posthumanism n.

the idea that humanity can be transformed, transcended, or eliminated either by technological advances or the evolutionary process; artistic, scientific, or philosophical practice which reflects this belief; cf. posthuman n.

  • 1971 I. Hassan POSTmodernISM in New Literary History 3 25 page image

    From infrahumanism to posthumanism, beyond man and into the cosmos. Sci-fi. To love life and to love man are no longer the same.

  • 1985 B. Sterling Schismatrix 229 Bruce Sterling

    Really? Posthumanism! Prigoginic levels of complexity! Fractal scales, bedrock of space-time, precontinuum ur-space! Have I got it right?

  • 2003 R. Letson Reviews by Russell Letson in Locus Apr. 25/3

    I know this is not really news, but I keep being reminded that we have another Golden Age of Space Opera on our hands. I suspect part of what makes it golden is the way the edges of the old wide-screen space adventure have blurred off into oddly contiguous or harmonious subgenres: the humanism of Jack McDevitt and Nancy Kress; the post-humanism of Greg Egan, Wil McCarthy, Linda Nagata, Karl Schroeder, or John C. Wright; and a whole range of wild and exotic high tech to keep us pocket-protector types happy.

  • 2005 C. Stross Accelerando iii. 108 Charles Stross bibliography

    This is the elitist side of the posthumanism shtick, potentially as threatening to her post-enlightenment ideas as the divine right of kings.


Research requirements

antedating 1985

Earliest cite

B. Sterling 'Schismatrix'

Research History
Douglas Winston submitted a 1985 cite from Bruce Sterling's "Schismatrix". Jeff Prucher submitted a 2003 cite from a review by Russell Letson.

We would like cites of any date from other sources.

Last modified 2021-11-06 14:15:40
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.