# Three Spiritual Exemplars for Religious Transhumanists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsZKysZKEzU *Recorded: 2012* Roger Hansen examines the lives and ideas of three early twentieth-century thinkers—John A. Widtsoe, Alfred North Whitehead, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin—whose work offers valuable insights for religious transhumanists. Drawing on their shared beliefs in evolutionary progress, the interconnectedness of life, and the compatibility of science and religion, Hansen argues that these "spiritual exemplars" provide a theological foundation for eternal progression and the ongoing technological revolution. He suggests that Widtsoe's commitment to reconciling LDS theology with science, Whitehead's process philosophy, and Teilhard's vision of humanity evolving toward an "Omega Point" all resonate deeply with Mormon transhumanist aspirations. ## Transcript WEBVTT 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:58.320 While they’re setting up, I’ll introduce Roger. He has his graduate degrees from USU in civil engineering and environmental engineering and an undergraduate degree in history. from Brigham Young University and worked for 30 years as a water resource planner. And his blog is titled Tired Road Warrior, which he says explains a lot about his current emotional state. So his His talk is entitled Three Spiritual Exemplars for Religious Transhumanists. I’ll turn the pony over to him. Thank you, Roger. 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:46.900 I’d like to divulge all my prejudices up front, I guess. Anyway, as mentioned, I’m a resource planner with the federal government at the moment. Since I’m 65, I guess I could call it quits at any time, so I’m never sure about my status on a day-to-day basis. I’m one of the board members of Engineers Without Borders. Spend a great deal of my time in Uganda, which gives me a different perspective on life. And then I’m a sort of a halfway member of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. I sort of like hanging around with kids. I’m not sure I totally believe everything they’re kicking at, but it’s been very fun for me. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:02:45.200 This presentation will explore the lives and spiritual contributions of three of early 20th century’s most innovative minds: John A. Woodstow, Alfred North Whitehead. Pierre Théard de Chardin. I spent two and a half years in France, and I still can’t pronounce his name. One was a chemist, one was a mathematician, philosopher, and one was a paleontologist. One was an American born in Norway, one an Englishman who died in America, and one a Frenchman who lived much of his life in France. One was an LDS general authority, one was a religious non-joiner, and one a Jesuit priest. They were all contemporaries, and each was religious in his own way, but each had to invent his own belief system, as we all do. They all became important philosophers and theologians. whose ideas and writings should be important to transhumanists in general and to Mormon transhumanists in particular. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:03:34.500 The following general ideas can be gleaned gleaned from the three. All life forms are interconnected, providing important amplification for the doctrine of eternal progression. And two, God and man are eternally developing, and this progression is very much an evolutionary process. And three, man and the earth are progressing toward a God-inspired unity, thus providing a context for transhumanists and for the ongoing technological revolution. For all three men, we learned that science and religion are compatible. With all three, there is a God in the picture. However, with Alfred North Whitehead and Pierre Théard de Chardin, God is not anthropomorphic. Whitehead also had serious problems with the Catholic and Protestant ideas of God’s omnipotence. 00:03:35.980 --> 00:04:19.900 John A. Whitstow, who lived from 1872 to 1952, was born in Norway and migrated with his mother to Utah, grew up in the Mormon faith, and studied chemistry at Harvard and the University of Gottingen in Germany. He understood that one mission of the LDS Church was to conquer the desert, make it blossom like a rose, in terms of processes based on scientific study. His commitment to this conquest was, in the words of the LDS Church Press, ardent and appropriate. As a reward for his commitment to science and religion, he was given an important leadership position. Including university president and was a member of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve. But for me, his most important contribution was as a respected interpreter of science to the LDS community. 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:31.140 According to Widstow’s biographer, He always saw science and religion as Confederates. Both sought the truth. Both were sacred to him, and the abuse of either was an annoyance. 00:04:31.240 --> 00:05:02.620 The marriage of science and religious leader was not always easy. For example, Apostle Widstow felt that the Nahua flood, one where the whole earth was covered, was not scientifically viable. Despite his concerns, the church is still embroiled in this discussion today. He was also unwittingly caught in the middle of a debate on evolution. He believed in a limited evolution, one which didn’t include common dissent. Since Winstow was a good friend of Joseph Fielding Smith, a strong anti-evolution proponent, he had to walk carefully. 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:25.380 Winstow died in 1952. I was seven years old at the time, too young to understand the significance of the event. LDS apostles and evolutionists P. H. Roberts and James C. Talmadge died in 1933 within two months of each other. They both had a restraining effect on the Mormon biblical literalists, a role that Wisdow continued to fill until his death. 00:05:25.700 --> 00:06:11.300 Joseph Fielding Smith waited until after Wistow’s death. Until Wisdom had passed away before publishing his superficial anti-evolution book, Man, His Origin and Destiny, a publication that greatly displeased then LDS Church President David O’McKay. Researcher Duane E. Jeffery noted, the work marked a milestone. For the first time, Mormonism had a book that was antagonistic to much of science. Witzo’s death allowed for Mormons to shift away from science and rationality and toward more biblical literalism as it relates to the Old Testament. For me, this is an unfortunate event and one that continues. to some degree to this day. Luckily, many contemporary scientists at BYU are willing to carry on Winstow’s battle. 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:46.759 Since Widstow’s death in 1952, there have been significant advances in the field of organic evolution. DNA and universal code research, for example, comparative anatomy and physical anthropology have Had great growth and also paleo paleontological discoveries, particularly in Africa, have been important. Because of his dedication to science, I feel strongly that Widstow, if he were alive today, would have a high comfort level with the entire theory of evolution, including common descent. Of course, this is my own. Speculation. 00:06:47.080 --> 00:07:01.520 For me, it is also insightful to speculate on where the LDS Church might be today if Joseph Fielding Smith had died in 1952 instead of John A. Widstow. I suspect the General’s membership would have a much higher regard for science and other truths. 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:30.979 Apostle Wisdow is a great example of being both a highly spiritual believer and a respected scientist. He had a lifelong love for scientific progress. His interest in evolution was driven by his great respect for Joseph Smith and the doctrine of eternal progression. He viewed this as an example of how science and Mormon theology were in lockstep. To quote Wistow, Latter-day Saints are the foremost evolutionists in the world. We believe that the immortal spirit of man may eternally approach the likeness of God. 00:07:32.280 --> 00:08:20.060 Alfred North Whitehead, he lived from 1861 to 1947, was an English mathematician philosopher who wrote on the foundations of mathematics, the philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, logic, and education. He co-authored the appointed Principia Mathematica with Bertrand Russell. Whitehead had a lifelong interest in philosophy and theology. His family was firmly committed to the Church of England. His father and uncles were vicars. While his brother became the Bishop of Madras, prior to World War I, he considered himself an agnostic. Later, he returned to religion without formally joining any church. Perhaps influenced by his wife, Whitehead, leaned toward Roman Catholicism. 00:08:20.379 --> 00:08:37.280 In 1924, he was invited to teach philosophy at Harvard University. This was a discipline that fascinated Whitehead, but that he had never taught previously. The Whiteheads spent the rest of their lives in the United States, with Alfred retiring from teaching in the 1937. 00:08:37.599 --> 00:08:57.940 In 1927, Whitehead was asked to give a series of prestigious lectures at the University of Edinburgh. These were the inspiration for his book Process and Reality, which formed the basis for the process theology philosophy movement and initiated studies into process theology. Whitehead’s book is famous for its defense of theism. 00:08:58.260 --> 00:09:31.180 His philosophy involved the universe undergoing constant flow and change. God, as a source of the universe, is viewed as growing and changing. In process theology, God supplies the fundamental value patterns for creative synthesis. Albert North Whitehead postulated that the ultimate role of God in the universe It is to create purpose or value in the temporal world. Whitehead declared that God is not being, but becoming. Instead, becoming is not only the main characteristic of the world as we experience it. but the fundamental nature of the entire universe, including God. 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:39.420 It should also be noted that in process theology we have absolute free will. God does not control the outcome of the creative process. 00:09:39.620 --> 00:10:02.579 For religious transhumanists and Mormon transhumanists in particular, Whitehead has further developed the idea and the context for eternal progression. If we learn nothing else from Whitehead, it should be that God, the earth, and mankind are in a constant state of flux, forever changing. Creation is not a static event, but very much a dynamic one. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:31.639 These latter writings have important things to say about man and his relationship to the earth. They highlight That everything on the earth is interconnected, especially woven into the ecological web of life. We need to come to grips with the fact that our power to damage that delicate web demands that we stop thinking about ourselves. and the world in terms of isolated atoms and self made men, and began thinking in terms of relationships and processes. 00:10:32.199 --> 00:11:07.040 I recently came upon references to the work of Pierre Desart. Théard de Chardin, a French philosopher who became a Jesuit priest at the age of eighteen, which is extremely important period for Mormon males. Théard studied geology, or yeah, geology, botany, zoology at the Sorbonne, and lectured in geology at the Catholic Institute of Paris, becoming an assistant professor. after being granted a science doctorate. He also trained as a paleontologist and took part in the discovery of the Peking man, but his real legacy is as a philosopher. 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:27.779 His best-known work, Phenomenon of Man, set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos. He abandoned traditional interpretations of the creation in the book of Genesis in favor of a less strict interpretation. In an effort to reconcile his Catholic beliefs with the truth of science, Thear developed a particularly noteworthy creation theory. 00:11:27.940 --> 00:12:04.600 In his posthumously published book, he suggested that the earth is evolving toward conscience. Those recentions, and that collectively we and our technologies are a part of that process. For Teard, as mankind organizes itself into increasingly complex social networks. The Earth will increase in awareness until it reaches the Omega Point, which he has saw as the apex of history. His idea of the Omega Point reveals his mystical understanding of history, progressing in a spiral fashion closer and closer to the final goal, union with God. He is today highly regarded as the patron saint of the Internet. 00:12:04.920 --> 00:12:12.259 Teyard gives transhumanists and MTA members a framework for our uber technological beliefs. 00:12:12.579 --> 00:12:37.980 Théard was a priest and a mystic, but he was also a scientist. To whom the concept of evolution held as much weight as Scripture, and in some cases more. Evolution is the basis for Teard’s entire cosmology, not as Darwinian evolution would have it, as a random product or the survival of the fittest, but as an evolution planned and guided by Divine agency. 00:12:38.300 --> 00:12:46.500 His universe is one of continuous interwoven evolutionary threads incorporating plants, animals. uh and the cosmos. 00:12:46.740 --> 00:13:06.580 Tejard believed in his Cath Catholicism as well as his right to disagree with the question and question that institution. His uh questions were not signs of simple rebellion, but rather evidence of Great minds trying to reconcile multiple realities. He spent his life trying to bring balance to the scales of science and religion. 00:13:06.900 --> 00:13:25.540 I should note also that the Catholic Church disavowed uh the the majority of his uh his concepts and uh he was uh essentially banished to China for uh much of his prof professional career and he was denied uh the possibilities of teaching in any Catholic schools. 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:47.920 The three giants briefly discussed in this presentation said light On the doctrines that Joseph Smith presented in his King Follett funeral discourse, all had similar views about a progressive human race. and its role in a continually evolving universe. All believed in an ongoing creation, all believed in God, although each had his own personal view of God’s nature. 00:13:47.560 --> 00:14:19.680 The literal role of God in the evolutionary process was more important to Widstow and Théard than it was to Whitehead. I suspect that if one were to discuss God as a manager of things on Earth, Widstow would be at one end of the spectrum and Whitehead on the other. With Teyard somewhere in the middle. But this should be of little concern. We all have our own personal beliefs in the nature of God’s interactions with mankind. We all have our own beliefs regarding the degree in which God is stirring the pot. One can certainly attribute the difference in metaphysical vision among the three to their contrasting personal backgrounds. 00:14:19.420 --> 00:14:42.000 Teyard was a Jesuit priest, anxious to reconcile his Christian faith with a theory of evolution. He was not a professional philosopher of science like Whitehead. who was consciously trying to break free of the material determinism characteristic of much of early modern natural science Whitehead is frequently remembered for his slogan, God acts by persuasion rather than coercion. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:52.459 Whitehead or Wistow, the scientist and LDS apostle, wanted to demonstrate the compatibilities between the teachings of Joseph Smith and those of modern science. including evolution. 00:14:52.699 --> 00:15:09.420 All were heavily influenced by the evolutionary trends of their time. All three argued for scientific concept that scientific concepts must often be rethought and reinterpreted. Excuse me, religious concepts must be must often be rethought and reinterpreted in light of scientific progress. 00:15:09.660 --> 00:15:22.699 All three love God. All three love science. They never saw any reason to abandon either one. Keep discussing