The unstoppable development of human self-optimization and its social consequences

Despite all the reassuring explanations, a large part of the population panics as soon as possible future developments in human biology are discussed. People willingly follow advice from their mobile devices and willingly take any prescribed medication, but at the presentation of superior beings at a higher level of developmentRespond with rejection. Many simply wish to have already died before such changes occurred. This deep concern reflects the collective fear of our species of loss of meaning.

The fear of one’s irrelevance

Related people often admit that they are afraid of aging, especially the loss of their own meaning. They are afraid of developing into nostalgic old people who no longer understand the environment or can no longer contribute to the common good. This is the collective specter that appears at the idea of superior beings.We fear that our identity, our dreams and our fears will become completely meaningless in such a future world.

The loss of the usual identity

Regardless of whether you are a believer in traditional religions or act as an ambitious media worker, in a higher world everyone would feel like an early Stone Age ancestor on modern financial markets. You just wouldn’t belong anymore. The early ancestors didn’t have to worry about complex stock market indices, as they weregenerations of such developments were protected. Today, however, our entire world and its meaning could collapse within a few decades.

Deathly Death Security

One cannot rely on natural death to protect from losing one’s own relevance. Even if no superior beings wander through our streets in the distant future, trying to advance people to a higher level will change the world in this epoch beyond recognition. Scientific research and technical developments are taking placeAt a much higher pace than most people can understand. If you talk to experts, many will explain that you are still a long way from genetically modified offspring or artificial intelligence at the human level.

The distorted perception of periods

But most experts think in terms of time spans that only concern the granting of research funds or employment at a school. Very far away in this context can only mean a few decades, and never probably means no more than half a generation. Anyone who remembers the beginnings of the global data network recognizes the extent of thistechnological jump. At that time, young people in their living rooms connected to the mainframes of nearby universities via the telephone network.

The beginnings of global networking

After a long whistle and hum, the connection was finally established, but there was nothing on the mainframe at first. All sorts of things could be put away there, which sounded completely incomprehensible to the youth of the time and hardly promising. They went about their everyday leisure activities and smiled at this ridiculous idea in the weeks that followed. thatIt’s been a long time since, and who knows what will happen in a similarly short period of time in the future.

The economic consequences of prolonging life

This is exactly why more and more individuals, organizations, companies and governments take the pursuit of immortality, happiness and godlike skills seriously. Insurance companies, pension funds, health systems and finance ministries are already in considerable unrest because of the leachingly increasing life expectancy. People live much longerThan thought, and there is not enough money for your pensions and medical care. Now that old age is increasingly threatening to correspond to middle age, experts are calling for an increase in the retirement age.

The impossibility of standstill

When people realize how quickly we are speeding towards the big unknown, they react with the hope that someone will step on the brakes. But we can’t brake for superficial compelling reasons. First of all, nobody knows where the brake is. The experts are familiar with the developments in their special field, but no one is a specialist inall areas.

The complexity of technological interdependencies

No one is able to connect all the points and see the entire picture. Different areas affect each other in such a complex way that even the smartest minds cannot fathom the extent to which artificial intelligence breaks have an impact on nanotechnology. No one can make any recent scientific discoveriestake note, and no one has the slightest idea where we are moving at such a rapid pace. Because no one understands the system anymore, nobody can stop it.

The need for unlimited growth

If we succeed in any way to step on the brakes, our economy, including our society, will collapse. The modern economy needs continual and boundless growth to survive. If the growth ends, the economy will not make itself comfortable in any state of equilibrium, but will fall apart.Therefore, the market economy system encourages us to strive for immortality, happiness and divinity.

The limits of material consumption

We cannot wear unlimited shoes, drive unlimited vehicles and not go on holiday in the mountains indefinitely. An economy based on everlasting growth needs boundless projects like the pursuit of immortality and godlike abilities. If we now need boundless projects, why can’t we get lucky andSatisfy immortality and give up the scary search for superhuman powers? because the latter are indissoluble linked to the goals mentioned.

The creeping transition from healing to improving

If you develop bionic legs that can be used to walk paraplegics again, you can use the same technology to optimize healthy people. If you find out how to stop memory loss in the elderly, then the same treatment may also improve the memory of the younger ones. There is no healing between healing and improvingclear dividing line. Medicine initially sees its task as preventing people from falling under a certain norm.

The dual use of medical achievements

But the same tools and knowledge can also help to exceed this standard. A known sexual enhancer was initially used to treat blood pressure problems. To the surprise and to the great delight of the pharmaceutical company, it turned out that the remedy also helps with impotence. It allowed countless men to regain normal sexual abilities.

The commercialization of physical optimization

But soon men who were not at all impotent took the same pill to increase the norm and gain sexual powers that they never owned before. What applies to certain medications can also happen in the entire field of medicine. This is how modern plastic surgery came about during the past world wars when treated in military hospitalswere. When the war was over, surgeons discovered that they could also turn into beautiful noses with the same procedures for perfectly healthy but ugly organs of smell.

The transfer to the market of vanities

Although plastic surgery continued to help the sick and wounded, their attention was increasingly focused on optimizing the healthy. Today, cosmetic surgeons deserve a fortune in private clinics whose express and only goal is to make the healthy better and the rich more beautiful. The same could happen in the field of genetic engineering. Imagine theOutcry to the public when a billionaire would announce that he wanted to develop super clever offspring.

The beginning of genetic selection

But that’s not how it will be, rather we slide down a slippery slope. This starts with parents whose genetic profile is putting their children at high risk of having a fatal hereditary disease. So they decide to artificially inseminate in the test tube and have the genetic information of the fertilized egg cell tested. If everything is ok, then everything is going wellnormal. However, if the test detects the feared mutations, then the embryo is destroyed.

The expansion of the options

But why take a risk and fertilize only one egg cell? One should rather take several, then if some have a defect, at least one usable embryo remains. If these selection methods in the test tube are acceptable and cheap enough, then they will be used much more frequently. Mutations are an omnipresent risk, since allPeople carry some harmful changes and sub-optimal traits in their genetic information.

The Manipulation of Natural Reproduction

Sexual reproduction is a pure lottery. So why not manipulate the lottery? Fertilize several eggs and choose the one with the best mix. Once stem cell research enables us to create an unlimited supply of cheap human embryos, you can choose your child from hundreds of candidates, all carrying your genetic information.choose the optimal baby. Repeat this process for a few generations, and in the end you actually have Supermen.

The replacement of cellular structures

But what if, even after fertilizing several eggs, it turns out that they all carry some deadly defect? Should all embryos then be destroyed? Or could one not replace the problematic genes instead? One groundbreaking case concerns the tiny organelles in human cells that produce the energy they need.

The introduction of additional organic producers

These cellular power plants have their own genetic information, which is completely separate from that in the cell nucleus. Damaged genetic information from these power plants leads to various chronic or even fatal diseases. With the help of current technology, it is possible to overcome such hereditary diseases by producing offspring with several organic producers.Cell nucleus information of the baby comes from the respective biological parents, while the information of the cell power plants comes from another person.

The legal and ethical hurdles

From a purely technical point of view, the descendant thus has several organic producers. Several decades ago, the American government banned this treatment because of safety concerns and ethical considerations. On the other hand, a few years ago, the British Parliament voted in favour of a law permitting this treatment and related research in the United Kingdom.technically impossible and illegal to replace the cell nucleus information.

The Unstoppable Logic of Optimization

But if and as soon as the technical difficulties are overcome, the same logic that advocated the replacement of damaged cellular power plants will also argue in favor of doing the same with the information of the cell nucleus. The next potential step after selection and replacement is change. Why should we, as soon as it becomes possible to alter deadly genes, notall the effort and use some foreign genetic information if we can simply rewrite the code? Then we could also use this mechanism to not only repair deadly genes, but also those responsible for less deadly diseases.

Expansion to mental and cognitive characteristics

Who would want their child to suffer from such diseases as chronic depression? Wouldn’t you want to save it from years of misery with a small, painless procedure in the test tube? And while we’re at it, why not give the child a little push to take with him? Life is difficult for healthy people and a challenge.

The race for genetic superiority

In this respect, it would certainly not be impractical if the little girl had a particularly strong immune system, an above-average memory or a particularly sunny mind. And if you don’t want that for your own child, what if the neighbors have all this for yours? Would you want your child to stay behind? And if the government bans all citizens,Genetically changing your babies, what if other nations do it and produce amazing geniuses, artists and athletes who leave ours far behind?

The illusion of pure healing medicine

This means that we are already on our way to a genetic catalog for descendants in small steps. Any upgrade and improvement is justified with healing. Ask any professors who are experimenting with genetic engineering methods or interfaces between the brain and the computer why they are doing this research. Most likely you will answer thatThey do this to heal severe psychological suffering and connect the brain directly to machines.

Human nature and the urge to improve

That can be, but you won’t be content with that. If we successfully connect the brain and computer, will we only get rid of the mental suffering? Anyone who really believes this may understand a lot about brains and computers, but has little idea of the human psyche and human society. Once a crucialbreakthrough succeeds, you cannot limit him to healing and completely ban any use for improvement.

The historical ability to regulate

Of course, people can limit the use of new technologies, and that is what happens. After the last major world fire, eugenics fell into disrepute, and although trade in human organs is both possible and potentially very lucrative today, it has so far remained a peripheral phenomenon. it is possible that tailor-made descendants of oneDay are technically just as feasible as the murder of people to get their organs and yet remain just as marginal.

The need for social debate

We escaped the claws of a well-known theater rule about guns on stage at war, and we can escape it in other fields of action. Sometimes rifles appear on stage that are never fired. That is why it is so important to think about the new agenda of mankind. Precisely because we are using newTechnologies, with certain freedoms of choice, we should know what is happening. The fusion of biological knowledge and digital computing power opens up possibilities that not only increase life expectancy, but could redefine the nature of being human. It is crucial that this development is notis left exclusively to the market mechanisms or the race of the nations. A broad, ethically sound social debate must provide the framework before the technological facts are created. Only through conscious and democratic control can we ensure that humanity’s progress serves and does not lead to its own redundancy.