# Human enhancement



## athenian200 (Oct 13, 2008)

Human enhancement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What's your take on human enhancement? That is, using technology to augment human abilities in various ways. I'm talking about technologies from limb replacement and brain augmentation, to genetic engineering. 

I believe it's something that should be pursued. I know there might be ethical concerns, but I feel like it would benefit humanity as a whole. There are so many things in our nature that are in need of improvement, and we may not have time to wait for evolution. It's just that I believe that if there are ways people are suffering or limited, there's no good reason for us to maintain the status quo rather than trying to fix it.

I also believe that enhanced humans could be capable of solving or dealing with problems that are beyond the reach of contemporary humans, which might be another incentive to work on such projects before these problems become critical.


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## Epherion (Aug 23, 2011)

I, for one, welcome out new Cyborg overlords.


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## RandomNote (Apr 10, 2013)

I agree it would be a big benefit to humanity but would most likely cause lots of division among people. Still i think it would be pretty interesting nonetheless. 

the dues ex game series goes into the human augmentation thing pretty good.

Id be cool if we could make stuff like this one day.


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## Killbain (Jan 5, 2012)

As long as it wasn't exclusively available only to those who could afford it.

Can you imagine Justin Beiber or Paris Hilton as superior beings?


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## Tzara (Dec 21, 2013)

Killbain said:


> As long as it wasn't exclusively available only to those who could afford it.
> 
> Can you imagine Justin Beiber or Paris Hilton as superior beings?


They can afford drones right now, I dont see them buying drones. Also, them being superior probably wont affect you.

I'd like to see humans becoming better. I actually would want to help research these stuff.


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## Killbain (Jan 5, 2012)

Tzara said:


> They can afford drones right now, I dont see them buying drones.


That's a false equivalency. Buying a drone wouldn't improve them physically or mentally, any more than buying a luxury car (which probably all have) would.



Tzara said:


> Also, them being superior probably wont affect you.
> 
> I'd like to see humans becoming better. I actually would want to help research these stuff.


It would not affect me in any way, but it may well ensure that Paris Hilton or some other talentless oaf lives on while a brain surgeon or brilliant scientist (Stephen Hawking?) loses their health and dies because they cannot afford the enhancement.

An immortal O.J Simpson anyone?


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

I see this especially important for people with disabilities and getting them on an equal playing field with everyone else.


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## Tzara (Dec 21, 2013)

Killbain said:


> That's a false equivalency. Buying a drone wouldn't improve them physically or mentally, any more than buying a luxury car (which probably all have) would.


No, physically people with drones are a lot more stronger. They buy cars because they dont care about drones. Much like they wont care about physical additions to the human body, because they wont be able to understand it, or it would seem as too much an effort. 


> It would not affect me in any way, but it may well ensure that Paris Hilton or some other talentless oaf lives on while a brain surgeon or brilliant scientist (Stephen Hawking?) loses their health and dies because they cannot afford the enhancement.


Thats not really a problem, the system is built on the fact that the talentless oafs come and go(how trends and fashion/fame works), they dont stick around more than a couple years, an immortal one wouldnt change. They mostly stop earning as much as they did before and start playing in commercials and appearing in oprah less.  Surgeons however keep earning more and more, and most can afford stuff because they do earn a lot. 

Stephen Hawking is already using human enhancement. I dont see what you point is there. Clearly if someone is important enough they can get it now.

Immortal OJ Simpson..
Yeah now I start seeing the problem differently.
But,
Nothing a tiny EMP cant solve


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## Dragunov (Oct 2, 2013)

Would create an even bigger split between the social classes, Deus Ex highlights this extremely well if you pay attention to the details.
There's obviously benefits but I could see some very wrong things happening.

The distribution of it would be governed by money which is what fucks everything up.


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## Randomasd (Aug 29, 2013)

delphi367 said:


> Human enhancement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> What's your take on human enhancement? That is, using technology to augment human abilities in various ways. I'm talking about technologies from limb replacement and brain augmentation, to genetic engineering.


Genetic engineering on humans is specially problematic and it may end up backfiring by decreasing genetic variation, and plus all the ethical issues involved...

From what I read in this article, not everything has therapeutic purposes, it's really a way to go beyond human limits. Surely I'm interested in this technology, but how will it be distributed? If it can be just bought (which probably will) people will have an unfair advantage on getting jobs for example. If brain augmentation is possible, how can we compete with a person who has that?

Well, anyway I would be so curious to see how this will work that I would support the "cyborg" technology. It will get problems, but also benefits (although I'm more interested in satisfying my own curiosity )

Recommended reading : The visual novel Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer.


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## JTHearts (Aug 6, 2013)

No that's a bad idea.


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## moltobene (Feb 16, 2014)

I do not think human enhancement with mechanical parts is going to be any popular and will be relegated to clinical treatments where there is no better alternative. Humans have this little things called emotions and biases.

It is more likely to catch on using a combination of nanotechnology and wetware with minimal implanted circuitry to wireless interface with external devices. Something nonobvious and invisible to the naked eye. And above all, convenient and nonintrusive.

Robocop is very clunky to lie with in bed and easy to belittle socially.


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## athenian200 (Oct 13, 2008)

moltobene said:


> I do not think human enhancement with mechanical parts is going to be any popular and will be relegated to clinical treatments where there is no better alternative. Humans have this little things called emotions and biases.
> 
> It is more likely to catch on using a combination of nanotechnology and wetware with minimal implanted circuitry to wireless interface with external devices. Something nonobvious and invisible to the naked eye. And above all, convenient and nonintrusive.
> 
> Robocop is very clunky to lie with in bed and easy to belittle socially.


I was also talking about genetic engineering, chemical enhancements... it wouldn't all have to be mechanical/technological. Still, I can see some people accepting technological enhancements. Perhaps not everyone would, but some certainly would want the advantages. It might eventually become like getting a tattoo/piercing, only more useful. xD


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## synod (Jun 13, 2013)

There is a wide spectrum of positions that are taken in the human enhancement debate. On one end is the argument that autonomy should be the deciding principle: humans should be allowed to benefit themselves to whatever extent they choose.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

synod said:


> humans should be allowed to benefit themselves to whatever extent they choose.


That is our evolutionary advantage.


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## Riptide (Feb 13, 2014)

No brainer. I've spent my life waiting for Singularity.


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## Amine (Feb 23, 2014)

Riptide said:


> No brainer. I've spent my life waiting for Singularity.


Me too. I'm expecting immortality at the very least. Nanotech is going to be soooooo awesome.. 

I think the bottom line is a person has either embraced this inevitability or has not. 

Sigh. I was going to post some extremely interesting links on the topic but I haven't got the post count yet. Oh well.


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## Dragunov (Oct 2, 2013)

I think people should reach their full capacity before they start taking/using enhancements, otherwise it's just a way for the lazy to get an advantage.


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## StarStuff924 (Feb 22, 2014)

It should really only be used to help the crippled and maybe extend the human lifespan but immortality seems like a bad idea (immortal stalin or Hitler)


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## Trout (Feb 15, 2014)

StarStuff924 said:


> It should really only be used to help the crippled and maybe extend the human lifespan but immortality seems like a bad idea (immortal stalin or Hitler)


Using nanotechnology would only make a person nigh immortal (expanding the life span of humans indefinitely, an increase to natural attributes [you'd be faster, stronger, and perhaps even more intelligent]. However, if you were to have have a building dropped on you, you'd likely still die. Although, that's only an extreme example. The point is, it wouldn't make you exempt from death; it would only make you harder to kill. But yeah, I definitely support it.


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## Amine (Feb 23, 2014)

StarStuff924 said:


> It should really only be used to help the crippled and maybe extend the human lifespan but immortality seems like a bad idea (immortal stalin or Hitler)


We really should not let assholes like those keep us from sublimity as a species. There are absolutely ways to deal with them other than "forbidding immortality", which will inevitably become a reality in coming decades. The question then will be, "at what point do we force people to die"? This just isn't realistic. Especially considering it would require global totalitarianism.

The truth is that Stalin and Hitler were no worse than a lot of people who simply aren't as smart or aren't in the right place at the right time. Prisons are chalk full of psychopaths. It is inconceivable that we will not figure out a treatment for psychopathy once our neuroscience and medicine improves, which it absolutely will.

Nonetheless, as was mentioned death will still be an option, and if there were absolutely no recourse, we could put violent killers to death as we do today. Or imprison them forever. I say that, keeping in mind that full immersion virtual reality will make imprisonment barely imprisonment at all. Those psychopaths would be able to create whole virtual universes with which to act out sadistic fantasies. Strange, but I suppose preferable to harming real people.


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## StarStuff924 (Feb 22, 2014)

Still immortality seems like a bad idea but I know it will happen at some point. just read the short storys "tomorrow, and tomorrow,and tomorrow" or "2BR02B" by Kurt Vonnegut to get my point


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## timeless (Mar 20, 2010)

Life, uh uhh uh uh uh uh uh uhh uhh uh uh uh uh uhh uh uhh uh uh, finds a way.


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## Du Toit (Mar 2, 2014)

That reminds me a bit of Plato idea of a right government. Fair-minded breeding fair-minded's till infinity. 
What I mean is that the enhancement would probably be so expensive, that only kids like celebs' could afford it; thus making the 'game' of life success unfair.


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## Grandmaster Yoda (Jan 18, 2014)

When I read this all I was just imagining leaping across a road with high endurance and speed. I would like to insert the anti-freeze polar fish gene into myself just like a tomato would have.


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## Cheveyo (Nov 19, 2010)

I'd love to be able to transfer my mind onto a robotic body that looks and feels human.

So I can be a different person each day of the week if I wanted.


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## Kysinor (Mar 19, 2009)

Honestly I do not know much about this... but I guess if there was a way to keep my semi-youth intact for as long as I wanted to I would be all for it.


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