Miriam Simun, "TRAINING TRANSHUMANISM: I WANT TO BECOME A CEPHALOPOD"

Abstract

Training Transhumanism (I WANT TO BECOME A CEPHALOPOD) a body of research
aimed towards developing an ecological, embodied and ethical approach towards directed human evolution. Using the cephalopod rather than the machine as the model for the future of the human, the work embraces the capacities residing in the biological human body and the pleasures rooted in bodily labors; explores the possibilities for mythological, embodied and indigenous knowledge for the project of innovation; posits the “model species” as a role model for a kind of humanity rather than only an instrument for science; and embraces training as a technology is rooted in practice, development of internal abilities, and equity in access.

The resulting program TRAINING TRANSHUMANISM is a psycho-physical training regimen
for evolving the future of the human, developed in collaboration with choreographer luciana
achugar. The regimen seeks to develop within the human new sensitivities and capacities for
a world marked by ever-increasing ecological and technological change, based on the model of
the cephalopod.