Cybernetics
The crudest form of HyperHumanity -- i.e., making a human more than he was -- began before history, the first time a cripple used a crutch. Since then, artifical limbs have become considerably more refined, and specific tools and other devices (including recreational toys) of all sorts can be found appended to living creatures, both human and animal, sometimes blatantly visible, sometimes concealed internally, and sometimes disguised. In extreme iterances, certain individuals retain only small parts of their original brain tissue, which is maintained with various fluid reservoirs and encased in mechanisms of various shapes and sizes -- sometimes completely indistinguishable from their original biological bodies.
Genetic Engineering
Both the greatest and most distressing science is that of genetics: it strikes at the very core of who and what we are, and why we are so ... and whether we should be so. Once man learned to alter his basic form, he became more than he had been, but he also lost the foundation of his identity, the "human-ness" that distinguished him from every other living and non-living thing in existence. Our survival of this great technological stride forward stands as a testament to our flexibility and adaptability, and perhaps our determination.
The first introduction of genetic engineering served ostensibly to purify the Original Human Form from disease or defect. Soon it progressed to the enhancement of desirable qualities such as long life, high intelligence, and whatever physical appearance enjoys current fashionable acceptance.
Slowly, the sacred ground of the Original Human Form gave way. Inexpensive procedures to increase a baby's tendancy toward a strong back and thick arms found quick acceptance among the working classes; likewise, the patricians and the nobility were more than happy to assure themselves that their children would have the quick minds and aggressive personalities that helped to maintain family holdings. "BioDesign," the practice of creating a certain biological form to meet a particular need, firmly established itself as an indispensible technology.
A certain worship of the Original Human Form still exists in many human societies ... but there are now more kinds of "human" than can be counted, of every different size and shape and color and skin type and number of limbs. Some are winged, or have tails. Some breath water. Some breath gasses that would kill a "normal" man. Some have been engineered by aliens -- and even other humans! -- into exotic or revoltingly mutated forms, for whatever purpose. Where once there was Adam and Eve (more diversity than some would wish), there is now a galaxy-wide superspecies whose disparate members sometimes fail to recognize each other as relatives.