You're not good enough!

Human evolution is now being engineered. Choose to enhance yourself or face inferiority.

In the next few years, your child will come home from school in tears. He'll say, once again, that he is unable to compete with the children who are brighter, better behaved and physically more capable than he is because their parents have bought them technological enhancements and you have not. What will you do?

You could say, "That's all right dear, we don't care what other parents do with their children's minds and bodies, we love you just the way you are."

Or:

You could remortgage the house, again, to try to allow your child to keep up with the human enhancements that ever so rapidly are coming onto the market.

Or:

You could try to get the enhanced kids thrown out of your school, widening the chasms that already will be separating "enhanced" humans from the "naturals" who could adopt such enhancements but, for aesthetic or political reasons, choose to abstain, like today's vegetarians or fundamentalists.

What you and your children can't do is ignore the enhancement products that are already realigning our concept of what it means to be human.

We are at a turning point in history. For millenniums our technologies — fire, clothes, agriculture, cities, space travel — have been aimed outward at modifying our environment. Now, for the first time, our technologies are increasingly aimed inward — at altering our minds, memories, metabolisms, personalities and progeny.

Five companies in the U.S. alone are competing to bring memory pills to market. No wonder. They could be a bigger commercial blockbuster than Viagra. They promise not only to ban the senior moments of the baby boomers but to revolutionize education of the young. Think of what it will do to language acquisition alone. Some analysts believe that it could increase our kids' SAT scores by 200 points or more.


These GRIN technologies, in short, mean that every power of our comic-book superheroes from the 1930s and '40s either exists or is now in active development. A technique called "gene doping," for example, produces such muscle strength in rodents that some University of Pennsylvania researchers flatly doubt we'll ever have an Olympics again that does not involve genetically altered humans. The 2004 Athens Olympics may have been the last one


Already we see people living much longer, healthier lives than in the past. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health think that the first human to robustly live 150 years is already alive today. What will it mean to marriage and parenting — not to mention Social Security — if this curve of increased vigor continues?

The measure of success in the "prevail" scenario that I hope for would not be how many transistors we can get to talk to each other. That way merely leads to the other two scenarios, in which our future is technologically determined and we are just along for the ride. Rather, "prevailing" in the midst of such radical evolution would be measured by the richness, depth, variety and ease of the most important connections — the ones among unpredictably clever humans like ourselves.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday...nday-commentary

tell me if Yes you would enhance yourself in someway or not, and why...

It could be anything such as improvements to your mental ability, your body, face and whatever else ! ...

When this enhancement becomes 'common' Will you be one of those left behind?

I would prefer to be a "natural", but if the rest of the population are stronger, faster, healthier and smarter, the "naturals" would be seen as inferior beings.

left behind? WTF?

no way, Ide stay as a real human,natural. besides if evolution is real, why not wait for it in order to prove it is?

Humans IMO are fine the way we are.

Yeah there is no way i'd program my kid.
I can;t even program my VCR lol

Wouldnt you agree that humans are not great at doing everything and things can be improved upon? What about our future in space for example. Wouldn't it be better to enhance certain aspects to cope with living and working in space and on other planets? Don't you think its quite inevitible that we have to do some sort of engineering to ourselves in order to explore the universe? humans right now are not as capable outside our planet. Do you plan on living on earth forever?


Have you seen a white blood cell try to kill an pathogen? They are extremely slow. What about having billions of artificial cells that would kill pathogens in 5 seconds rather than one hour? You and your children never become ill again. Is that so bad?

What about using Artificial red blood cells called Respirocytes With these you could sit at the bottom of a swimming pool for 4 HOURS. you could sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath. http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Respirocytes.html


Just because these enhancements will come about it doesnt mean that you will no longer be human. you will still be 'you' but much healthier and fit and stronger and intelligent. You will still look human regardless of whats going on in your body.

and what of when things go wrong?

one thing humans have done very well at is finding new ways to change or "enhance" things without fully understanding the long term impacts of such changes.

do you want to be one of those told "we are sorry mr. X, but the blood enhancers seem to have had a negative impact on your heart. if we do not find a transplant you will die".

sorry, i still trust nature over man.

We do have clinical trials...

We are also slow but definitly moving past a time where we transplant organs. Stem cell research is moving ahead rapidly and progress is great. Results are really promising in animal models and early human tests. Embryonic stem cells in animal models show more benifits and they will with humans too probably.

Transplant a new heart? By the time these sort of nano artificial red blood cells come about heart disease will not likely be one of the biggest killer. Organs will be rejuvenated by injecting stem cells - Like I said, we are already seeing promising results!

There are mulitple technologies that will suport each other and it all seems to coming into place. Genetic engineering is not advancing as fast as expected but recently there has been major advances in the safety of of genetic engineering recently - Researchers pioneer new gene therapy technique using natural repair process Human gene correction heres the pdf


you have to see how mulitple technologies are coming together and not look at it from one perspective.

and let me ask you whoa:

do you think any drugs come to market without testing? of course not, yet there are errors that result in problems.

do you think it is impressive that a deep diver can hold his breath for multiple minutes? would you think it still impressive if you could do the same by popping a pill? down the road, it would render accomplisment meaningless because the effect of the drug would always be in question (aside from those that never use it).

compare these new drugs to the use of steroids in sport today and you will get my point.

there is also the entire phychological issue to deal with.

have you ever heard the phrase "it is not how much time you have, but what you do with it"? have you considered the population ramifications of extended life? we are already depleating our soils from overfarming. how do you think we will feed an increased population? or do you support world-wide birth control? once we begin to go the artificial route, we will have to implement external controls to balance out the effects. are you ready for life in a fascist state?

I have two pairs of visual enhancement devices in the drawers.

Would having braces be an enhancment or glasses?

do I think humans need any enhancements? no

besides even if someone did this, would they really be perfect? no, enhanced,but not perfect.

I'm sure we can find other means of safe space travel without turning everyone into superman!

turning all of humanity into immortal demi-gods isnt a good idea, crime rate would go WAY up! wars would be much more brutal! etc...

You are sure? Then how do we do it? because the majority of people in these fields are relying on future technology to enhance humans. It's the only possible way. But you have a better idea right? tell me.

Why would crime rate go way up?

Wars are already brutal but less people die usually these days. Now war is changing to a more strategic precise information war. Where you dont just drop 100 bombs over a populated area but you target certain infrastructure.

War is already extreme. Giving humans a few enahcements wont make much difference when we have fighter jets, atomic bombs, warships and soon very capabible robots.

I wouldn't like to take any of those enhancements. Changing your appearance and personality just seems wrong, like you're not staying true to yourself and pretending to be someone else. Plus, everybody would want pretty much the same qualities so we'd be like a race of robots, all thinking and acting the same way. I much prefer the diversity of our times.
However if the 'ability' type enhancements became widespread and were proven to cause no long term damage, then heck I'd take them. Why not?

Who said anything about changing your appearance?

I want to really enhance myself but in no way do I want to alter my appearance as a human...

HMMMMMM
I'm sure I saw that in there first time I read it but I can't find anything now. Oh well I'm glad it's not in there with a load of darn idiots getting their faces fixed and turned into pretty boys I'd have even more trouble finding a lady friend

Nature will always have the upper hand. Inspite of advances in bio-technology, nutrition, health care, etc. those who live longest, are usually those with good "longevity" genes. So if your grandfather and your father lived to be 90, you have an excellent chance of making it to that age, or maybe even older. The same often happens with musically gifted children. Experts now believe musical talent might be up to 80% hereditary. Do you think genetic modification can turn an average person into a musical prodigy? I seriously doubt it.
If we want healthier, stronger, more intelligent children we oughta start cultivating better lifestyle habits, not only in children, but in adults as well. Doing away with junk food, beer and sleep deprivation would be a good start. Encouraging creativity rather than "procedures" in schools would be another idea.

The only advancement i'd want would be to live longer, say twice as long as the oldest human today.

One thing I never say is how long I want to live.

I will decide when I want to die when the time comes. At a certain point I might feel like I dont want to live anymore but that time shouldnt be decided now. I look forward to the choice of an open ended life span. If I feel great mentally and physically then there would probably be no reason for me to die.

There is so much to discover in the universe. Maybe living forever requires you to have some curiosity about the universe and life. I wanto to find out so many un answered questions. One life time isnt enough to do it.

I have lots of interest in how technology will develop, how space colonizations happen and when, be able to walk on other planets etc... Even just explore earth! which would take a long time!

This probably can't all happen in 60 years when I'll be 80.

There is so much to discover

This remides me of either The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone. I'll stick to being natural thank you.

And the beginnings of the super race of humans that will rule as all becomes evident, it wont be long now! lol!

i wud like to be normal, but stayin at the botom of a pool for 4 hrs wud be good n cool it wud decrease drowning

You want to turn man into plastic, an artificial form to be 'better' because we 'aren't good enough'. If that was so why are we at the top of the food chain? What exactly would the world benefit from destroying it's true nature into artificial form. If you want artificial, go buy yourself a robot, they're available now, but they will never be what we are.

Human intelligence is what sets us apart from all other species now or that has ever lived, artifical alterations of intelligence or form lose some of the true meaning of who we really are.

You will be assimilated...You will be Borg!

I like 'Natural' . . there shouldn't be no need to change.

Where does the article say that? Where do I say that? -- I don't

It's not about changing into some cyborg or something. It's about optimizing ones abilities or slightly enhancing them through things like Genetic Engineering and safe enhancing drugs. You still are 'you' but capable of a lot more. The world is competitive and like I've said before, you hold back and you will be at the bottom.



Your asking how the world would benifit from kids and adults being smarter and more able to be succesful in school and university and have better careers

Your asking how we would benifit from being more healthier and more fit?

I really shouldn't have to explain these things because they are pretty obvious.



Yeah right, we'll see about that



But there is a need. At some point in the future humans will travel further into space and into envirionment that are not so easy to live in. To enhance our strength and mind would be a great benifit in space exploration. Also adding simple little devices that would monitor our health and administer medicine when needed. Humans are the not the best to work in space and has many dangers. At some point in the future genetic engineering and artificial enhancements will help.

In terms of looking human, there is no reason why we should actually change what we look like. But we do have mechanisms that are flawed and that could use fixing up or enhancing. More future enhancements could be billions of Nanobots that help maintain optimal health, Heal wounds in a matter of seconds, Prevent diseases/Illness and aging, (think how big space is - you need time and it's no good if we have human crews dying because of their limits), to be able to survive large doses of radiation in space and much more. All could be possible by enhancing humans.


You are not going to have the same lives your grandparents or parents had. Things are moving extremely quickly and there are going to be radical changes. Many trends show this. At the rate of change we are going through we will see 20,000 years of technological progress at todays rate of progress in the 21st century. we will see as much progress in the next 20 years as the whole of the 20th century.

People are after perfection, The world is competitive. You just have to look at the world around you. If these enhancements are safe, they will be used. Once their buddies see improvements the word spreads and they get it done and so on.

Unfortunately, I do fear you are right. This isn't just about a little plastic surgery for enhancement, or taking Gingko to help your memory or concentration, it's about building super-humans. Such things have consequences.

I am going to rant now…………

Keep taking taking taking from mother nature, she’s going bite us all in the ass if we continue, in fact she already is. Why is it that humans are the only animals so stupid enough to think that they can manipulate and rape mother nature and her laws? And think they can get away with it? And humans are arrogant enough to believe they are above animals, what a joke, I do not see lions or monkeys ripping holes in the Ozone layer, I do not see penguins going to war over black crap that is pumped out of the ground and risking total destruction, I do not see the armadillo killing other armadillos in the name of some attention seeking, egotistical god.

As for the super perfect human, humans are so self obsessed and greedy. What is wrong with being a human, I think all our natural "imperfections" are what makes us great, I would not want some fake child or unnatural robot as a kid, our emotions are what makes us human, god/goddess made us what we are, to abuse the laws of mother nature are to abuse the laws of god in my opinion, you start doing that and you start inviting all sorts of trouble.

This might sound a rather harsh thing to say about ones own species, but if you think about it human beings are like a cancer, or bacteria, they spread and multiply causing destruction and damage as they grow. I wish humans would realise that nature can not be beaten, because nature will always find a way of surviving, even if that means being harsh and attacking the very thing that is leaching of her with selfish greed.

Humans are like vampires to mother nature in a sense, always looking to see what they can take from her just to strengthen them selves for there own better, if you take from mother earth you have to give back something that most people like world governments never do, and unfortunately humans have been and will pay for it, and it will get worse unless we realise that we have everything we need, mother nature provide us with all we need to live here and to achieve what it is we are here to do, but somewhere along the line we have started to try and become better than what we are by default, this super human thing is a big mistake, its as if we have started looking down on the way god/goddess made us and on gods creations, and are trying to become like gods our self, and think that we have power over nature/god, rather than the reality that it has power over us, and always will do.

I will leave you with a great quote from Gandhi’s

"The world has enough for each mans need, but not for his greed" - Mahatma Gandhi

And another….

"We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think." - Buddha (563?-483? BC),"

If you're a believer in evolution, then I would say this is the next phase of human evolution. During the first phase, humans evolved by natural selection (survival of the fittest). During the next phase, humans actually actively participate in the process and massively accelerate it. The same rules would apply, although instead of humans evolving over millions of years, it would be over hundreds of years. Genetic engineering by humans is nothing new, anyway, at least on animals. The domestication of animals by selective breeding has been going on for at least thousands of years, but this is of course much different thang tweaking genes in the lab.

I agree that is a great cause for concern - the possibility of being able to fundamentally change the development of a human being by tweaking genes or gene expression is very alarming. Suppose that a a change is made to a gene that causes very high intelligence, but that the activation of another gene is required to insure mental stability. In the case of highly intelligent people, those genes may always occur together, but if just one was changed you could end up with a very intelligent monster. This is just the tip of the iceberg - what about changes that could lead to long term health problems that wouldn't show up until 20 years later, or susceptibility to certain diseases or disorders? After you've modified thousands of people, what do you do when you find out their life expectancy turns out to be 35 years? And on and on...

And then there's the whole question of social stability. I mean look at us now - there's racial and ethnic tensions erupting into wars all over the world right now - there was the massacre of the Hutus by the Tutsis in which over 800,000 people were killed in an interval of 100 days (in 1994). Then there's the Israelis and the Palestinians, and there was an attack and reprisal attack between a group of Hindus and Muslims in India, and then the war between the Croats and the Serbs, and so on. The tensions between ethnic and racial groups around the world continues to revolve around incidents of discrimination, violence, oppression and exclusion. And then there is the next layer of division between the rich and the poor, the well-off and the impoverished. Can we afford to drive even more divisions between groups of people?

The whole question of tinkering with the development of human beings is a real powderkeg, and the two points above are just one of many that need to be addressed.

This is most definantly not 'the next phase of evolution'. Evolution is supposed to be a nutural occurance, without aid from any outside interferance or 'intelligent design'. And this is an artifical form of the very 'intelligent design' you don't believe in.

What you're trying to do, quite frankly, is play God, and when that happens, evolution dosn't even come into it.

If you believe in Evolution then you can look at it this way.

"The evolution of life forms required billions of years for the first steps (e.g., primitive cells); later on progress accelerated. During the Cambrian explosion, major paradigm shifts took only tens of millions of years. Later on, Humanoids developed over a period of millions of years, and Homo sapiens over a period of only hundreds of thousands of years."


This is showing that each process took less time. From here we humans might use technology to enhance themselves and thus continuing evolution by genetic engineering, Nanotechnologies, robotics etc...

To see 'hints' that this will happen you have to look at the world around you. Athletes wanting to be faster, stronger and more fit, business people want better minds, in the U.S alone the anti aging therapy markey is worth $30 BILLION. A lot of kids would like to do better in school and if some kids are enhancing themselves then why should you do it so you can keep up.

It's about getting intimate with technology and it is happening, especially with gadgets like pda's, mobiles etc.. We use technologies today as extensions of the mind. Google is an example of this. Just imagine the implications of having access to any information in the world and you can do it just by 'thinking' then you have a 'contact lense' that displays the information to you. These contact lenses also give you augmented virtual reality and full immersion virtual reality.

You could walk into the city and the name of the buildings will appear hover over them for example.

It's clear that we are getting more attached and closer to technology. Our technology is already moving into our bodies, Hundreds of thousands or maybe millions have had operations for implants to cure illnesses artificial organs and limbs.

If you have some sort of imagination you can see where all this is going. You may agree with it or not but that doesn't mean it won't effect you at somepoint. What happens when all or most of your friends are enhanced in so many ways and you can't do the same activities anymore because of human limits.

This is so broad in its implications that it takes some to to think of even a fraction of the implications.

It may not happen, but this scenario is a possibility and it doesn't have to be a bad one.

i belive that the only way 2 pursue perfection is competition(the will to win and give it all)
i belive the only reason we have weapons of mass destruction is because countries wage war, wich is in a way a competition, since 1 part wins, and weapons of mass destruction mkaes them better at war!

any touhts on this?

Nature is a mother - don't mess with her...

Exactly. We've mismanaged the planet yet we're going to create *superior* beings? I smell an oxymoron...