Themes & Human Change

The big themes in Lifespinners – human longevity, radical life extension and body and mind enhancement – are part of an accelerating process that I think of as Human Change. It is happening now, in parallel with the effects of climate change, technological change and consequential social change, but it hasn’t yet attracted the same attention as a massive political and moral issue with seismic implications for the future of humankind. While some of the risks associated with human change are well recognised and already governed by regulations, media reporting tends to focus on the most dramatic research breakthroughs offering welcome preventative solutions, potential cures or novel treatments for specific diseases or wider underlying health problems, without fully considering their long-term implications.

The concept of human change broadens the canvas to reveal that many new and exciting health interventions are laying the groundwork for more radical modification and manipulation of the human body, brain and mind. This idea has been trailed in numerous science fiction stories and in non-fiction books bringing the latest science to general readers, but the overarching concept of human change may help to bring the diverse strands together and illuminate the bigger picture.

From genetic alteration and cell reprogramming to artificial wombs, smart implants, cyborgs, soft robots, courier nanobots, organoids, bionic body parts, mind reading and digital brain emulation, research programmes are opening up new possibilities in areas such as organ regeneration, age reversal, superior intellectual ability and physical techno-human fusion. Future advances might include even more mind-boggling options, such as a merger between human and artificial intelligence that blends the phenomenal speed and precision of machine learning with the human capacity for social intelligence, emotional response, memory curation, common sense, reasoning and judgement.

The public interest in such ideas will only increase as more people catch on to the intriguing opportunities for improvement in natural abilities, changes in physical appearance, enhanced social or sexual desirability and a significantly longer life. Social pressure will also come into play, especially perhaps among young people and also between new parents, when they are offered the chance to influence the future prospects for their baby while it is still in the womb.

While many will agree that there may be great gains and benefits in all of this, the obvious risk is that the scientific knowledge and technological innovation will run far ahead of our capacity to control and guide the transformational process. Viewed in this light, human change is an alluring and yet dangerous phenomenon. It will define the contours of our future as a self-preserving, self-regarding, curious and uniquely creative species, as well as our relations with other living creatures and our home planet.

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