Transhumanism – Transcending Human Abilities

How do we as humans transcend our natural limitations? How do we enhance our ability to become stronger, more able and have a healthier life? How do we live longer, but comfortably? These questions have been asked by engineers and scientists for centuries. Any technology or way of life that is improving or extending our lives is an Enhancement. With current day knowledge on how the human body and computers work, we have managed to progress towards Transhumanism – the philosophical belief that humans will evolve past their limitations using science, medicine, and technology. The uniqueness of individual humans are put into question as technologies will be capable of transforming nature human abilities into enhanced abilities giving them an edge. The ethical debate surrounding human enhancements discusses the evolving parameters between being human versus being a machine as we seem to have surpassed our natural limitations, transcending towards Singularity.

“The Singularity will represent the culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our technology, resulting in a world that is still human but that transcends our biological roots.” – Ray Kurzweil

Human enhancements may include elective alteration of the human body, through cosmetic surgery for non-medical purposes, or genetic mediations, through genome engineering or drug-induced therapies. Besides physical changes, enhancements to improve or alter cognitive behavior are also included. All of these are intentionally created for humans to evolve beyond the constraints and life span of the human species. This discussion prompts us to examine the philosophical side of theory which challenges the egalitarian belief. The theory of Eugenics. 

Eugenics – A philosophy of Transhumanism 

A well known philosophy to enhance the human species is eugenics, coined by Sir Francis Galton. It became relevant after the 1880s causing a eugenics movement across Europe and America. Eugenics is a social and political way of expunging those with less “fit” qualities. Eugenics encourages those with mentally and physically “fit” attributes to partner with those alike; no technologies are used here, but selective breeding is, thus enhancing specific races as they are now “pure”. 

Synthetic Biology

One of the more recent and prominent fields that is continuously developing from advances in science, engineering, and technology is that of synthetic biology. This field of revolutionary biotechnology uses its base knowledge on recombinant DNA molecules to redesign and fabricate the biological components and systems that exist in the natural world. Scientists are now capable of replacing the natural genetic material within a self replicating synthetic bacterial cell; thus creating non-genetic raw materials which can be used as a substitute for genetic material within a living organism. 

The first self-replicating synthetic genome was built by researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute. They publicly announced it in May 2010 and many mixed opinions of the advance surfaced, entailing both excitement and concern. Questions arose about whether it amounted to an early-stage example of “creating life”.  Some ethical concerns include:

• Non-affiliated organizations replicating various organisms using synthetic genetic material for purposes that may pose harm to others
• Being able to regulate the use of the advancement to ensure its uses are ethical and positively impactful
• Preventing private biologists from fabricating their own synthetic genome for personal gain.

After the success of the synthetic genome, President Barack Obama requested that the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues review the new and evolving field of synthetic biology and identify the appropriate ethical implications.  The  Commission gathered a panel with representatives from engineering, science, medicine, ethics, and various faiths to conduct reviews. While the matter was still in its development stages, the panel managed to conclude the emerging science’s potential social implication, using the five ethics principles as a guide – public beneficence, responsible stewardship, intellectual freedom, democratic deliberation and justice and fairness. 

Within the field of synthetic biology, the discoveries are endless and the Commission has made it very clear that they will be continuously monitoring the achievements and setbacks made. With that, the Government will be informing the public regarding the ethical and social issues, as transparency is needed for such an exploratory enhancement. 

Use of Steroids – “Catch me if you can”

Synthetic materials, such as polymers and pesticides, have been used throughout the field of science, having success in agriculture and pharmaceuticals. Steroids are often taken by athletes to improve performance. 

Performance enhancing drugs include: anabolic steroids, stimulants, blood doping (erythropoietin), etc. The anabolic steroids and stimulants are taken to decrease inflammation, decrease pain, decrease body fat, increase muscle strength power; basically, they do what is most desired for when participating in a sports competition. Blood doping is the practice to boost the number of red blood cells (RBC) in the bloodstream. This drastically enhances athletic performance as RBCs carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscle, so the higher the concentration of RBCs is, the higher the athlete’s aerobic capacity and endurance is. All forms of blood doping are illegal; there is a test for detecting EMO and the World Anti-Doping Agency is funding research for a test for autologous transfusions. 

Besides the various life-threatening side effects of these drugs and transfusions, there are many ethical considerations. Enhancing an athletes performance creates an unfair advantage and it goes against all proper conduct in competitive sports. For example, there is a widely shared intuition that academic success should be based on merit, rather than the use of cognitive enhancement drugs; in the sense of sports, it is widely agreed upon that drugs should not be used to enhance the athletes performance as it goes against the spirit and nature of the sport. 

Nature and God have given us the ability to look at what’s right in front of us and completely modify it to our will. As breath-taking and stunning as that sounds, there are limitations and boundaries that bioethicists have debated and are still debating over. Conservative bioethicists on the American President’s Council on Bioethics argue that “the human body and mind, highly complex and delicately balanced as the result of eons of gradual and exacting evolution, are almost certainly at risk from any ill-considered attempt at ‘improvement’.” But different bioethicists view evolution in various manners. Some would say that the fact that there are traits we as scientists and engineers can experiment with, shows that that is the next step in human evolution – it depends on how faith and culture perceive evolution and the alteration of natural God given gifts. 

References

Hamilton, C. (2005, November 01). Medical Ethics and Performance-Enhancing Drugs. Retrieved January 23, 2021, from https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/medical-ethics-and-performance-enhancing-drugs/2005-11

History.com Editors. (2017, November 15). Eugenics. Retrieved January 23, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/germany/eugenics

Khalil, A., & Collins, J. (n.d.). Synthetic biology: Applications come of age. Retrieved January 23, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg2775

Synthetic Biology Explained. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2021, from https://archive.bio.org/articles/synthetic-biology-explained

University, S. (n.d.). Steroids, Sports and the Ethics of Winning. Retrieved January 23, 2021, from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/bioethics/resources/steroids-sports-and-the-ethics-of-winning/