Eugenic Apocalypse? Or Not? -- Bio
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Some human enhancement enthusiasts have been accused of being obsessed with eugenics as a means of evolving the human species. Others can be caught griping about the genetic "decline of the species" as too many of "the wrong people" reproduce.
Human eugenics, the selective breeding of people to bring out favored traits, is a common scare word in these debates, mainly because of its association with the Nazis. Technically, eugenics doesn't have to be anything like their perverted massacres and human experiments, but that's rather beside the point.
When it comes to altering human genetics in a significant way, eugenic breeding programs (or an unconscious, genetic "decline of Man") will almost certainly be a non-issue over the next generation. Human genetics are apt to change so radically over the next several decades that worrying about long-term breeding trends will seem pointless in retrospect.
Why? Because we're making such advances in terms of genetic technology (particularly the information technology that is an underpinning of so much cutting edge biotech) that before long we'll probably start altering the human genome outright. I suspect researchers will start eliminating major genetic defects/diseases first -- a practice that will not be restricted to just the planned pregnancy or even the unborn child. Rather, gene therapy will reach a high level of reliability and be used to treat kids and adults with major genetically derived problems, especially those conditions that will ultimately kill their victims (e.g. small children affected by Tay-Sachs disease, a particularly painful death).
The need to treat these individuals who would otherwise perish will likely lead to ever-improving gene therapy techniques even as genetic research into the nature of genetically-based "high intelligence" (and other gifts) plunges ahead. Of course, there are presumably many factors involved in superior intelligence, and they can probably vary widely among different geniuses in different fields with different styles. Nevertheless, scientists will no doubt begin isolating genetic keys to better (and worse) memory, attentiveness, etc and use these building blocks to at least say with reasonable certainty how we can improve on the brain without damaging/undermining any of its existing functions.
Admittedly, reaching this level of technology may take some time. But it's doubtful we'll be struggling with these matters for more than a generation. Compare this to how much progress a eugenics program could make, even if it were initiated right now, over the course of three generations. Or how far "genetic drift" could take us in that amount of time. After three quarters of a century, if gene therapy hasn't transformed humanity, then the direct manipulation of pre-natal genes almost certainly will.
The other reason I'm not as concerned about theories of human genetic "devolution" is that I do feel intelligence/brilliance/giftedness has a lot more to do with education, upbringing and basic personality than we're sometimes willing to accept -- and I believe all those things can be improved on.
Also, where genetics has undermined the function of the brain, it may be possible to change things for the better through non-genetically based "treatments." For example, what if the circulation to your brain was slower than the ideal because the blood vessels ultimately supplying it (by feeding your circulating cerebral-spinal fluid and so on) were a bit smaller than average? Or simply a bit smaller than they should ideally be?
Well, guess what? There are ways to increase both that blood flow and the size of those vessels. Your carotid arteries can be increased permanently in size by holding your breath and swimming underwater for a total of one hour's worth of time (in segments, I believe, of at least two minutes or more at a go) per day for three weeks. (Which has been found to also permanently increase measured IQ by a small but significant amount.) You can also temporarily increase blood flow to your head by lying down on the floor and positioning a chair under your lower legs in a way that comfortably supports them about a foot off the ground.
And there you go -- you've now physically altered the state of your brain, whatever your genetics may have to say about it. Alternatively, all this research into nootropic drugs may be able to influence the function of our brains, and some substances may prove more effective for individuals with serious deficiencies (that a particular drug addresses) than for those with no real limitations. Nootropic nutrients may be even more promising in this regard, since there seem to be fewer issues of side effects.
All of these advances suggest to me that common concerns about genetics are not as dire as they may seem. The two most frequent apocalypses (that we'll be buried under a tidal wave of idiots and incompetents or that we'll be replaced by a new master race of genetic supermen) don't seem as plausible given bio-tech research in a number of promising directions.
Then again, perhaps I'm being optimistic about the supermen. =)
Author's Note: I wrote the original version of this article before my recent posts on brain development being markedly effected by the manipulation of protein levels. What discoveries like that one illustrate is that we really don't know what course biotechnologies -- or any of the other human enhancement technologies -- are going to take over the next decade, much less the rest of the 21st Century. So, aside from giving us reason to be humble in our comments, we're also reminded that one or more major discoveries could easily vault a particular method for human evolution far ahead of the others.
Will we suddenly have genetically enhanced superbabies? Gene therapy optimized adults? Accelerated learning derived savants? Nootropic wunderkinder?
Who knows. What we do know is that we're getting more hints all the time that everything in our world could change at the drop of a hat, and that it's better to know what's going on than to simply get caught flat-footed.
Future Imperative
Some human enhancement enthusiasts have been accused of being obsessed with eugenics as a means of evolving the human species. Others can be caught griping about the genetic "decline of the species" as too many of "the wrong people" reproduce.
Human eugenics, the selective breeding of people to bring out favored traits, is a common scare word in these debates, mainly because of its association with the Nazis. Technically, eugenics doesn't have to be anything like their perverted massacres and human experiments, but that's rather beside the point.
When it comes to altering human genetics in a significant way, eugenic breeding programs (or an unconscious, genetic "decline of Man") will almost certainly be a non-issue over the next generation. Human genetics are apt to change so radically over the next several decades that worrying about long-term breeding trends will seem pointless in retrospect.
Why? Because we're making such advances in terms of genetic technology (particularly the information technology that is an underpinning of so much cutting edge biotech) that before long we'll probably start altering the human genome outright. I suspect researchers will start eliminating major genetic defects/diseases first -- a practice that will not be restricted to just the planned pregnancy or even the unborn child. Rather, gene therapy will reach a high level of reliability and be used to treat kids and adults with major genetically derived problems, especially those conditions that will ultimately kill their victims (e.g. small children affected by Tay-Sachs disease, a particularly painful death).
The need to treat these individuals who would otherwise perish will likely lead to ever-improving gene therapy techniques even as genetic research into the nature of genetically-based "high intelligence" (and other gifts) plunges ahead. Of course, there are presumably many factors involved in superior intelligence, and they can probably vary widely among different geniuses in different fields with different styles. Nevertheless, scientists will no doubt begin isolating genetic keys to better (and worse) memory, attentiveness, etc and use these building blocks to at least say with reasonable certainty how we can improve on the brain without damaging/undermining any of its existing functions.
Admittedly, reaching this level of technology may take some time. But it's doubtful we'll be struggling with these matters for more than a generation. Compare this to how much progress a eugenics program could make, even if it were initiated right now, over the course of three generations. Or how far "genetic drift" could take us in that amount of time. After three quarters of a century, if gene therapy hasn't transformed humanity, then the direct manipulation of pre-natal genes almost certainly will.
The other reason I'm not as concerned about theories of human genetic "devolution" is that I do feel intelligence/brilliance/giftedness has a lot more to do with education, upbringing and basic personality than we're sometimes willing to accept -- and I believe all those things can be improved on.
Also, where genetics has undermined the function of the brain, it may be possible to change things for the better through non-genetically based "treatments." For example, what if the circulation to your brain was slower than the ideal because the blood vessels ultimately supplying it (by feeding your circulating cerebral-spinal fluid and so on) were a bit smaller than average? Or simply a bit smaller than they should ideally be?
Well, guess what? There are ways to increase both that blood flow and the size of those vessels. Your carotid arteries can be increased permanently in size by holding your breath and swimming underwater for a total of one hour's worth of time (in segments, I believe, of at least two minutes or more at a go) per day for three weeks. (Which has been found to also permanently increase measured IQ by a small but significant amount.) You can also temporarily increase blood flow to your head by lying down on the floor and positioning a chair under your lower legs in a way that comfortably supports them about a foot off the ground.
And there you go -- you've now physically altered the state of your brain, whatever your genetics may have to say about it. Alternatively, all this research into nootropic drugs may be able to influence the function of our brains, and some substances may prove more effective for individuals with serious deficiencies (that a particular drug addresses) than for those with no real limitations. Nootropic nutrients may be even more promising in this regard, since there seem to be fewer issues of side effects.
All of these advances suggest to me that common concerns about genetics are not as dire as they may seem. The two most frequent apocalypses (that we'll be buried under a tidal wave of idiots and incompetents or that we'll be replaced by a new master race of genetic supermen) don't seem as plausible given bio-tech research in a number of promising directions.
Then again, perhaps I'm being optimistic about the supermen. =)
Author's Note: I wrote the original version of this article before my recent posts on brain development being markedly effected by the manipulation of protein levels. What discoveries like that one illustrate is that we really don't know what course biotechnologies -- or any of the other human enhancement technologies -- are going to take over the next decade, much less the rest of the 21st Century. So, aside from giving us reason to be humble in our comments, we're also reminded that one or more major discoveries could easily vault a particular method for human evolution far ahead of the others.
Will we suddenly have genetically enhanced superbabies? Gene therapy optimized adults? Accelerated learning derived savants? Nootropic wunderkinder?
Who knows. What we do know is that we're getting more hints all the time that everything in our world could change at the drop of a hat, and that it's better to know what's going on than to simply get caught flat-footed.
Future Imperative
posted by Ralph Cerchione | Friday, April 15, 2005
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