What is the Purpose of Mormon Transhumanism?
The purpose of the Mormon Transhumanist Association is to promote the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation.
More than a tagline, that line is the Association’s constitutional reason for being, and everything we do grows out of it. So we start with the Affirmation itself, in full; the rest of this page is simply an invitation to read it closely.
The Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation
The Association’s constitution defines its purpose as promoting the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation. Like a compass, the Affirmation provides a fixed point of orientation, while leaving each member free to chart their own course of interpretation.
- We are disciples of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is to trust in, change toward, and fully immerse our bodies and minds in the role of Christ, to become compassionate creators as exemplified and invited by Jesus.
- We understand the Gospel to be compatible with and complementary to many religions and philosophies, particularly those that provoke strenuous pursuit of compassionate and creative exaltation.
- We seek the spiritual and physical exaltation of individuals and their anatomies, as well as communities and their environments, according to their wills, desires, and laws, to the extent they are not oppressive.
- We believe that scientific knowledge and technological power are among the means ordained of God to enable such exaltation, including realization of diverse prophetic visions of transfiguration, immortality, resurrection, renewal of this world, and the discovery and creation of worlds without end.
- We feel a duty to use science and technology according to wisdom and inspiration, to identify and prepare for risks and responsibilities associated with future advances, and to persuade others to do likewise.
- We practice our discipleship when we offer friendship, that all may be many in one; when we receive truth, let it come from whence it may; and when we send relief, consolation and healing, that raises each other together.
What It Means to Support the Affirmation
The constitution of the Mormon Transhumanist Association requires that all members support the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation. We understand, express, and practice this support in many ways. As explained in an official statement of the Association on 22 September 2018:
Support does not entail a specific interpretation of or perfect agreement with these statements. One member may interpret the statements differently than another. A member may not fully agree or even constructively disagree with parts of these statements, so long as that member supports the statements on the whole.
Accordingly, we express here one possible approach to understanding the Affirmation. We do not intend this expression to be prescriptive, but rather illustrative. Our goal is to help members, friends, and critics of the Association begin to understand Mormon Transhumanism. But full understanding must reflect the diversity of Mormon Transhumanists.
Understanding the Affirmation
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We are disciples of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is to trust in, change toward, and fully immerse our bodies and minds in the role of Christ, to become compassionate creators as exemplified and invited by Jesus.
The first paragraph of the Affirmation declares the Christian discipleship of Mormon Transhumanists and our commitment to becoming compassionate creators, both in fostering new life and in other forms of creativity. We profess our commitment to “the gospel,” a set of principles taught and exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth. The paragraph also alludes to the first principles and ordinances of the gospel identified in the Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: faith (“trust in”), repentance (“change toward”), baptism (“fully immerse our bodies”), and the gift of the Holy Ghost (“…and minds in the role of Christ”). The term “Christ” (Messiah in Hebrew) refers not only to Jesus, but to all individuals who have committed to follow these principles.
Jesus himself framed his gospel as an invitation to act—to do the works he exemplified, and to do them abundantly:
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
These invitations are the heart of the discipleship the Affirmation describes: not passive admiration of Christ, but active participation in his work.
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We understand the Gospel to be compatible with and complementary to many religions and philosophies, particularly those that provoke strenuous pursuit of compassionate and creative exaltation.
The second paragraph affirms our commitment to seeking and acknowledging truth from any and all sources, and to avoiding exclusionary practices. The gospel as outlined here is compatible with many religions and philosophies. Adherents of different religions, and even those who profess no religion, can join the Association if they agree to support these principles on the whole. This openness is not a dilution of the gospel but an expression of it: truth is truth, wherever it is found.
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We seek the spiritual and physical exaltation of individuals and their anatomies, as well as communities and their environments, according to their wills, desires, and laws, to the extent they are not oppressive.
The third paragraph describes our pursuit of the exaltation of all people in a manner that honors their agency. This objective is both spiritual and physical, as well as individual and collective: “individual” (mind) and “anatomy” (body) at the personal level correspond with “community” and “environment” at the collective level.
This is where agency enters the picture, and it sits close to the heart of both Mormonism and Transhumanism. For both, the freedom to choose is what gives the whole project its moral weight. Mormon scripture teaches that the war in heaven was fought over agency itself—that the rejected proposal was to compel salvation, and that God’s plan instead requires the freedom to choose, even at the cost of choosing wrongly (Moses 4:1–4; 2 Nephi 2). Without agency there is no virtue, no growth, and no genuine relationship. Transhumanism arrives at the same conclusion from a different direction: cognitive liberty, morphological freedom, and informed consent are foundational, because enhancement imposed without consent is not enhancement but coercion.
That everyone may act … according to the moral agency which I have given unto them, that everyone may be accountable…
The exaltation we seek is theosis—the process, taught throughout Mormonism and many older Christian traditions, by which human beings progressively become more like God. Theosis depends on consent at every step. Becoming as God is not a status that can be conferred by external power; it must be chosen, practiced, and integrated by the person becoming. This is why the Affirmation qualifies exaltation by “their wills, desires, and laws, to the extent they are not oppressive.” That qualifier matters. It sets aside any utopianism, religious or technological, that would work by compulsion. We don’t get to impose godhood on anyone, however good our intentions; something reached only by coercion wouldn’t be godhood at all. Theosis is necessarily communal and consensual—a project in which each person’s elevation depends on protecting, not overriding, the agency of every other.
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We believe that scientific knowledge and technological power are among the means ordained of God to enable such exaltation, including realization of diverse prophetic visions of transfiguration, immortality, resurrection, renewal of this world, and the discovery and creation of worlds without end.
The fourth paragraph expresses our embrace of scientific knowledge and technological power as essential tools for the pursuit of these goals. Note the wording carefully. These tools are “among the means ordained of God,” but they are not the only means. Other essential ingredients include Christlike compassion and service. Science and technology are not substitutes for grace, inspiration, or love; they are instruments through which compassionate creators may extend them.
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We feel a duty to use science and technology according to wisdom and inspiration, to identify and prepare for risks and responsibilities associated with future advances, and to persuade others to do likewise.
The fifth paragraph acknowledges our obligation to use science and technology with care, caution, and wisdom. Part of our responsibility is to warn others about risks and dangers resulting from irresponsible use of technology, and not merely to celebrate the potential benefits of ethical use. Mormon Transhumanism isn’t starry-eyed about technology. The same tools that can heal can harm, and the Affirmation asks us to take both possibilities seriously.
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We practice our discipleship when we offer friendship, that all may be many in one; when we receive truth, let it come from whence it may; and when we send relief, consolation and healing, that raises each other together.
Joseph Smith named friendship one of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism—designed "to revolutionize and civilize the world." In the Affirmation, friendship is not a pleasantry but a discipline: the practice by which many become one.
The sixth paragraph commits us to what Joseph Smith described as the “grand fundamental principles of Mormonism”: Truth, Friendship, and Relief. Joseph spoke directly to each of these principles.
On truth:
One of the grand fundamental principles of “Mormonism” is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.
On friendship:
Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of “Mormonism”; [it is designed] to revolutionize and civilize the world, and cause wars and contentions to cease and men to become friends and brothers.
On relief, Joseph charged the Relief Society in 1842 with a mission “not only to relieve the poor, but to save souls.” The Affirmation’s language—“send relief, consolation and healing, that raises each other together”—is a near-echo of that vision.
A person filled with the love of God is not content with blessing their family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.
We invite you to read the full text of the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation in its official context.
Questions for Discussion
- The MTA’s constitution defines a single purpose: to promote the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation. Why is it important—for stability and for clarity—that the Association has exactly one purpose?
- What does it mean to “support” the Affirmation while interpreting it differently than other members, or even constructively disagreeing with parts of it?
- What do the goals of Transhumanism and theosis/exaltation have in common?
- Why is individual agency so important in the pursuit of these goals? Why is it central to both Mormonism and Transhumanism?
- Why is it important to understand human exaltation in social, ecological, and collaborative terms—as a pursuit that involves not just individuals but families, communities, environments, nations, and even planets?
- What are risks and benefits of pursuing theosis as a deliberate, active endeavor?
- Why is it important to recognize and receive truth in and from any and all sources?
- Which parts of the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation resonate with you?
Advance to Primer 3