The Ship of Theseus is a popular thought experiment about whether or not a ship with all of its parts replaced will remain the same ship. This thought experiment can be used to think about the identity of things.
Based on this experiment, I'd like to tell you all about the aptly named "Tanuki's Ship". In our world, technology is increasingly becoming more and more of a part of our lives. Therefore, I do not think it is farfetched to believe that in the future, transhumanism will become a reality. But this poses the question: if we humans replace all of our biological parts with technological ones, will we even be humans?
Now, when it comes to identity, I believe that there are two different ways to define it: form, which is the essence of a thing; and matter, which is the substance of a thing. I think it goes without saying that if every part of a human would be replaced, our substance, or our composition -- that is, our matter, would indeed be changed; ergo, we would no longer be human in that sense.
However, it is more complicated when it comes to form. What are the essential properties that make humans what we are? If we were to use a more limited list, then many who might be called humans would cease to be considered humans; and if we were to use a more lenient list, then other species might be considered humans. If the very idea of essential properties being used to define humans is rejected, then, shall we consider transhumanism to simply be the next evolutionary stage? But if humans cease to have even a single biological component left, is this rightly considered human evolution?
Feel free to share your thoughts about this in the comment section below.
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What defines a human in my opinion is his mind and not his body. Just like a man that is missing an arm or a leg is still considered human, so is someone with a mechanical body as long as he still possesses his (human) mind. Of course if we go one step further and start augmenting ourselves with for example some BCI chips that make us far more intelligent that any human currently alive then I think it's fair for us to not be considered human anymore.
I don't think so. Evolution implies that a specie evolves over time without any sort of planning. In your scenario the changes that would happen to humans are deliberate so I think it would be more fair to call it human engineering or something along those lines.
Just my two cents.