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"It could be that we are on the verge of a great deluge of cognitive enhancement. Or it's possible that new brain-enhancing drugs and technologies will be nothing compared to how we've transformed our minds in the past. If it seems that making ourselves "artificially" smarter is somehow inhuman, it may be that similar activities are actually what made us human."
Why Cognitive Enhancement Is in Your Future (and Your Past)
Seeded on Thu Feb 9, 2012 6:01 PM EST
Article Source: The Atlantic — News and analysis on politics, business, culture, technology, national, international, and food – TheAtlantic.com
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- Public Discussion (19)
To put it in a nutshell, Homo sapiens might not be the end of line, evolutionarily (is that a word?) speaking. We still have a ways to go if we are to survive as a species to the end of another millennium.
- 4 votes
#1 - Thu Feb 9, 2012 6:02 PM ESTWhat I find quite interesting is how a Genius can be born out of two quite ordinary parents... There is a "smart gene" hidden in the human genome but where did it come from?? Once isolated, I suppose the human race perhaps could evolve in the distant future into morphed Einsteins -... scary, or what?
- 2 votes
#2 - Thu Feb 9, 2012 8:00 PM ESTThe reverse is also true -- many people do not know that Albert Einstein and his (equally brilliant) first wife had a retarded child. How could that happen if IQ is at least half a result of the genetic heritage of the parents?
I toy with the idea that the bell curve keeps re-establishing itself no matter what overall elevation of IQ, health, longevity or any other parameter.
- 1 vote
I have heard it say that there is something "brilliant" about autism - seemingly, genius wiring?? Not sure how true that is, but have heard of cases where children do show some amazing skills. Strange outcome.
True, Teresa O, depends on which test is given to those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as to what their IQ tests out to be. I guest the Raven test is the best predictor of this. It seems that the brain is just wired differently for those with ASD.
- 2 votes
Minnie, I thought the article was more about the bioethics of artificially enhancing brain function. It was a given that we would continue evolving, and/or tinker with our brains to improve ourselves.
We sure do have a long way to go
...if we are to survive as a species to the end of another millennium
- 2 votes
#3 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:14 AM ESTBut do we need bioethics? We have the brain gene, do we not? They just got to find it. Job done...!!
- 1 vote
In the long run we probably don't. However, think of all the abuses which have occurred down the years within the medical field. For example did we need "testing" of syphilis on minority populations? Things of that nature is why we need bioethics now.
- 2 votes
I think the PRIMARY thrust of the article is that evolution has not come to a halt with the arrival of homo sapiens, as I said above. We are still evolving and in fact MUST continue to evolve if we are to deal with the ever-rising flood of information.
Secondarily, it is about the experimentation in ways to almost literally "jolt" the brain into a higher level of functioning.
Only thirdly is there discussion of the need for ethics in offering such devices or techniques to the lower classes, on an egalitarian basis.
There was no discussion of the need for ethics, in general, to accompany the application of increased intelligence to business, industry, medicine and research. There has ALWAYS been a lag in the ethical oversight of those fields. Notorious lapses in ethics include the Tuskegee Inst. research into syphilis, and the Nazi experiments in the death camps. Another example is that of the drug company that used human guinea pigs in Africa to test a new drug.
Yet I believe that ethics is the MOST important thing in improving the lives of not just Americans, but of all the world's inhabitants. A belief in the value of human lives spans oceans, and would prevent any government or corporation from being able to use and abuse human lives anywhere.
- 2 votes
Yes - supposedly as the brain becomes more challenged, increased intelligence should be the ultimate result. That would seem a given. However, ethics is a regulatory area, is it not, and you know where Regulatory laws in various arenas have got us in the past...?
- 1 vote
#4 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:23 PM ESTI separate Ethics from Law. To me they are two completely different fields. Some things that are Legal are not Ethical, and vice versa.
- 1 vote
Two different fields that, seemingly, collide - that's how I view that arena. Ethical Laws, surely, are put in place on a variety of issues in order to protect the population. Not that they are always applied effectively, but surely necessary.
- 1 vote
This could be the death knell for conservatives and religions.
- 1 vote
#5 - Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:04 PM ESTYeah - not sure what you are getting at, Bloger. Could you expand, out of curiosity?
- 1 vote
I get it -- bloger doesn't care for anyone who doesn't mirror him.
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