The healthcare debate has gotten so weird, I think it’s time someone (I guess me) says what’s actually going on. I do not presume to have the answers to all of these problems (well, actually I think I have most of it figured out) but all I mean to do is share what appears to be happening. It is bizarre. Let’s start simple.
If you had been born with your exact genetic makeup, but in another time and place, would you still have achieved whatever success you’ve had? Is the happiness you’ve gained mostly a matter of effort and determination, or do you owe a lot of your accomplishments to a fortunate but accidental combination of timing and location?
Dr. Massimo Pigliucci critiqued my arguments against aging on his blog, Rationally Speaking. Pigliucci is a trained philosopher, so I’m going to go into hyper-academic mode for a while on this post. If you’re into long-winded, nuanced logical deconstructions of arguments and overly dry chest-beating, please read on. If not, check out these awesome warning signs of the future from Anders Sandberg. Make your choice now.
Nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science—the so-called “NBIC” technologies—have the potential, especially as they converge, to radically transform both human beings and human societies.
Let’s consider a couple of questions raised by the powerful possibilities that loom in the near future.
Treatments for some of the world’s biggest killers, such as malaria, can’t earn enough profits for pharmaceutical companies to attract research investments. The people they kill are just too poor to be worth the investment. Fortunately scientist-activists are attempting to find ways to support vital research through the non-profit sector.
Do you think modern medicine is on the brink of eliminating disease forever? Not quite yet, it seems, which is why health insurance will remain a necessity for at least the next few decades. But just because we need insurance doesn’t mean we should allow corporations to steal from the healthy to cheat the unhealthy.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
We can hold conference calls with colleagues from all over, and do it basically for free. Tiny videocams built into laptop computers—that are themselves millions of times more powerful than the computers used to fly men to the moon in the 1960s—allow real-time visual meetups, saving time and money, making business run better and progress move faster. Still, no matter how far we have come, in-person meetings are better than data-mediated connections.
If we take a long view of human civilization and history, it is hard not to be impressed by how far we have come. Sure, we could always do more, and yes, I’m as impatient as you for the next steps forward. But it doesn’t hurt once in a while to pat ourselves on our collective backs for what we’ve accomplished over the last few thousand years.
We are on the brink of technological breakthroughs that could augment our mental powers beyond recognition. It will soon be possible to boost human brainpower with electronic “plug-ins” or even by genetic enhancement. What will this mean for the future of humanity?
We should welcome with open arms the rich possibilities of technologically enhancing our bodies. Just so long as we don’t all end up looking, and thinking, and acting the same.
“If it was possible to become free of negative emotions by a riskless implementation of an electrode—without impairing intelligence and the critical mind—I would be the first patient.” - The Dalai Lama
Traditionally, April 22—Earth Day—is a day devoted to making green accessible to all. It’s a day when each of us is invited to take small, individual steps toward reducing our carbon footprints, limiting our waste, or restoring the environment. See how easy it is—and how fun—to do your part to save the planet? Whether Earth Day does any good, however, is a subject of some real debate.
There are good reasons for healthcare to be an attractive business. The demographics are fantastic, with aging populations practically everywhere, and specially so in higher-income countries. Unlike other fields, technology doesn’t necessarily lowers margins. For reasons that have more to do with market incentives than scientific limitations, most research is focused on profitable high-complexity, high-cost interventions, and for every cost-saving development there’s a new procedure that requires sophisticated equipment and highly trained specialists. A large and growing percentage of GDP is dedicated to healthcare, both by individuals and governments. And to top it all, the market is full of inefficiencies and complex barriers of entry.
In today’s modern society, is a 16 or 17 year-old person still a child? Legally, yes, and most of us would still regard such high school age kids as just that—kids, not adults or “grownups.” So, I was amazed yesterday and today to learn about the highly advanced scientific research being performed by an elite group of “children” in high schools throughout New Jersey, USA.
Assuming we reach the middle of this century without destroying civilization in nano wars, bio wars, nuclear wars, or something else, and assuming that global climate chaos has not reduced us to a nasty, brutish remnant of what we are today, then how and where will we choose to live? In floating ocean cities, in space, undersea, or on land in towering mega-structures?
Imagine living in a world where what you see, what you hear, and what you experience will be recorded wherever you go. Your day to day life is archived and saved, in perpetuity.
The IEET and the editors of the Journal of Evolution and Technology (JET) are pleased to announce the publication of two special issues of JET, one brought together by Sky Marsen with the intention of publishing a book on transhumanism, and the other a collection of papers from the IEET’s May 2006 Human Enhancement Technology and Human Rights conference at Stanford University. Together they represent the wide array of issues at play in the debate over human enhancement and our transhuman future, from the daily lived experience of pushing to maximize one’s potential, to the legal, political and philosophical arguments we will need to secure universal access to safe enhancement technologies. Enjoy!
One of the most troubling challenges for technoprogressives is how we can ensure universal access to safe technologies in our deplorably unequal world. Sadly there is no guarantee that any particular desirable technology will become available to all, within decades or ever.
The Swiss company Novartis is taking the Indian government to court over its legislation pertaining to generic drugs. Novartis wants to make it more difficult for Indian companies to produce generic drugs. MSF/Doctors without Borders is collecting signatures under a petition calling on Novartis to drop the case. The medical charity points out that ‘India is the pharmacy for the developing world.’
Further information about the background to the MSF campaign can be found here.
Bioethicists who work in health care are frequently called upon to make difficult decisions in often less than desirable situations. Thankfully, the steady introduction of new technologies provide ethicists, health practitioners and families with a variety of options. The trick these days is to choose the most desirable course of action. But the fact that most new technologies and the manner in which they are applied often appear shocking and radical at the outset makes ethical decisions even more difficult.
Now that George Bush has vetoed a bill rejecting legislation passed by Congress that would have expanded federal research on embryonic stem cells, Americans have been given a taste of what Canadians have had to deal with for the past four years.
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