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Alchemy and Transmutation -- Changing and Creating Things and People
Many scientists are eagerly exploring how people can be transmutated into some superior form of humanity through the convergence of nano-bio-info-cogno technologies. The hope is not only to improve humanity but to more firmly control human evolution in order to create bodies and brains that are more durable, easier to repair and more resistant to disease, stress and aging. By merging biology and electronics, bioartificial replacement parts for the lungs, pancreas, kidneys and limbs can be created. Artificial muscles can be made out of electroactive polymers. Biogerontology will result in the reversal of aging -- "engineered negligible senescence." We seem to be moving with surprising speed toward what Ray Kurzweil calls "Human Body Version 2.0" -- the new re-engineered human that will eliminate or overcome "the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to."
(Via PAG E-News.)
4 comments:
How terribly noble and exciting it all sounds. And so far away from reality checks.
Let's try some baby steps first, like having health insurance for a family of four be less than about $10,000 a year.
Carol,
I sympathize with -- and respect -- your pragmatism. But your logic is a bit too much like the shopworn "Why explore space when there are problems on Earth to resolve"? argument endlessly employed by politicians and other self-appointed philanthropists.
I think "baby steps" can only occur within the context of an overarching agenda or existential context. Should we reinvent health insurance? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean transhumanism has to go. In fact, I'd argue that each would actually benefit then other.
Who gets the advantages of body upgrades is at the heart of the financial issue. If we can't even get clean drinking water or basic health care to everyone, how do we decide who gets expensive technological fixes in the future? Who will the gatekeepers be, how will they be funded, and how will they ration the care they are empowered to hand out?
End-of-life care is already one of the biggest financial strains on our health system. Will the values of those who are not comfortable with the rhythms of life and death throw even more money at prolonging the inevitable?
The Robogod Jove wears whatever he wants to wear.
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