Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/2592
9 WWW.HPLUSMAGAZINE.COM BRINGING ABOUT HET Human Enhancement Technologies ("HET") is the term given to any non-therapeutic attempt to temporarily or permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body through natural or artificial means. While many of the HET have somewhat fantasy-like qualities (changing one's skin, hair or eye color or texture), two stand out as extraordinarily important to the human race: radical healthy life extension and cognitive enhancement. The most interesting and potentially important of the HET is radical human life extension. Aging is the single greatest problem, which if solved, relieves society of the enormous economic and intellectual losses caused by the decline of an individual's health and mental abilities as they age beyond early adulthood and eventually die. We currently have major efforts to conquer cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other diseases, but not a similar effort to conquer Aging. However, these diseases are mostly a result of Aging —- teenagers (in the absence of a faulty gene) do not suffer from cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. This deserves repeating — these are diseases of old age. Think of the suffering such diseases cause. Billions are spent every year treating the effects of these diseases, when we should be cutting them off at the root —- by intervening in the Aging process itself. Think how many resources are spent educating an individual —– hundreds of thousands of dollars these days — only to have their wealth of accumulated knowledge and experience vanish from the Earth upon their death. We are on the brink of technologies that will unravel the mysteries of Aging once and for all and allow us to reach the so-called Escape Velocity for radical human life extension, which is the point whereby our healthy lives are extended more than one year for every year we continue living. Ultimately, we will be brought to a nearly immortal state of perpetual youthfulness. Cognitive enhancement is the other HET we must pursue now. As we live radically longer, productive lives, we will need to increase our ability to store and retrieve memories, share information or experiences, and tap into the seemingly limitless resources of the web. We might also offload some of our mental processing to an Exocortex, which might be designed to follow more logical rules than we are prone to observe unaided. Reverse engineering the brain will allow us to understand and cure psychological problems and help us build better artificial intelligences. Biological tweaks (genetic or nootropic) will some day end illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, addictions, etc. And finally, uploading or backing up our Minds will provide an ultimate safe-haven for our continued existence. Let's be clear about one thing, we do not condone the idea that HET should be forced on anyone. Take cosmetic surgery —– it's a personal choice whether one has liposuction, botox injections, a nip & tuck, hair implants (or removal), dental veneers or implants put in to increase the size or firmness of various regions of your body. Some of the HET will be equivalent to taking medications to halt a disease (Aging can be thought of as a disease), and thus we can envision that most people would elect to take advantage of such. Other HET will be purely an expression of one's self-image, and will allow people to try on or adopt a new race or invent one of their own, in the same way we explore different religions, philosophies or political ideologies. Researchers Unite! We need a lot more researchers working in the two fields of life-extension and cognitive enhancement. We need researchers talking to each other, sharing ideas and creating roadmaps as to how to tackle these daunting problems. h+ Magazine will continue to cover all of the advances in the NBIC fields which are making HET possible, but we also want to encourage students to gravitate to these fields, and those who are in these fields to renew their efforts to work together for the benefit of all Humankind for longer, healthier lifespans and greater cognitive powers! Others can contribute their time and discretionary funds toward helping promote these fields, as well as putting political pressure for governments to promote and facilitate these crucial HET. Best wishes, James Clement and Dan Stoicescu James Clement Co-Founder Dan Stoicescu Co-Founder