The Threat of Transhumanism, AI, and the New Digital Technologies

What to read on these ominous news developments:

The age of AI is now upon us. While it promises much good, and has delivered some useful benefits already, it is not an unmixed blessing. It of course has its downsides as well, and if great care is not taken, it can easily cause as much harm as good. Depending on where you stand on all this, it may well even cause much MORE harm.

Authors and filmmakers who have specialised in science fiction and futurism have long surmised how things will pan out here. Much of what is written and shown is very scary indeed, and if even just a fraction of it is more or less accurate, it is quite concerning indeed.

And it is not just the “Terminator” series – and films like them – that should get us to seek to slow down a bit and think these developments through more carefully. Simply looking at how this might impact on things like jobs, relationships, human creativity, and a host of other matters really does bear careful attention.

That I have sought to do over the recent past. A few years ago I had to start a new section on this site on “Transhumanism and AI”. It now has nearly 60 articles, with many more that are certain to be included in the days ahead: https://billmuehlenberg.com/category/transhumanism/

Given that this brave new world is all rather recent and developing at breakneck speed, it is not surprising that plenty of new volumes keep pouring forth from the presses seeking to keep up with all this. Many books of course are fully supportive of it.

I tend to be in the camp that is worried about where all this is heading. And many authors and books share my concerns. As an indication of just how fast all this is moving, consider the fact that this is my third reading list on this in three and a half years.

Back in early 2023 I posted my first bibliography featuring 22 books: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2023/02/27/top-22-books-on-transhumanism-ai-and-the-new-technologies/    

Then in early 2025 I presented 40 books on these matters: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/01/17/what-to-read-on-ai-transhumanism-and-the-new-digital-technologies/

And now, in mid-2026 I have 63 books that I can recommend. They are penned by all sorts of folks: some are Christian authors and some are quite secular authors. But most have various misgivings or concerns as to what our future – near and far – might end up looking like.  

Here then are 59 volumes, followed by four other books that present various views:

Alegre, Susie, Human Rights, Robot Wrongs: A Manifesto for Humanity in the Age of AI. Atlantic Books, 2024.

Allen, Joe, Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity. War Room Books, 2023.

Barrat, James, The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything. St. Martin’s Press, 2025.

Barrat, James, Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era. Quercus, 2013, 2023.

Bender, Emily and Alex Hanna, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. Bodley Head, 2025.

Bilek, Jennifer, Transsexual, Transgender, Transhuman. Spinifex, 2024.

Bostrom, Nick, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford University Press, 2014, 2017.

Brooks, Ed and Pete Nicholas, Virtually Human: Flourishing in a Digital World. IVP, 2015.

Bryant, John, Beyond Human? Science and the Changing Face of Humanity. Lion, 2013.

Carr, Nicholas, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart. Norton, 2025.

Detweiler, Craig, iGods: How Technology Shapes Our Spiritual and Social Lives. Brazos, 2013.

Driscoll, Stephen, Made in Our Image: God, Artificial Intelligence and You. Matthias Media, 2024.

Dyer, John, From the Garden to the City: The Place of Technology in the Story of God, rev. ed. Kregel, 2011, 2022.

Ellul, Jacques, The Technological Society. Alfred A. Knopf, 1964.

Fesko, John, The Christian and Technology. Evangelical Press, 2020.

Gawdat, Mo, Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World. Bluebird, 2021, 2022.

Gay, Craig, Modern Technology and the Human Future: A Christian Appraisal. IVP, 2018.

Godde, Sandra, Reaching for Immortality: Can Science Cheat Death? A Christian Response to Transhumanism. Wipf & Stock, 2022.

Goeman, Peter, Artificial Intelligence and the Christian. Sojourner Press, 2024.

Groothuis, Douglas, The Soul in Cyberspace. Baker, 1997.

Hanna, Alex and Emily M. Bender, The AI Con: How To Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. Penguin, 2025.

Herrick, James, Visions of Technological Transcendence: Human Enhancement and the Rhetoric of the Future. Parlor Press, 2017.

Herzfeld, Noreen, The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age. Augsburg/Fortress Press, 2023.

Herzfeld, Noreen, In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit. Augsburg/Fortress Press, 2020.

Kingsnorth, Paul, Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity. Thesis, 2025.

Lennox, John, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity. Zondervan, 2020.

Lennox, John, 2084 and the AI Revolution: How Artificial Intelligence Informs Our Future, Updated and Expanded Edition. Zondervan, 2024.

Lennox, John, God, AI and the End of History: Understanding the Book of Revelation in an Age of Intelligent Machines. SPCK, 2025.

Lewis, C. S., The Abolition of Man. Macmillan, 1947, 1976.

McCracken, Brett and Ivan Mesa, eds., Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age. Crossway, 2025.

Maggiori, Emmanuel, Smart Until It’s Dumb: Why Artificial Intelligence Keeps Making Epic Mistakes (and Why the AI Bubble will Burst). Applied Maths Ltd, 2023.

Marks, Robert, Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will. Discovery Institute, 2022.

Miller, Julie, Critiquing Transhumanism: The Human Cost of Pursuing Techno-Utopia. Public Philosophy Press, 2022.

O’Callaghan, Sean and Paul Hoffman, AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep: Leading and Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Baker, 2025.

Peckham, Jeremy, Masters or Slaves? AI and the Future of Humanity. IVP, 2021.

Postman, Neil, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Vintage, 1993.

Rana, Fazale with Kenneth Samples, Humans 2.0: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives on Transhumanism. Reasons to Believe, 2019.

Reinke, Tony, God, Technology and the Christian Life. Crossway, 2022.

Richards, Jay, The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines. Crown Forum, 2018.

Rose Michael, The Art of Being Human: What “Old Books” Can Tell Us (And Warn Us) About Living in the 21st Century. Angelico, 2022.

Rosen, Christine, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. W. W. Norton, 2024.

Rubin, Charles, Eclipse of Man: Human Extinction and the Meaning of Progress. Encounter Books, 2014.

Russell, Stuart, Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control. Penguin, 2019, 2023.

Schultze, Quentin, Habits of the High-Tech Heart, rev. ed. Integration, 2002, 2024.

Schuuman, Derek, Shaping a Digital World: Faith, Culture and Computer Technology. IVP, 2013.

Scott, Dan, Faith in an Age of AI: Christianity Through the Looking Glass of Artificial Intelligence. Eleison, 2023.

Shatzer, Jacob, Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today’s Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship. IVP, 2019.

Song, Felicia Wu, Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age. IVP, 2021.

Spencer, Nick and Hannah Waite, Playing God: Science, Religion and the Future of Humanity. SPCK, 2024.

Suleyman, Mustafa, The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future. Vintage, 2023.

Tegmark, Max, Life 3.0. Penguin, 2017, 2018.

Thacker, Jason, The Age of AI. Zondervan, 2020.

Thacker, Jason, Following Jesus in a Digital Age. B&H, 2022.

Torba, Andrew, Reclaiming Reality. 2025.

Trepp, Simon Christian, Servants of the Machine: AI and the Abdication of Human Responsibility. Quaternity, 2026.

Wiley, C. R., Manmade: Saint Anthony’s Guide to Surviving the AI Apocalypse. Canon Press, 2026.

Wood, Patrick, The Evil Twins of Technocracy and Transhumanism. Coherent Pub., 2022.

Wright, John, Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth. Wisecraft, 2019.

Yudkowsky, Eliezer and Nate Soares, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All. Brodley Head, 2025.

Various views

Cole-Turner, Ronald, ed., Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement. Georgetown University Press, 2011.

Peters, Ted, ed., AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction. ATF Press, 2019.

Thacker, Jason, ed., The Digital Public Square: Christian Ethics in a Technological Society. B&H, 2023.

Wyatt, John and Stephen Williams, eds., The Robot Will See You Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith. SPCK, 2021.

Please note that a number of these volumes I have either written reviews of or at least quoted from in past articles.

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