Abstract

Big History and transhumanism are two complementary ways of approaching the origin, evolution, and future of the Universe and humankind. Underlying the assumptions of most big histories and transhumanisms is a philosophical position called “scientific materialism”.This materialism results predominantly in the rejection of any purely mental substance in the philosophy of mind, ontology, and natural sciences that both discourses build upon. Our essay explores how advancing neutral monism in its positing of an alternative fundamental stuff holds new promise of understanding and progress for the big history and transhumanist projects.