Trans human: To advance the human race with technology with the aim to improve intellect, physical, and psychological capabilities.
Self directing evolution is already happening in the form of hip replacements and cochlea implants. This is taken much further in a quest to overcome ageing by genetic engineering.
In 2015, an embryo was genetically modified in a lab in China. Using a gene editing technique called Crispa Cas 9, they corrected a blood disorder by replacing parts of the DNA in the human egg. This literally enables us to change who we are.
With this DNA altering process, not only can we change eye and hair colour and how we look, but also increase the intelligence capacity. Designer babies could be born with advanced IQ.
This research is quite controversial, so it was quite a surprise when three parent IVF treatment was made lawful in the UK. This could lead to any number of donors being used.
Research is taking place to increase the amount of neurons in the brain using a cocktail of chemicals. This could be used to eliminate conditions such as dementia, Alzheimers, and Parkinsons disease.
The brain has around 10% of neurons. If you increased this to a level of around 35%, we could become a super-intelligent species with an IQ of 1000.
A serum that could augment the brain would make us appear like primates to the people of tomorrow. Nootropics are readily available as a suppliment to enhance memory and body function right now.
But there are tales from ancient times of much more powerful potions. The Chinese tell of the peaches of immortality, The Greeks had ambrosia, the Mesapotamians had salma. Could these have been a form of Nootropic?
Molecular chemistry is only part of the human upgrade:
- In 2015, In North Carolina, scientists developed nano molecular machines. A nano is one billionth of a metre to atomic scale. They measure only 244 atoms across. They are designed to deliver specialist medicine throughout the body via the bloodstream.
- In the future, man could be host to swarms of nano machines that could heal wounds and also warn of any medical threat. With all of these advances, it could be possible to slow down the ageing process or to even stop it altogether.
- Also in 2015, New York, a desktop 3D printer is combined with ink and bio materials of colegen and cultured cells to create living tissue and organs. This process is called bio fabrication. This has the potential to replicate a persons tissue and organs for replacement. This could become reletively inexpensive.
There are huge advances being made in prosthetics too. - 2014, in South Korea scientists unveiled research on synthetic skin to cover prosthetic limbs, to give the user the sensation of a natural limb. The skin has touch sensors embedded into a very fine matrix. The skin can be matched perfectly to an individual.
There are smart prosthetics that can be controlled by the brain. Already, people are having implants inserted into the brain or into the nervous system. An example would be, having 100 small electrodes inserted into the nervous system and linked up to a computer, rather like plugging into an electrical socket. It is then possible to control an artificial limb using brain signals. - DARPA is currently designing neurological implants to improve cognitive speed and memory retention in soldiers.
- As technology advances, it may be possible to control avatars remotely. It will be possible to send avatars on missions to the Moon and Mars without the need for a human to enter space.
- M.I.T are working on developing a skin for soldiers that would make them more resilient to ballistic and chemical attack. Even if damaged, the skin would have properties to self-repair.
- There are ancient accounts involving gods that had skin impervious to human weaponry. Hercules is mentioned as having impenetrable ‘lion skin’. Other characters are described as having impregnable armour. This could be the reason why ancient texts describe divine beings as invincible.
Could it be possible to download our brain power onto a computer?
Geneva 2013, a project was funded by the EU to create a working brain inside a computer. The idea was to download every neuron and connection to make a perfect replication and then download all of a human brains information to the computer brain.
In the USA, there was a project called the brain initiative: To have a collective knowledge crunched down into one collective concsiousness that could unlock all of a persons memories. We collect much more information than we are capable of retrieving. We are like living tape recorders. All of this information would become part of the collective knowledge. Just imagine if you had all of the memories of people like Einstein or Tesla.
We appear to be on the verge of creating a super intelligence, able to easily out perform humans. But are we then at risk of being replaced by machines altogether?
What lies ahead could be the merging of machines and man. If we could upload our consciousness onto a computer, it would in technical terms, be possible to live forever.
We can already control artificial limbs with neurological implants. What happens if those neural implants can take the true essence of what it means to be conscious and break that down into pure information that could live apart from a biological substrate? It could make itself far more powerful and intelligent than any human before.
New York in 1961, a paper was produced entitled; Drugs, Space and Cybernetics: Evolution to Space Travel.
It describes enhanced humans that can survive in extra terrestrial environments without the need for a space suit.
Our bodies are not suited for living in space. After only a few days, we suffer from muscle and bone density loss. The astronauts on the International Space Station have also been known to grow taller by a few inches.
Humans have an obsession with going into space. Is it some ancestral instinct? or maybe it is the unknown. Perhaps one day, the technological breakthroughs we are discovering will enable us to find a way to cope with the hostile conditions, when travelling large distances in space.