IEEE Future Directions
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Transhuman technologies I
Human augmentation is a continuous process that has accelerated in the last decade and that is foreseen to accelerate even further in the coming decades with seamless integration of technologies that increase human capabilities and with technologies that modify the genome.
Transhuman technologies can be clustered in various “target” areas:
- repairing
A newt can regenerate its limb in a few week. Would it be possible to activate a regeneration mechanism in humans too? Image credit: Medgadget A few species have the possibility to repair their body, like re-growing a limb (e.g. the newt). Researchers are identifying the genes that make this possible. Some of them are just dormant in our genome and might be reactivated. Others might be “implanted” in the future. A crucial aspect here is finding a balance between the possibility of re-growth and making sure uncontrolled growth does not happen (cancer). There ought to be a reason why evolution has suppressed the re-growth capabilities in most animals, particularly more complex ones, limiting it to small “repair” activities (like skin growth). Technology may provide the means to activate this capability only when needed and then deactivate it to avoid undesirable side effect. Notice that once perfected this might lead to the self replacement of organs once they start to degrade.
- lifestyle adjusting
Researchers are exploring several way to obtain drought resistant crops, both through genetic engineering and through accelerated natural selection (with supporters and opposers in both fields). Image credit: Genetic Literacy Project Training to keep fit is quite generalised, particularly in the last twenty years with people living an “unhealthy” lifestyle (sitting at a desk the whole day…) and becoming aware of the risk of a sedentary life. There are people, like mountain climbers, that undergo specific training to prepare for a tough activity, like climbing a Himalayan peak, others that have to train daily to be fit for their profession, like professional dancers. In the future lifestyle adjusting may become extreme, resulting in trans-human capabilities. Imagine embarking on a trip where food will be limited and not sufficiently varied to ensure health (this may also apply to astronauts on a long space voyage). Bacterial genomic modification may create symbiotic bacteria that, ingested, would become part of the person bacterial flora making digestion of certain food possible (like digesting cellulose). These changes can make possible different lifestyles that can enable life in areas where today it would be challenging. A severe climate change may require a lifestyle adjustment of many people. Notice that scientists have already “adjusted” the lifestyle of several plants to make them grow in areas that would normally not support those plants (like drier places or salty ground).
- augmenting
A prosthetic can replace a missing limb. It can also provide a better equilibrium than the one provided by the natural limb, de facto augmenting the capability of a person. So far they are being used to compensate a deficit but in the future they might be sought to augment human capabilities. Image credit: The Eldercare Channel center for advanced prosthetics Prosthetics are becoming more and more effective, a good news for people with acquired disability, like having had hand amputation. These prosthetics are trying to simulate as much as possible the real part they are substituting but are not limited by the constraints of the real part. A prosthetic hand in principle can be made with material that is much more resilient to heat, a cook may need to pay less attention to the heat of the stove, a mechanic can touch the engine with her prosthetic hand with no risk of burnt. Artificial limb may augment a person gait and speed, not suffering from fatigue, an artificial eye can see beyond the physical constrains of a real eye and might even connect directly to the cyberspace.
- boosting
UCLA neuroscientists have shown that deep brain stimulation can be effective in strengthening memory in humans. Credit: UCLA Modification to our body, to our senses and to the physiological process may boost our capabilities. Today we already have some drugs that can boost our capabilities (usually with undesirable side effects – doping is an example).
The big issue here is “side-effects”. The boosting of one capability may adversely affect other physiological processes resulting in an overall negative situation. Our “natural” capabilities are the result of a compromise reached in millions of years of evolution, any boosting is likely to disrupt this compromise. Some researchers are convinced that it will be possible to disrupt this compromise bringing our body to a new acceptable dynamical equilibrium.
Trials are underway to improve memory by electrical stimulation of certain brain areas. So far experiments have taken place (with positive results) on rats, by 2040 we might expect to have a number of technologies that will result in boosting our natural capabilities.
