I great explanation of the way forward is found in the " The Age of Spiritual Machines" and "The Singularity is Near" by Ray Kurzweil" Both are worth reading and understanding. The Reading is easy (sort of) but the Understanding is not. If you are interested in Human advancement Engineered by Humans, read these two and pay particular attention the "The singularity is Near".
Kurzweil writes well though "The Singularity is Near" gets pretty technical! I would add to the list "The Transhumanist Reader," edited by Max More and Natasha Vita-More. Max's opening essay is an excellent summary of the transhumanist philosophy. Aubrey De Grey's "Ending Aging" is also a basic book for those seeking life entention.
I think it's unstoppable. We won't be able to say no to a treatment (no should we) that can fix someone's disability. New things often feel like meddling with nature, until they can save your life. It's a slippery slope to human enhancement, which I think will eventually happen. If somehow they can cure or slow aging along the way, that's like a curing/slowing most diseases. We won't say no to it.
I hope so. But as statist grows and as the values the dominate our culture trend towards the irrational on both right and left, I fear the pressure put on government to regulate. Liz Parrish of BioViva Science has tech to reverse aging. (I'll see her at a conference this weekend.) But she has to have the treatments administered--to herself--outside this country because of FDA regulations.
I'm glad she can still go outside the FDA. I think there always will be a place outside the FDA. I don't want to drive it to some underground lab in India or Pakistan like in Star Trek. I think we'll have to deal with the Star Trek augments issue. Where intentional or not, Star Trek shows us how not to deal with it. It's like automation and foreign trade: we can't turn back the clock. Biotech is coming too and IMHO we cannot stop it and should not try.
Sounds like people have become aware of the hubris and financial interest of CEO's who are compensated based on growing current revenues without any financial feedback from potential future side effects of products sold without long term testing. The vetting system is broken. Fix the system. Don't blame the potential customers for their often rational concerns.
Both are worth reading and understanding. The Reading is easy (sort of) but the Understanding is not.
If you are interested in Human advancement Engineered by Humans, read these two and pay particular attention the "The singularity is Near".
The vetting system is broken. Fix the system. Don't blame the potential customers for their often rational concerns.