# Enhancement Is Not Exaltation: Identity, Rigidity, and the Tools That Refine Us

**Starts:** 2026-09-14T02:00:00.000Z
**Time zone:** America/Denver
**Chapter:** Provo
**Region:** North America

[Image: Steve Christiansen]

Every year we fight wildfires on the assumption that a forest is best served by preserving every tree. But policies built solely on preservation lead to dangerous accumulations of fuel, and when fire finally starts, it burns hot enough to stamp out life. Unfortunately, we often apply this same principle to ourselves. We protect habits, grudges, and versions of ourselves that stopped being alive years ago. Over time, we call whatever has accumulated our identity. Looking to the future, we hope for more lifespan, more memory, more processing, more capacity. All of these are tools, not targets. As we face the fastest rollout of technology in human history, what are we doing to look inward? Enhancement may add to who we are, but exaltation refines. This talk is about the necessity of destruction in the formation of a self, and about why the life that is coming will require metered doses of chaos.

Steven Christiansen holds a PhD in biochemistry from Brigham Young University and spent over a decade teaching chemistry and neurobiology in academia. He is Associate Director of Commercialization at the University of Utah Technology Licensing Office, where he leads technical and commercial diligence on therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, and emerging AI technologies. He served as Medical Strategy Director for the Utah Patient Coalition and delivered the keynote at the 2025 Psychedelic Society Conference. He is Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association.

**Tags:** identity, ethics, transhumanism experts, naturalism, technology, human potential, science, transhumanism, futurism