Imagine a
person who can play tennis like Andy Murray, think like Professor
Stephen Hawking and can live to 150 - all in a body that looks and feels
like it belongs to a 40-year-old.
With human bioenhancements, this vision of a ‘superhuman’ could become a reality in fewer than a hundred years.
This
is according to expert in the social and cultural impacts of
technology, Professor Michael Bess, who told MailOnline exactly how he
thinks technology will enhance humans in the future.
A powerful generation of 'X-Men'
With human
bioenhancements, a ‘superhuman’ could become a reality in fewer than a
hundred years, an expert has said. Pictured, Michael Fassbender as
Magneto in X-Men Apocalypse. MailOnline
Human bioenhancement technologies fall into three main categories pharmaceuticals, bioelectronics, and genetics.
We are already using all three to some extent.
‘Through
the use of pharmaceuticals, we are learning how to control our moods,
boost our physical and mental performance, increase our longevity and
vitality, Professor Bess said.
‘Through
the application of prostheses, implants, and other bioelectronic
devices, we are not only healing the blind and the paralyzed, but
beginning to reconfigure our bodies, enhance our memories, and generate
entirely new ways of interacting with machines.
‘Through
genetic interventions, we are not only neutralizing certain diseases
long thought incurable, but opening up the very real possibility of
taking evolution into our own hands – redesigning the human “platform”
of body and mind in a thoroughgoing way.’
Professor Bess is chancellor’s Professor of History at Vanderbilt University and author of the book ‘Make Way for the Super Humans’, an in-depth survey of the evolving science of bio-enhancement.
‘Many
people will probably adopt all three of these types of enhancement
technologies in order to boost their physical and mental capacities, and
they will do so to varying degrees and in all sorts of combinations,
leading to a bewilderingly broad array of “superhuman” beings.’
People will be able to connect seamlessly with all manner of computers and robotic machines, he said.
Those who are unable to pay for this kind of technology might have a stark disadvantage, however.
‘I am both excited and frightened at the prospect of such modified humans coming into being,’ Professor Bess said.
Cyborgs, people with both organic and biomechatronic body parts, already exist.
Some of the implants people put in their body have more of an enhancing effect than others.
‘There
are certainly a lot of people now who are getting implants of one type
or another,’ Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University
of Reading told MailOnline.
‘But in terms of anyone really enhancing their abilities, don't think too much has happened since my neural implant in 2002.’
Professor
Warwick is also referred to as ‘Captain Cyborg’ because fourteen years
ago a one hundred electrode array was surgically implanted into the
median nerve fibres of his left arm.
The chip in his arm allowed sensors to detect his presence and do things like turn on lights and open doors.
Other 'cyborgs' show arguably less plausible effects.
A
Spanish artist named Moon Ribas developed and implanted an online
seismic sensor in her elbow that allows her to ‘feel earthquakes’.
Every time an earthquake is registered online, her sensor vibrates.
She
displays this in a solo dance, during which she stands on a stage and
waits until a vibration occurs, then dances. She calls this performance
‘Waiting for Earthquakes’.
But
Professor Bess is convinced future enhancements will have a big effect
on human abilities, and not just cause a vibration in someone’s arm.
‘Over the coming decades, the sophistication and potency of these technologies will increase dramatically,’ he said.
‘By
the year 2100, some humans will probably have modified themselves in
truly radical ways that give them capabilities well beyond the high-end
range of today’s population.’
And he thinks this might be helpful, to make humans prepared for the event of a ‘robot uprising’.
‘If
what we mean by a robot “uprising” is the advent of machines endowed
with human-level intelligence, capable of taking initiative on their own
and making modifications to their own hardware and software, then I
believe we should be very alarmed indeed,’ Professor Bess said.
‘We
cannot yet know for sure whether such advanced machines can be created
in the first place, because we do not yet clearly understand how human
consciousness itself arises in the human body and brain and social
context.’
‘But
if a day comes when this technical problem is surmounted, I believe
such machines could pose a very grave danger to human society, because
they will probably be very difficult to control, and their behavior will
be very difficult to predict.’
‘Creating machines that are so powerful and hard to control strikes me as a very bad idea.’
Cyborg rats get an intelligence boost
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