For ages, human improvement or enhancement has colonized our imagination drafted by stories varying from the illusion of supernatural abilities and everlasting life to the superpowers shown by the comic books superheroes. The desire to perfect human capacities has been historical, and it has extended from philosophy, religion to arts. The driver for biomedical developments and innovations has always been improving human condition and health. So, we can say human enhancement is correcting the limitations of a natural cause of humans concerning a specific reference in time and different environments (Pete). Human limitations can vary from being physical, mental, or cognitive.
There are multiple cases where technology has committed to alleviating people’s lives by remodeling their genetic or intrinsic capabilities. For instance, biomedical interventions have been developed over time to try and reinstate functions that are defective such as mobility, hearing, or vision. There has been considerable advance in the development of spectacles, with the first pair dated in the 13th century. Considering human idea, researchers have come up with retina implants to enable the blind to have partial sight. In the recent past, there has been a success in linking a paralyzed man’s brain to a computer chip (Jamie), and it has helped in the mobility of limbs that earlier on were unresponsive.
There are three existing technologies on human enhancement, namely: reproductive, physical, and mental. In reproductive technology, it entails all present and awaited uses of technology in both human and animal reproduction. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), involves an alignment of appliances and procedures that help discover safe, improved, and healthier reproduction (Mark).
Furthermore, ART treats low fertility or infertility. There are a lot of couples around the world that cannot reproduce on their own due to infertility, and hence, they turn to the new reproduction techniques. Anatomical abnormalities and hormonal malfunctions are the leading causes of infertility.
The most common type of ART is In Vitro fertilization. Some examples of Reproductive enhancements include embryo selection by preimplantation genetic diagnosis, cytoplasmic transfer, and in vitro-generated gametes (Ingmar, Julian). Through the advanced technologies, conceiving children has been made easier for couples who are infertile because they have a variety of options. “Physical enhancement includes orthodontics and plastic surgery, while mental improvement includes neurostimulation and nootropics and supplements that improve mental functions” (Pete).
The swift approaches in technology have been witnessed in recent ages have heightened the probability of profound enhancement, as described by Mark Herring as an advancement of human characteristics and capabilities to heights that are considered impossible for humans. Humans have been provided with indirect control over their biology by genetic enhancement through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering includes genome editing, a group of technologies with the ability to directly alter a person’s DNA through targeted intervention in the genome (Ingmar &Julian). Genome editing is known to attain higher accuracy than other forms of gene engineering.
Human enhancement has effects on a person’s identity by altering a person’s self-perception. The altercation does not automatically come from the concept of correcting the individual but instead developing who they are and giving rise to someone fresh. Changing a person’s identity influences their intimate story, growth, and intellectual capabilities. The ground of this altercation is from two points, which are the allegation of illegitimacy and the allegation of breaching a person’s gist characteristics.
Moreover, one’s narrative identity can be altered by gene enhancement since it can change a person’s mental scope. A person’s basic features may include personality, general brilliance, gender, healthy aging, the requirement to sleep, and even being a homo sapiens (Jamie). Self-cornerstone is under threat by technologies to a point where an outcome is a distinctive person. For example, changing one’s personality enormously may affect their relationships with others because they are no longer the people they knew before the enhancement.
There has been an emergence of a movement known as transhumanism that recognizes and protects the rights of citizens to customize or preserve their bodies and minds. This gives people the freedom to choose and also provides information on human enhancement technologies. Based on the concept of technological eccentricity, human enhancement is coming together with technological innovation that will progress posthumanism.
“Decades ago, the traditions of human enhancement have been interpreted as a biomedical intervention used to advance human design or functioning above what is fundamental to rehabilitate or maintain health” Mark. These practice ranges have now grown with technological development, and they are pharmaceutical genetic intervention or biomedical aimed at enhancing human inclination, capabilities, or well-being, even when there is no cytology to be handled.
This technology is considered to have much utilization in human health, in areas of dealing with diseases and also in preventing them.
In conclusion, new modes of human enhancement are progressively coming to play because of developments in technology. Expansive and intricate considerations are required on individual and societal levels, for heritable genetic intervention because, phenotypic and somatic enhancement already pose both ethical and societal challenges. There is a possibility of a massive scale impact that alters the balance of the environment and humans caused by modern technologies on germline interventions. And the more substantial effect is on the interaction among genotype, phenotype, and environmental ecology, although it plays an essential role in biological evolution and development.
References
Jamie Metzl. (2020). Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and The Future of Humanity. Sourcebooks Incorporated.
Pete Moore. (2008). Enhancing Me: The Hope and the Hype of Human Enhancement. John Wiley & Sons.
Ingmar Persson, Julian Savulescu. (2012). Unfit for the Future: The Need for Moral Enhancement. OUP Oxford.
Mark. Y. Herring. (S2006). Genetic Engineering; Historical guides to controversial issues in America. Greenwood Publishing Group.