Blue h+ logo symbol of transhumanism inside a circle

Transhumanism

1990subcultureclassic

Published October 3, 2026

Transhumanism is a futurist movement focused on using technology, biotech, and computing to push human physical and mental limits past their biological ceiling. Rooted in Nietzsche's 19th century Übermensch concept and shaped by Julian Huxley and philosopher Max More, it grew into a loose online subculture that treats mind uploading, cryonics, and genetic engineering as serious goals.

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Overview

Online transhumanism covers a bundle of ideas, cryonics, radical life extension, cybernetic implants, uploaded consciousness, AI alignment, and genetic engineering, all tied together by the belief that biology is a problem to be engineered around1. Supporters often shorten the label to H+ and treat milestones like the September 1990 ADA gene therapy trial as early proof the project is working5.

The subculture pulls heavily from science fiction and overlaps with rationalist, biohacker, and futurist communities on the open web3. Rather than a single meme format, transhumanism is a shared vocabulary, Übermensch, singularity, substrate independence, that circulates through essays, YouTube lectures, and forum debates8.

Origin & Background

Platform
Print philosophy (origin) / early web (viral spread)
Creator
Max More; term coined by Julian Huxley
Date
1990

The word "transhuman" traces back to Friedrich Nietzsche's 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra and its Übermensch, a figure who throws off slave morality to chase personal growth and self-overcoming2. Biologist Julian Huxley later used the exact word "transhumanism" in his 1927 book Religion Without Revelation, framing it as humanity remaining human but transcending itself through new possibilities1.

The modern movement was defined in 1990, when philosopher Max More published the essay "Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy," which most sources treat as the foundation of contemporary transhumanist thought3. The original piece laid out principles like perpetual progress, self-transformation, and rational thinking4. That same year the first gene therapy trial was run on a four-year-old girl with ADA deficiency, and the first web page went live, giving the movement both a technical touchstone and a place to gather6.

How It Spread

Through the 1990s and 2000s the movement found a home on mailing lists, Extropian forums, and personal sites, including Max More's own maxmore.com, which hosted the original 1990 essay4. Writers like Nick Bostrom later documented the lineage in academic histories that are still the standard references for the movement's intellectual roots2.

As YouTube matured, long-form explainers, debates, and sci-fi infused lectures turned into a main vehicle for new audiences, with videos covering everything from basic definitions to critiques of the ideology10. The topic also seeped into adjacent subcultures like AI safety, longevity biohacking, and crypto futurism, where ideas like mind uploading are treated as engineering targets rather than thought experiments7.

By the 2020s, transhumanism was still a reliable background topic on tech Twitter, Substack, and philosophy YouTube, and showed up in Urban Dictionary entries that both celebrate and mock it, including gag definitions and the "Esoteric Transhumanism" spinoff9.

Timeline

1883

Friedrich Nietzsche publishes Thus Spoke Zarathustra, introducing the Übermensch concept that would inspire the "transhuman" label.

1927

Julian Huxley uses the word "transhumanism" in Religion Without Revelation.

1990-09-14

The first human gene therapy trial is performed on a four-year-old girl with ADA deficiency, a milestone later claimed by transhumanists.

1990

Max More publishes "Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy," treated as the basis of modern transhumanist thought.

1990

The first web page goes live, giving transhumanists infrastructure for later online gathering and debate.

2005

Max More's original transhumanism essay is captured by the Internet Archive, preserving the foundational text.

2020

Esoteric Transhumanism (Esoh+) is logged on Urban Dictionary, showing the subculture branching into spiritual variants.

How to Use This Meme

Transhumanism is used less as a template and more as an identity tag. People typically self-describe as transhumanist or H+ on bios, drop the Übermensch reference in debates about AI and longevity, or build memes around mind uploading, cryo pods, and brain-chip jokes7. Esoteric offshoots like Esoh+ (Esoteric Transhumanism) mix the core tech-enhancement pitch with spiritual or divinial framing9.

Frequently Asked Questions