Will we accelerate evolution and enhance ourselves with technology?

Dr. Pero Mićić - BRIGHT FUTURE BUSINESS

Will technology serve to accelerate our evolution? Should it? Will we go beyond the limits of our senses? Do we want that? At the beginning of this millennium, the term "anthropocene" was proposed as the name for a new era. The focus is on the humans who have become so powerful as designers that they unmistakably make their mark on biological, geological and atmospheric processes. In the future, this could also include the evolution of humans themselves. Technologically, we will no longer just adapt the environment to our needs or protect ourselves from its influences, but we will begin to optimize ourselves: prosthetically, genetically, nanotechnologically, pharmacologically and digitally. We are increasingly in a position to overcome our limits. We have been doing this for decades. Anyone who wears glasses, has a hearing aid or a cardiac pacemaker is already a cyborg in a way. The glasses of today with which we correct a visual impairment are the contact lenses of tomorrow with which we can zoom in on things far away like with a camera by simply thinking "zoom". Genetic engineering, on the other hand, could one day enable us to broaden our spectrum of vision and see the universe with new eyes. Or a whole new universe. Today's hearing aids will allow us to hear much more, much better and much farther in the future. The performance of our senses determines what we perceive and thus what we think and do. And also what and who we are. Such ideas of enhancement raise big ethical and moral questions. They trigger understandable concerns and fears. As always, they also create opportunities. The goal of such "enhancement" is not only to overcome physical deficits, but also to increase our performance capacity in such a way that it goes beyond the extent given to us by natural evolution. With updates and upgrades we will not only optimize and expand our senses in the future. We will also interact differently with people and machines. We will feel more connected with others because we share sensations and feelings in new ways: - Through wearables, we can easily let family members and friends participate in what we are experiencing, from our perspective. - Insideables like micro-robots, can wander through blood vessels or intestines and diagnose, repair and heal. - With Augmented Reality we can project information as well as people, objects and phenomena into our perception at any time, which are far away or have already passed away or never really existed. - Sensory impressions and feelings can be digitally coded and neurologically reproduced. Within ourselves or even in other peoples minds. Maybe one day we can even pass on all our memories and experiences to our children. - Via networked prostheses and so-called exoskeletons we can control the body movements of others, for example to teach skills in sport or dance. - We can transfer movements to virtual figures or physical robots - or, conversely, give them control over our bodies. - Next generation Human-machine interfaces will make it possible to control devices such as machines and drones just by thought. - In the future, we can increasingly experience other people, devices and objects as extensions of ourselves. Which of these possibilities do we want to use and what are we allowed to do? It is quite probable that in the course of the 21st century humans will trigger their own next stage of evolution. Not through natural variation and selection, but through targeted enhancement. That is the vision of the so-called transhumanists. Not everyone will want to take this step and not everyone will be able to. The removal of the body's internal and external boundaries raises questions about human identity. To what point are we still human? What becomes of the principle that we are all born the same, at least biologically? Will the gap between the rich, who can expand themselves and thus become more and more productive and powerful, and those who cannot afford it, grow bigger and bigger and become unbridgeable forever? Must there therefore be a right to unconditional enhancement? Or do we have to take advantage of the early hour and legally ban all new enhancements? In any case, now is the time to get used to this new reality and form convictions about what is good and right and what is harmful and wrong. Now what? What do you think about these questions? Are you looking forward to it? Or are you committed to prohibitions? What are your beliefs? How will your professional activity be affected? What will become possible? Which skills will become unimportant? What opportunities are there for your company in products and solutions for Human Enhancement?