Peruvian author Dr Vajk Miklós Lukacs de Pereny’s 2023 book is being published by the Budapest-based think tank Center for Fundamental Rights in Hungarian. To celebrate the occasion, a book launch event was held at the Lónyay–Hatvany-villa in the famous Castle District of Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday, 21 January.
The title of the publication merits some discussion on its own. Its original Spanish title is Neo entes: Tecnología y cambio antropológico en el siglo 21, which, with artistic licence, was translated to A gép, ami a bölcsőt ringatja for its Hungarian edition. In English, its Hungarian name translates to The Machine That Rocks the Cradle. The content, evidently, is the same important description and analysis of the transhumanist movement in the 21st century.
Strategic Director at the Center for Fundamental Rights István Kovács was the first to address those gathered at the event. He stated that while the event’s guest of honour is from Peru, ‘we are fighting the same fight on both sides of the Ocean’. He then recalled that when he first met Mr Lukacs de Pereny, he described himself as ‘the Jordan Peterson of Latin America’. While Mr Kovács said he was impressed by the boldness of such a claim, Mr Lukacs de Pereny actually denied he ever claimed that about himself at the first chance he got the mic. According to his explanation, he had used Peterson as a reference point to broadly illustrate the type of intellectual work he engages in within the Latin American context.
In his opening remarks, Mr Kovács talked about the main topic of the book, transhumanism and transgenderism. He stated that while there is an actual war ongoing to the east of Hungary in Ukraine, there is a different type of war, a cultural one, in the West, and transgenderism is at the centre of it. According to the speaker, it is a particularly subversive ideology, given that it undermines the very foundations of one’s identity. He added that if the man–woman binary is destroyed, then the essence of the Christian creation story is destroyed as well. Meanwhile, he described transhumanism as a new Tower of Babel, with man trying to get to the level of God and create anew.
A panel discussion took place next, with the author of the book, Vajk Miklós Lukacs de Pereny, and Gergely Böszörményi-Nagy, founder of the futurism festival Brain Bar. Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Fundamental Rights Jorge González-Gallarza served as the moderator.
Mr Lukacs de Pereny started by sharing that while he was born and raised in Peru, his father was Hungarian—his connection to the country was likely evident to all based on his name. He then explained that he originally never intended to make sociology—and more narrowly, transhumanism—the focus of his professional career. Instead, he got his PhD in science and technology. However, a colleague of his at the business school once forwarded him an email. In it, he saw a snippet of attendees at the World Economic Forum (which, coincidentally, was taking place at the time of the book launch event as well) talking about transhumanism. Mr Lukacs de Pereny recalled that they were speaking about ‘the fusion of the biological, technological, and digital sphere’. The speaker described this as a ‘Eureka moment’ when he knew he had to dedicate his time to fight against this new ominous ideology.
The speaker expressed his concern about transhumanism gradually becoming global public policy, and no longer just an ‘ivory tower discussion’, as he put it.
Mr Böszörményi-Nagy started by speaking about his festival Brain Bar, which he described as a ‘renaissance platform’ where people from all walks of life can come to discuss their ideas in an ‘ideologically agnostic’ environment. On the topic of transhumanism, he noted that he is not as concerned as his fellow panellist is. Rather, he sees this movement as ‘funny’ and ‘interesting’, rather than dangerous. The speaker also shared the desire to build the ‘perfect machine’ goes way back in human history, and was discussed by men as early as the Medieval times.
He also opined that fusing humans with machines is a ‘hard sell’ that is unlikely to achieve mass appeal. On that note, he pointed out that even transgenderism had already hit its peak in the United States a couple of years ago, and now increasingly fewer teenagers are identifying as trans.
Mr Lukacs de Pereny also pointed to the growing everyday use of artificial intelligence. He warned that its most immediate risk is the public becoming overly reliant on algorithms when making decisions.
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