We’re asking each of the participants in The World Transformed to give us their thoughts on one major coming transformation. Here are Sonia Arrison’s thoughts on human upgrading and enhancement
Why should we be concerned about this transformation?
The ability to enhance and augment humans will affect all of us, even
those who choose not to make any enhancements. There are numerous
ethical, practical, and political issues that will crop up as
human-enhancing technologies hit the marketplace.
What should we be doing as individuals?
We should educate ourselves on the potential ways that technology
might change the way humanity lives. It is important to have some
idea of what is coming up next so that we aren’t surprised and we can
take advantage of new ideas, either from a business perspective or a
personal perspective.
What should we be doing at a societal level?
Learning at the individual level should translate into a conversation
at the societal level. Any technology can be used for both good and
bad, and everyone in society has an interest in making sure that the
good uses far outnumber the bad. We should also be looking at how to
speed up the development of new technologies that will make us
healthier, such as tissue engineering and gene therapy. The world is
getting older, and the sooner we can find ways to allow older people
to be healthier longer, the better.