Bio-engineering's Child
The Pandora's box was opened awhile ago, and now we're getting closer and closer to seeing its effects:
<a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2079099/"; target="_blank">Building a Better You - How you'll become stronger, faster, smarter.</a>
By David Plotz
Sooner or later?and probably sooner?science will be able to make you a better you: or at least a stronger you, a faster you, a you with perfect eyesight, excellent hearing, and a remarkable memory. I'm not talking about a clone (though that's coming, too), but rather?to use the euphemism of choice for those who want to tinker?an "enhanced" you.
Enhancements will take various forms. In so-called "germline" therapies, scientists will rewrite the genetic code of embryos. They will permanently change the DNA of the resulting children (and their children, and so on) by giving them genes to make them taller or healthier or smarter. (The president of Advanced Cell Technologies says his company is "close to being able to add 20 or 30 IQ points [to embryos], and an equivalent boost of their muscle mass.") So-called "somatic" gene therapies will allow adults to change their DNA temporarily. Other enhancements will make us into cyborgs, fusing our flesh with extraordinary, microprocessed machines. And some enhancements will be fleeting chemical boosts, pharma cocktails that work magic, then wear off.
So how will the ethics arguments play out here? Gengineering will be outlawed? Cyborg enhancements outlawed as well? Pharmaceutical cocktails outlawed? Or will these companies buy out Congress and prevent deregulation? How will the moralists react?
My favorite vision of the future is the Ouster civilization from Dan Simmon's Hyperion books. These humans genetically engineered themselves to adapt to space: prehensile tails for zero-G, wings for low-G, super strength for high-G, and lots of other things within our imagination. I sort of can't wait to see the show minding that there are a lot of lions, tigers and bears out there...
<a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2079099/"; target="_blank">Building a Better You - How you'll become stronger, faster, smarter.</a>
By David Plotz
Sooner or later?and probably sooner?science will be able to make you a better you: or at least a stronger you, a faster you, a you with perfect eyesight, excellent hearing, and a remarkable memory. I'm not talking about a clone (though that's coming, too), but rather?to use the euphemism of choice for those who want to tinker?an "enhanced" you.
Enhancements will take various forms. In so-called "germline" therapies, scientists will rewrite the genetic code of embryos. They will permanently change the DNA of the resulting children (and their children, and so on) by giving them genes to make them taller or healthier or smarter. (The president of Advanced Cell Technologies says his company is "close to being able to add 20 or 30 IQ points [to embryos], and an equivalent boost of their muscle mass.") So-called "somatic" gene therapies will allow adults to change their DNA temporarily. Other enhancements will make us into cyborgs, fusing our flesh with extraordinary, microprocessed machines. And some enhancements will be fleeting chemical boosts, pharma cocktails that work magic, then wear off.
So how will the ethics arguments play out here? Gengineering will be outlawed? Cyborg enhancements outlawed as well? Pharmaceutical cocktails outlawed? Or will these companies buy out Congress and prevent deregulation? How will the moralists react?
My favorite vision of the future is the Ouster civilization from Dan Simmon's Hyperion books. These humans genetically engineered themselves to adapt to space: prehensile tails for zero-G, wings for low-G, super strength for high-G, and lots of other things within our imagination. I sort of can't wait to see the show minding that there are a lot of lions, tigers and bears out there...
Comments
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446361305/ref=lib_dp_TBCV/002-4600191-9981652?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=23#reader-link"; target="_blank">Queen of Angels back cover</a>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812524829/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/002-4600191-9981652?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader#reader-link"; target="_blank">Slant back cover</a>
[ 03-06-2003: Message edited by: BR ]</p>
something to the effect that our defects make use compassionate, empathetic people. perfect people were less inspired, and unkind.
who knows though.
<strong>i read some books a while back (fiction) on this topic as a look at the future. it was interesting.
something to the effect that our defects make use compassionate, empathetic people. perfect people were less inspired, and unkind.
who knows though.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Sounds like a mix between self-esteem and anti-Nazi propaganda.
g
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446361305/ref=lib_dp_TBCV/002-4600191-9981652?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=23#reader-link"; target="_blank">Queen of Angels back cover</a>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812524829/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/002-4600191-9981652?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader#reader-link"; target="_blank">Slant back cover</a>
Sorry guys...I thought I fixed that.
[ 03-07-2003: Message edited by: BR ]</p>
<a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2079371/"; target="_blank">I Spy With My Eagle Eye - The quest for super-vision.</a>
By David Plotz
... The eye is an obvious target for enhancement: Vision is our dominant sense, and the structure and function of the eye are relatively well-understood. From eyeglasses to contact lenses to cataract removal to laser surgery, there is a long history of tinkering with vision. And because so many people suffer from vision ailments (blindness, colorblindness, etc.), eye research is lavishly funded. Some of that research on damaged eyes may end up improving normal vision.
There are three ways this is likely to happen.
...
1) Laser-Perfected Vision
...
When people try his mirrors in the lab, Williams can cut their higher-order aberrations by a factor of 10 or 20, giving them sharper vision, especially night vision. At their best, Williams' mirrors can correct vision to 20/10, the limit of normal human sight. ... But adaptive optics will be most useful when it can be used to correct vision permanently outside the lab. ... His technique is fairly easily translated to surgery (and may also work for contact lenses). A laser surgeon can follow the map of errors revealed by the wavefront sensor, making minuscule, precise corrections on the corneal surface. No longer will laser surgery be limited to the big aberrations that surgeons can now eliminate: It could erase every error in the eye.
...
2) The Cyborg Eye
...
Rather than repair or implant eyes, they mount a camera on the head of the patient or build it into a pair of glasses. This camera transmits a picture to electrodes that have been implanted in the brain's visual center or to the optic nerve. William Dobelle, a New York scientist, has just installed the first successful brain implant. He put electrodes?about 100 of them, according to a Wired reporter who witnessed the experiment?in a man who'd been blind for 20 years, then hooked the electrodes up to a signal processor and a camera. The blind man was able to see?very crudely, to be sure, but enough to walk around unguided. Dobelle's implants suffer from the same shortcoming as retinal implants: With only 100-odd electrodes, they deliver a fuzzy facsimile of normal sight.
...
3) The Rainbow Eye
...
The most audacious supereye would improve us by altering our own genes. ... Many animals, including birds and fish, have four cones, not three. The fourth cone is usually receptive to ultraviolet light, meaning these animals see a whole range of light that we cannot.
...
Neitz and his wife, Maureen Neitz, who is a professor of ophthalmology at MCW, are working with a species of monkey that has only two kinds of cones. The Neitzes have created a virus containing a gene for a photopigment that the monkeys do not have, and they'll inject this virus into their eyes. If some of the cones absorb the viral DNA, the monkeys should become receptive to light of different wavelengths?the light that the new photopigment senses. The monkeys would then have three kinds of cones. If their brains are able to process the new information, the monkeys might leap from dichromatic vision to trichromatic vision.
If this experiment succeeds in monkeys?and assuming progress in human gene therapy, thus far mostly a failure?the Neitzes will try a similar technique on colorblind humans, attempting to give them a third, functioning cone. If that proves successful, the Neitzes hypothesize, you ought to be able to give people with normal sight a fourth cone, equipping us "tetrachromatic" vision.
...
Wow! Lots of downsides to be traumatized over I'm sure, but it's amazing. Long term, bad eyes can maybe gengineered out of the population - at least among the rich - almost like smallpox was almost wiped out. Near term, I'm a candidate for laser eye surgery, but I haven't convinced myself yet. I'm still comfortable with wearing glasses or contacts, so I'm waiting for the techniques to improve. It's good to hear they are in the process.
Tetrachromatic vision? The brain is hardwired to interpret visual signals a certain way. What the heck is going to happen when new signals start appearing? Who knows. But at birth, it could be quite interesting. Wonder if it'll be possible to gengineer rods and cones to be receptive to infrared.
There has been actual human experiment on a cyborg eye. Wow. I did not know that.
[quote]Originally posted by BR:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812524829/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/002-4600191-9981652?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader#reader-link"; target="_blank">Slant front cover</a><hr></blockquote>
Having to horizontal scroll is a UI fiasco!
[ 03-07-2003: Message edited by: THT ]</p>
<a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2079406/"; target="_blank">The Zero-Minute Workout - Cheat your way to a great body!</a>
By David Plotz:
There's no great demand for most potential human enhancements. Only a few daredevils, for example, would risk surgery to upgrade their vision from normal to extraordinary. But when it comes to sports?higher, faster, stronger?no such restraint exists. Athletes, enticed by fat contracts, Olympic medals, and fan adulation, will accept almost any health risk to steal an advantage. And eventually, some of their cheats will cross over to a mass audience. Steroids and nutritional supplements?certified by home-run records and 350-pound offensive linemen?have already found their way to every major high-school sports program in the United States.
But current sports enhancements don't appeal broadly, for two reasons. First, they take too much work: ... And second, they're dangerous.
...
For 9-to-5 supermen and superwomen who want the free lunch?stronger without effort, faster without danger?here's what the future may offer.
1) Bodybuilding for Couch Potatoes
...
Both MGF and IGF-1 encourage muscles to grow. (IGF-1 seems to activate protein synthesis necessary for new muscle cells.) Scientists have created mighty mice using both compounds. When Goldspink injected a gene for MGF into mouse muscles, he recorded a 20 percent increase in muscle mass in two weeks and a 25 percent increase in muscle strength?without the mouse hitting the weight room and without apparent side effects. Similar tests have been done on mice using IGF-1. They, too, became supermice, though it took longer.
...
Goldspink hopes MGF will be used therapeutically within five years. Athletes are already experimenting with IGF-1, which is widely sold on the Internet (mostly by companies that seem less than concerned about its safety). ...
2) Running Forever
...
Endurance depends on oxygen uptake and delivery. If you don't get enough oxygen to muscles, lactic acid production spikes, and you weaken and tire. ... Oxygen is carried by hemoglobin, the chief component of red blood cells. So, generally, more red blood cells means better wind.
...
Eventually, scientists and trainers cottoned on to EPO, a natural compound whose function is stimulating the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells.
...
The first is to engineer a gene for EPO that enables the body to increase its own EPO supply. ... The EPO gene can be attached to a small bit of DNA called a plasmid, which would be injected into the muscle. Many muscle cells would absorb the new gene and start pumping out extra EPO. To prevent the EPO from running wild?from stimulating so many red cells that the blood thickened?the gene would have an on-off switch that would be activated only when the patient took a particular drug.
...
A second potential endurance enhancement is fake blood. ... A more radical idea is exploiting compounds called perfluorochemicals, which are related to Teflon. PFCs can absorb enormous amounts of oxygen?50 times as much as normal blood, in some cases. Several companies are testing PFC-emulsion blood substitutes. Rumors circulated about PFC use at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, according to Wadler. Long-distance cyclists have also been accused of doping themselves with PFCs.
Hehe, one of my science fiction story ruminations are uber-fighter pilots who have to use a lot of these techniques just to be able to fly next-gen fighter aircraft. They'd have super oxygenated blood, heart-assist pumps (see Debakey heart pump), and reinforced vascular systems in order to dogfight in the 10 to 20 G range. Nuts, but the military would be crazy not to consider it for their soldiers, pilots, and other sorts.
And as we have seen in Afghanistan, they already are.
i read some books a while back (fiction) on this topic as a look at the future. it was interesting.
something to the effect that our defects make use compassionate, empathetic people. perfect people were less inspired, and unkind.
who knows though.</strong>
Yes, who knows. But a lot of this sort of unknown stuff, especially behavior and sociological effects, can be seen in yesterday's and today's trends. The indicators are there, just subtle or not observed.
First, don't let yourself get into a false dilemma or a strawman situation. In your comment, perfection is a subjective definition, and the assertion from it is further dubious because of it. So maybe the books were trying to be alarmist.
Second, the subtle hints are there. Humanity has had thousands of years of technological improvement, and not much has changed in our sociological makeup.
And the situations like this have occured before: test tube babies, athletic profiling, designer children, drug cocktails, cyborg enhancements. They have just been slow and steady in coming so society accepts them without brouhaha. The two big things seems to be cloning and stem cells.
Currently I am stacking NO2 with some CellTech. Now this stuff works!
[ 03-13-2003: Message edited by: trailmaster308 ]</p>