no, Peter Thiel, we don't need your transhumanism

and why we need more of classical humanism

In a recent interview for Interesting Times, Peter Thiel was asked if he thought the human race should survive. His answer wasn’t a simple yes. Instead, he started with an “uh” and an “I don’t know,” before veering off into an argument that basically amounted to: nope, not in its current form. For humanity to survive, we need some level of transhumanism.

He framed this as an issue of stagnation and a big problem, but it’s not the first time we’ve heard tech billionaires make comments that border on sociopathy. Ulterior motives have always been presented as “solving problems,” and I think Thiel’s obsession with transhumanism fits right into that pattern.

Transhumanism, for context, is the idea that our future depends on using technology to overcome our biological limits and become “more than human.” Thiel actually wrote an essay back in 2011 called “The End of the Future,” where he argued that we’re stuck in a period of technological stagnation. According to him, things aren’t moving fast enough, and not because of technical roadblocks, but because of our cultural and political climate.

He claims (or at least pretends to) that bold ideas like radical life extension, space colonization, and engineering “better humans” have stalled, mostly because of suffocating regulations. For Thiel, going to Mars or making cyborgs is an ambitious political project, not just a technological one.

At the end of the day, stuff like wearable fitness trackers is just about optimizing health for the humans we are now. Thiel is arguing for something way more extreme, something so radical that it would literally change what it means to be human.

His solution?

“We want you to be able to change your heart and change your mind and change your whole body.”

But is this what people today even need, or what they’re asking for? In a world still ravaged by poverty and (very intentional) wars, such tech utopias should be our last priority.

Tech is definitely not the remedy here

Thiel’s position really shows just how disconnected the billionaire class has become from everyday reality. Actually, it’s more than just a disconnect, it is outright contempt for ordinary people and the struggles most of us face.

For tech titans, the answer to every problem is always some new “disruptive” hot tech — and always something they can own, patent, and sell.

But with each new tech intervention, we just end up more dependent on these new crutches, instead of being liberated. The real issue behind a “weak” or “stagnant” society isn’t the lack of tech solutions; it’s the erosion of the very things that make us human in the first place: agency, self-mastery, and community.

This whole techno-utopian project, for all its futuristic appeal, actually risks speeding up our slide from being free people to becoming passive consumers of whatever “solutions” corporations dream up.

Every “upgrade” just tightens our dependence, locking us in as lifetime customers of systems built by the same billionaire visionaries.

But the problem is also us

The truth is, we already live in a kind of velvet-cushioned servitude. Surrounded by convenience, we trade independence, initiative, and community for algorithmic ease and corporate comfort.

Honestly, we’re just as much to blame as those in power who try to impose their version of what it means to be human on us.

Another problem, along with comfort, is that we’ve become hyper-specialized in our careers. As a result, we’re often blind to anything beyond our narrow areas of expertise — and we let others shape the broader horizons of our world.

Even in ancient Greece, “free citizens” were given an education that made them well-rounded, both physically and intellectually. It was the slaves who were confined to specific tasks for life. Our work might not be slave-like anymore, but the underlying mental model is still pretty similar.

In that sense, I’d somewhat agree with Thiel that we are stagnant, but that stagnation has less to do with slowed-down tech progress, and more to do with us abandoning our humanity.

Reclaim humanity, instead of transcending it

The answer here isn’t to accept the idea that we need to be “fixed” by some external apparatus (especially not those served up by the tech lords).

I honestly can’t imagine anything more depressing than handing our destiny over to neural implants, longevity drugs, or AI partners, all of which would just make us more helpless and passive than ever, paradoxically.

How can a society so dependent on others to supply its “upgrades” ever hope to decide for itself what a better future actually looks like?

What we really need is a kind of Renaissance-style revival of the classical ideal: the idea of broadly competent, free citizens who can master a wide range of skills, think critically, and see through empty promises. That tradition actually equipped people to resist outside domination.

So, no, Mr. Thiel, we don’t need transhumanism. We need more humanity.