How social life will change profoundly – the potential impacts of transhumanism

I think my eyes opened for the concept of the singularity after seeing a documentary by Frank Theys called 'Technocalyps' a few years ago. Although not purely about the singularity it gave me insights into a lot of the concepts connected to it and it brought some order in my mind around various memes and concepts I had been following or researching (as a wanna-be / amateur futurologist or trend watcher). The various technological developments, scenario's of possible futures and people involved have been fascinating to me for various reasons. One reason always stands out; the potential impact on social life. It is the idea that the impact of technology on our daily lives in the future will be vastly different from today that makes my pulse go faster. Out of all the interesting near-future or longer-term future concepts connected to the singularity there is one that I feel is going to impact our daily lives the most and that is the concept of 'Transhumanism.'

Transhumanism

Transhumanism is essentially the enhancement of humans. It is regarded as a subset of post-humanism and the word is formed by the combination of transcendence and humanism. The definition according to Wikipedia reads as follows:

'Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.'

Most enhancements are of bio-technological or information-technology origin. Examples would include brain enhancements either through genetic engineering or 'smart drugs', or physical enhancements such as high-tech prosthetics or technological gadgets. A lot of these ideas have been woven into science fiction scenario's such as William Gibson's 'Cyberpunk' or the movie 'Gattaca'. Transhumanism is all about the human race taking charge of our evolutionary process and adapting our 'being' to new or long-existing needs.


Transhumanistic examples today


Although a lot of this sounds like science fiction, the acceleration of many technologies often discussed when talking about the singularity are already there today - and not just in labs and other experimental settings. Let me highlight three examples of transhumanism widely practiced today; brain enhancing drugs, smartphones and brain-pacemakers.

We have been using 'drugs' to help us perform better for many many years already. Products such as coffee help us focus and/or get more energy when needed. Over the last years I feel we've really started to go beyond this with more and more people using drugs to enhance their academic performance. In a commentary in the journal Nature a few years back, two Cambridge University researchers reported that about a dozen of their colleagues had admitted to regular use of prescription drugs like Adderall, a stimulant, and Provigil, which promotes wakefulness, to improve their academic performance. The former is approved to treat attention deficit disorder, the latter narcolepsy, and both are considered more effective, and more widely available, than the drugs circulating in dorms a generation ago. Surveys of college students have found that from 4 to 16 percent say they have used stimulants or other prescription drugs to improve their academic performance. Should we call this cheating? Or is this more similar to using a calculator instead of calculating by yourself with pen and paper? If the demand is there (and the numbers above seem to indicate that it is) surely new, better, drugs will be developed and used by sizable portions of society. Will access to these drugs make a difference in academic results and are we OK with that? An academic degree in the near future might not say that much about the intrinsic capability of a person, but maybe more about his or her ability to get things done / make things work. Surely it will improve the productivity of the general population as technology generally seems to do.

A second example is our smartphones. The ubiquitous adoption of mobile phones and smartphones has been staggering and suddenly a large part of (the rich world) society has an extension to him or herself that enhances their capabilities enormously. It is almost weird to see how easily we accept and adopt this - your smartphone allows you to know where you are and how to get to places you have never visited before. Remember discussions in a bar about who that actor was in this and that movie - cracking minds until someone would remember. Now whip out this new 'extension of your body' and google the answer. Having a personal device connected to the internet with you at all times has enhanced the human capability enormously. But again, even though probably a lot less controversial than brain-enhancing drugs, the social effects have been clear to almost everyone in the developed world by now. Go into any social place, like bars, public transport or city squares and observe how many people are interacting with their (smart)phones. Many of you will have seen groups of people having dinner while at some moments half or more of the group are engaged with their smartphones and (at least) less engaged with the group. In my eyes we're still in the phase of technology adoption where new social rules need to be collectively figured out, but also where most of us need to learn how much more we can accomplish because we have devices with us in our pockets.

A third example of today’s technology that I feel is part of transhumanism are brain-pacemakers. We have all heard about pacemakers that assist our heart when that fails (also transhumanistic I feel) but less known to the general public are brain-pacemakers that help patients that suffer from epilepsy or Parkinson's disease. It is a medical device that is implanted into the brain to send electrical signals into the tissue to stimulate parts of the brain. Where the first two examples really enhance the basic human condition now, this example is more about curing people from a disability. It is, however, in my opinion, an example of current-state technology that if further developed can potentially affect more functions in our brain including stimulating it in such a way that we can go beyond our basic capabilities. What initially will be very expensive 'upgrades' to how our brains work could conceivably produce a 'cognitive-divide' where the rich will be able to enhance themselves and be more competitive versus the rest. We are already living in a world where technology helps 'superstars' in media, banking and IT gain immense rewards. Brain enhancing technology like future versions of the brain implant in this example will only accelerate that trend and increase inequality.

These are three examples of today - we've not even touched the impact of future advancements such as an upcoming leap in longevity (how long before most us live to become 100 to 150 years old) and brain-machine interfaces that allow us an almost telepathic access to computers and the internet. All of these, either today, or in the short or longer term future will have a unbelievable impact on core concepts of most of today's society; capitalism, democracy, equality under the law etc.


Why the discussion matters


Part of Transhumanism is very much science fiction, but more and more it is becoming today's reality. We need to think about it and discuss it today if we want to ensure this trend will be beneficial to at least most of humanity - if not all. I see descriptive articles on transhumanism starting to hit mainstream media such as Time magazine or the Economist with some thought on the social consequences but I feel it's time for the real discussion to start. I'm looking forward to many great discussions going forward and I do invite every reader to participate as of today!