The Economist On Transhuman Enhancement

The Economist magazine has posted their The World In 2007 forecast. It appears as though the Transhumanists are getting more press. Since the article is only looking into 2007 the predictions that are made can’t be too wild. Scientists are not going to “cure” death in the coming year. If they do it will be pure luck rather than anything anyone can predict. The article seemed to focus most on two topics: calorie restriction diets and brain enhancement. First, I think the jury is still out on calorie restriction for humans. Honestly, I don’t think it’s a solution. Have you ever seen anyone that is putting themselves through that? They are very weak, their bones are brittle, and their organs are near failure. Sorry, I’ll accept a shorter lifespan, thank you. I’ll take “living” over merely “existing” any day. Secondly, they talk about new drugs for brain enhancement. This reminds me of something I read about years ago in a book titled Megabrain by Michael Hutchinson. Nothing new under the sun here. Perhaps Hutchinson and those of us who read his book were just ahead of our time.

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