Artificial Extensions of Human Capabilities

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438

Last updated: 31/01/2012 09:08:31

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Where: Global

When: 11-20yrs

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Keywords:

Life course, lifestyles and health - human extensions, prosthetics, cyborgs

Summary

Discussion

Humans have always used tools to extend our capabilities and compensate for the inadequacies of our bodies. Spectacles are the most widespread such device. Our use of tools and technologies to control our environment and to enhance our lives is, in fact, a defining characteristic of the human species. Today, however, we are at an inflection point in history as a new generation of technologies is enabling new kinds of previously unimaginable human extensions that are likely to radically redefine the notion of what it means to be human. Look for these extensions in three different realms:

Extension of the human life span -- Some experts estimate conservatively that in the next 20 years we will see the potential human life span increase by 10 years. This will primarily result from finding cures to the most common killers -- cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and the like. Some futurists estimate potential life spans of 120 years and above. Whichever estimate we accept, it is clear that we will see the potential for significant increases in life span in the next 20 to 50 years among financially well-off populations, both in developed and developing countries. So far, life expectancy has grown in developed countries because of increasing comfort levels and leisure as well as better public health and treatments for common diseases. Now enthusiasts for life extension such as Aubrey de Gray of the University of Cambridge are looking at a further step change intended to add more decades to average lifespans. In some animals, restricting the number of calories consumed has been shown to extend life. This approach cannot be transferred simply to humans as the other effects of a restricted diet are severe, including both physical and mental stress. But other approaches such as slowing cell death may have more promise.

Prosthetic body parts -- In 10 years, artificial retinas are likely to come into use, and their use is likely to be perfected within 50 years. There will be great improvements in other prosthetic body parts such as hands, feet, liver and kidneys. We are already seeing such improvements to some extent with implants for hearing. Brain rehabilitation and repair is likely to make great progress, although the field may not be fully mature in 50 years. Imaging technology is already allowing us to see directly which areas of the brain are involved in specific mental activities. Some prostheses such as replacement hips are already familiar. New materials, and advances in information technology, will make them better, in particular by allowing them to hook up to the nervous system more reliably. This may make it more tempting to replace organs that are working normally as well as defective ones. Population aging will mean a huge increase in demand for this technology.

Non-medical cognitive and cosmetic enhancers -- Pharmaceuticals and devices developed to treat specific medical conditions will be used by healthy people for memory enhancement, manipulation and management of sleep patterns, and to achieve particular psychological or physical states (for example, eliminate wrinkles or 'cure' shyness). At the moment, drug companies are reluctant to develop drugs for conditions that are not regarded as illnesses. Instead, drugs such as Ritalin, developed for children with attention disorder, spread into the "normal" population, in this case via parents hoping to enhance their children's school achievement. The same mechanism applies to anti-narcolepsy drugs used in the general population to allow people to work longer hours. These uses raise issues including the medicalisation of "conditions" which are really part of normal human variety. A further possibility is that people may be able to link their brains directly to computers, or to link brains via a computer. The first would offer extra processing power and memory, perhaps for the impaired brain, and the second would allow unprecedented levels of mental collaboration between individuals.

Hank Greeley, Professor of Law at Stanford University, identifies several types of social issues and debates that extension technologies are likely to engender:

Safety -- Is it safe for normal populations to use the same pharmaceuticals and enhancements as people with serious illnesses?
Coercion -- To what degree does use of an enhancement become an expectation, intrinsic or extrinsic? If you take a pill to seem brighter at a job interview, do you need to take it every day to go to work?

Fairness -- Will we be perpetuating a class of 'enhanced nobility' -- that is, those who pass their enhancements through generations? This fear may be like the one-time worry about the digital divide, which has faded as the cost of computers and connections has fallen.
Integrity -- Is it fair to use enhancements to achieve superior results (during exams, in athletic competitions or beauty contests)? How does this long-standing ethical concern change when we discuss advantage that lasts a whole lifetime, not for a brief period?
Naturalness -- When is something natural or artificial and how do we distinguish between the two?

Usability -- will the extension technologies be easy to use and effective? Will they be too complex for some enhanced people? Users will have little experience of controlling internal devices with no physical controls and whose effects are mental rather then physical. Stress may make users unable to use enhancers effectively. Cognitive enhancers may be particularly tricky if they affect perception - where are the boundaries between enhanced reality and madness? There are often tradeoffs in drug use. A drug that makes someone quicker at taking decisions may also make them more careless and impulsive. Interactive devices also suffer from unexpected interactions. They work well separately but in combination unexpected features arise. Two radio-controlled enhancements might interact with each other in unforeseen and undesirable ways, or in creative, artistic ways. Devices will need safety properties, including reversibility and the ability to be de-activated, temporarily or permanently. It would be far harder to reverse a change to body chemistry than to remove a physical implant.

Some groups in society may accept these possibilities while others choose to reject them and remain more natural - as they see it.
While some enthusiasts are happy to take supposed drugs that have not received full regulatory approval, higher standards will be needed for treatments intended for the population at large.

Implications

Growing gap between the healthy and 'enhanced' rich and other people, including growing disparities in life expectancy between and within countries, unless issues of access and equity are addressed.

Growing percentage of GDP dedicated to health, broadly defined, including not only health care but such areas as food, cosmetics, and leisure.

Growing demand for services from the UK NHS and its equivalents around the world.

Intensification of the existing problems for pension providers of increased lifespan - perhaps remediated by longer working life.

Cultural change caused by the ability to live long and healthy lives. It has been suggested that people who can do this might be less inclined to have children, less inclined to take physical risks, and more inclined to live life at a gradual pace.

Early indicators

Use of steroids by athletes: but note the fightback against such use, especially in cycling, the sport most seriously affected.
Growth of various types of cosmetic procedures.
Advances in tissue regeneration.
Increased use of medications for ADHD by students during tests.
Thousands of deaf or severely hard of hearing people benefiting from cochlear implants.

Leaders:

Regions:
Europe, US

Institutions:
Victhom, Human Bionics
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering,
University of Toronto (1998 project to grow a heart suitable for transplant within a decade) [link]
University of Saarland, Germany (digital bionic chip for new generation of hearing aids) [link]
Cyberhand, Italy (European Union project) [link]
Hybrid Assisted Limb, Tsukuba University, Japan [link]
Shimojo Implicit Brain Function Project, Japan [link]
Manchester Materials Science Centre (inkjet printing of layers of human cells) [link]
Cells for Sight Transplantation and Research Programme, Institute of Ophthalmology, UK[link]
Papworth Hospital, University of Cambridge (tissue-engineered blood vessels) [link]
Imperial College London, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre [link]
ENHANCE (EU-funded project on human enhancement) [link http://www.enhanceproject.org/index.html]
MIT (robotic ankle at biomechatronics research group) http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/robot-ankle-0723.html]
Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing (Aubrey de Gray) [link http://www.circa.cam.ac.uk/pages/degrey.html]
MRC Centre for Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience, Cambridge [link http://research.psychol.cam.ac.uk/~bcni/]
University of Pennsylvania, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, work on neuroethics [link http://neuroethics.upenn.edu/index.html]
University of New South Wales (bionic eye) [link http://bionic.gsbme.unsw.edu.au/]
Arizona State University, Biodesign Institute [1]
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies [link http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/about]

Drivers & Inhibitors

Advances in understanding of the brain.
Advances in genetics and genomics.
Development of materials that can be implanted in the human body safely and long-term.

Parallels & Precedents

Debates about and eventual widespread adoption of in-vitro fertilisation and other medically enhanced reproductive techniques.
Human stem cell research and the range of political and cultural responses to its potential.
Migration of the use of antidepressants to treat various types of psychological conditions such as shyness.
[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

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The contents of this paper were provided by the Outsights-Ipsos MORI Partnership. Any views expressed are independent of government and do not constitute government policy.