Evolution itself is evolving. What began as “survival of the fittest” now includes social elements that fiddle with and influence this simplest of paradigms. The classical definition of evolution is made up of two factors – mutation and selection. Mutation being the randomness we get when genes replicate. Most mutations aren’t beneficial… cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, hemochromatosis, etc. which cause death or at the very least a lower chance of finding a mate and successfully raising offspring. The other half of evolution is selection. Whether artificial or natural, selection is selection… the end result is the same. What’s interesting about selection is, we’ve been opting out of selective processes one by one. With the advent of medical science and improved technology, we are successfully resolving diseases that would have killed new born babies and elderly alike. We’re able to fix the result of genetic diseases – heart valve defects and other lethal conditions are now able to be repaired. Thanks to science and technology, those people are now able to live their lives… but can we also influence the mutation end of the evolutionary machinery? Perhaps, dare we suggest, intelligently design humanity’s future?
We’re obviously on the brink of a revolution in gene therapies and outright genetic modification of the human genome. Those advances are powerful and some may fear them, but genetic engineering is the moral thing we must to for the sake of humanity’s future. Everyone would agree that it is the moral and correct thing to save the life of a baby with a lethal genetic condition, but the surgery only patches the symptom. That person will grow up and likely pass that lethal genetic mutation into the future through their offspring. Therefore it would be the moral and correct thing to do to fix the gene mutation. If we are ever hope to spread beyond this planet and this solar system, we must embrace genetic modification technologies so we may build human beings better suited for interstellar travel. If we achieve this, the future is indeed secure for humanity.
But there are some things we will likely never achieve through gene modification. The ability to store digital data in our bodies. The ability to compute data and perform cryptography in our bodies. The ability to transmit and receive digital data and talk directly to machines in their digital language. These are not trivial capabilities, and they are becoming more and more vital to modern human existence each and every day. Through biohacking and bionic development being done at companies like Dangerous Things, we are able to offer these human augmentations today, not 50 years from now. The ability to upgrade yourself now, with powerful new capabilities – this is the future of human evolution. The right to choose and implement our own futures.
Our bodies are our own, to do what we want with. The “socially acceptable” of tomorrow is formed by boundaries pushed today, and we’re excited to be a part of it. We hope you will be too.
Source: Dangerous Things
