Anya Bernstein

John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences,
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

The international transhumanist movement believes that humans can harness science and technology to transcend their physical and mental limitations. Some of its practitioners support cryonics and the creation of robotic bodies for future “consciousness transfer.” Drawing from her ethnographic work among Russian transhumanists and her recent book—The Future of Immortality (Princeton University Press, 2019)—Anya Bernstein discusess the religious and philosophical roots of transhumanism in Russia dating back to the 19th century. She also explores the current debates within the movement over immortality and what it means to be human.

Lecture. Free and open to the public. Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.
Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.