. It is said by some to be inspired by the concept of posthuman described above.