“I foresee something dreadful,”[1] Nietzsche wrote in his unpublished notes, setting a new goal for mankind: the goal of giving birth to the overman. “Man be cause to something that is no longer human.”[2]
To create the overman, man must overcome and evolve above and beyond himself[3]. It’s an evolution of the human race, not just a personal evolution as US mainstream culture and pop philosophers have us believe. A better, stronger, more powerful version of a man is still just a man, not an overman. “Not ‘mankind,’ but overman is the goal!”[4] The overman is more than a self-improved man who overcame some spiritual hardships: it is also a new biological type[5].
But what did Nietzsche know…
Today we have a clearer view—not on what the overman should be, but on what it will be, that is, a technological entity. Maybe a cybernetic organism. Maybe a non-biological superintelligence. In any case, not human.
That’s what man’s creating will will create: a supreme artificial intelligence—the last of all human artifacts, the omega of human creation, the creation that creates its own values beyond good and evil.
Whatever Nietzsche may have envisioned, the reality that best fits his description is the reality initiated by the advent of artificial intelligence. Nietzsche’s overman is coming!
The technological overman may not have the noble virtues and aristocratic spirit Nietzsche would have liked, but think about it: if it followed Nietzschean values, it would not be creating its own values based on its own experiences, which would run afoul of Nietzsche’s highest commandment: the transvaluation of all values.
Now, since the overman is a-coming, should we worry about it?
Enter singularity. Imagine a computer scientist uttering Nietzsche’s words, “I could not spare anything as I created the overman. All your evil and error, your falsehood and ignorance—it’s all in his seed.”[6] Think about that for a minute.
In any case, though, good or bad: if you’re fond of humankind, then yes, you may worry. But according to Zarathustra’s great plan to overpower nihilism, “man is something that shall be overcome.”[7] And it looks like we’re currently implementing this plan, through technological innovation driven by capitalism, our institutionalized will to power.
Am I being too cynical or is human self-genocide the ultimate answer to nihilism?
Original Quotes
All translations above are my own, below you find the German original:
[1] “Ich sehe etwas Furchtbares voraus.” (Nachlaß, November 1882-Februar 1883 4, #80)
[2] “Der Mensch sei Anlaß zu etwas, das nicht Mensch mehr ist.” (Nachlaß, November 1882-Februar 1883 4, #77)
[3] “Die Menschheit muß ihr Ziel über sich hinaus legen.” (Nachlaß, November 1882-Februar 1883 4, #180)
[4] “Nicht ‘Menschheit’, sondern Übermensch ist das Ziel!” (Nachlaß, Sommer-Herbst 1884 26, #232)
[5] Ethics must determine a physiological hierarchy—”Aufgabe der Ethik: die Werthunterschiede als physiologische Rangordnung von ‘höher’ und ‘nieder'” (Nachlaß, Frühjahr 1884 25, #411)—and the overman is a new type that requires breeding—”es ist nicht meine Frage, was den Menschen ablöst: sondern welche Art Mensch als höherwerthige gewählt, gewollt, gezüchtet werden soll…” (Nachlaß, November 1887-März 1888 11, #413)
[6] “Ich konnte nichts entbehren als ich den Übermenschen schuf. Alles euer Böses und Falsches, eure Lüge und eure Unwissenheit—alles ist in seinem Samen.” (Nachlaß, November 1882-Februar 1883 4, #77)
[7] “Der Mensch ist Etwas, das überwunden werden soll.” (Also sprach Zarathustra, Zarathustra’s Vorrede, #3)