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Bioborgs are coming
Aug. 21st, 2008 02:17 pmGive me one second, I just have to get my futurist hat on here...
I recently caught a couple of interesting news pieces online; one was about a team of scientists using embryonic stem cells to create massive quantities of type O negative blood (universal blood) and another was about self-assembling nanoscale block copolymer materials interfaces.
I can hear you saying "So what?" so I shall elaborate. Biotechnological advancements like these are happening at a ridiculously fast pace, and the media is generally quiet about them - or at least there hasn't been a successful popular synthesis of all these incredible leaps forward in the form of a Michael-Pollan-style book or series of columns. Biohacking is around the corner, and only a small group of people seem to realize that it's coming. We're going to see the ushering in of the first group of biotechnological cyborgs.
It's going to be a quiet and inexorable process, advancing gradually over a couple of decades. But as the Baby Boomers continue to age, we're going to see more and more of them resorting to "replacement therapy". Lost limbs and organs will be regrown - but they'll be better than the old ones, they'll function more efficiently and be made of stronger materials that are seeded and self-assembled with donated biomass and altered stem cells from the patient and from others. This coupled with improved immune therapies and these new nanoscale interfaces will allow for merging of organic, semi-organic, and non-organic materials. People can grow horns out of their heads and "high heels" out of their feet right now from their own bones using interfaces like these!
The sky is literally the limit here - the real constraints are whatever the current limits of materials science and biophysics are. Enhancements will be cosmetic and functional at first, and just be a few pieces here and there (Stage One bioborgs), but this will progress relatively quickly to full biological replacement (Stage Two bioborgs) and "Ghost in the Shell" type cyborg body substitutions. The brain may be a stumbling block for some time, as it's the most complex organ we've got going, but barring neurologically degenerative diseases, Stage Two bioborgs will have basically conquered the majority of human frailties. Eventually coming advances in genetics will allow some or all of these things to be fully encoded into individual genomes, and potentially even become inheritable. Those will be Stage Three - completely rewritten and reengineered human genomes, making the species once and for all completely in control of its own evolution.
By the by, stem cells will be the next thing to be imperialistically mined and exploited in Asia (India, China). We'll be outsourcing embryos from there quite soon, I think, if people aren't doing that already.
I recently caught a couple of interesting news pieces online; one was about a team of scientists using embryonic stem cells to create massive quantities of type O negative blood (universal blood) and another was about self-assembling nanoscale block copolymer materials interfaces.
I can hear you saying "So what?" so I shall elaborate. Biotechnological advancements like these are happening at a ridiculously fast pace, and the media is generally quiet about them - or at least there hasn't been a successful popular synthesis of all these incredible leaps forward in the form of a Michael-Pollan-style book or series of columns. Biohacking is around the corner, and only a small group of people seem to realize that it's coming. We're going to see the ushering in of the first group of biotechnological cyborgs.
It's going to be a quiet and inexorable process, advancing gradually over a couple of decades. But as the Baby Boomers continue to age, we're going to see more and more of them resorting to "replacement therapy". Lost limbs and organs will be regrown - but they'll be better than the old ones, they'll function more efficiently and be made of stronger materials that are seeded and self-assembled with donated biomass and altered stem cells from the patient and from others. This coupled with improved immune therapies and these new nanoscale interfaces will allow for merging of organic, semi-organic, and non-organic materials. People can grow horns out of their heads and "high heels" out of their feet right now from their own bones using interfaces like these!
The sky is literally the limit here - the real constraints are whatever the current limits of materials science and biophysics are. Enhancements will be cosmetic and functional at first, and just be a few pieces here and there (Stage One bioborgs), but this will progress relatively quickly to full biological replacement (Stage Two bioborgs) and "Ghost in the Shell" type cyborg body substitutions. The brain may be a stumbling block for some time, as it's the most complex organ we've got going, but barring neurologically degenerative diseases, Stage Two bioborgs will have basically conquered the majority of human frailties. Eventually coming advances in genetics will allow some or all of these things to be fully encoded into individual genomes, and potentially even become inheritable. Those will be Stage Three - completely rewritten and reengineered human genomes, making the species once and for all completely in control of its own evolution.
By the by, stem cells will be the next thing to be imperialistically mined and exploited in Asia (India, China). We'll be outsourcing embryos from there quite soon, I think, if people aren't doing that already.