Posthuman - A Poem by Michael Blade

A little background first.  I wrote a poem back in 2010 that only represents one possible extreme, or glimpse, for a Posthuman.  A facet of human technological evolution traveling at the speed of light, as actual light among the stars.  This image doesn't exactly represent that vision, but rather inspires the poem.  Imagine instantiation in another state of being, body, or virtual medium, from star-to-star and all the implications of that!

Posthuman by Michael Blade © 2010

I am Human becoming
A Transhuman to be
My existence transforms itself through multiple substrates

I am flesh of evolved genetics
Technology cyborg robotic
Digital virtual and neural simulation
Networked information itself

Yet I retain sentience through all my transformations
I travel among the stars at the speed of light and now faster still
I am now immortal but not eternal
Not all powerful for I still make mistakes, always learning, always exploring

Time is only a measurement to me, I control my rate of consciousness
I allow myself to feel happiness, sorrow and compassion
Respect for my origins, my emotions, so human basic they are
But I have become so much more now, my mind merges with others like myself

On multiple levels of being we are
On the verge of becoming we are
Making love with thought . . . Posthuman I have become

-Special thanks to Donato Giancola for use of this © 1998 image.  You can visit his art website here.