Bionics

Bionics

(Luke Skywalker's arm in Star Wars)

We've all heard of the rebuilding humans into machines. You can thank popular science fiction for that: The Bionic Woman (and very similarly Deus Ex-Human Revolution, which we will discuss later), Star Wars, Terminator, Blade Runner, Alien, the list goes on and on of entertainment works that utilize the concept. Surprisingly enough, current science has made strides to the point that many concepts of these movies are not only plausible, but in fact have been created in primitive form. This concept is called bionics. By using machines to improve the human condition, either through prostheses or internal devices, we are bettering human life. Really exciting and promising stuff.

Unfortunately for those excited by science, there's a huge problem associated with this sort of advancement: religious and/or conservative people. For every scientific feat, there's always someone who's against it. They claim, as one Ramez Naam states in his book More than Human, "we cannot stop research into enhancing ourselves without also halting research focused on healing the sick and injured." I feel that this is the single most valid argument against the process. By merely improving existing people, we neglect to help save those afflicted by disease. It would be much more practical to use this technology to save lives instead of bettering lives that are already good.


Moreover, there's another reason these dissenters to the idea of bionics give as being problematic. Since current bionic advancements are expensive, and this cost is only ever going to increase as the devices become more complex, these bionics could become a sort of luxury or commodity. As such, they might become a status symbol to the rich, or even possibly trafficked like drugs.


I think this clip sums up many of the fears of conservatives quite well:




The game stars our protagonist, Adam Jensen. While working as head of security for a bioenhancement center based in Detroit, he falls victim to a horrific industrial terrorist attack. The world in which they live is embroiled in enough chaos, and the concept of human enhancement is prominent in politics. As you can see in the video, Jensen's life would have been ruined by the attack, had it not been for the prostheses that he received from the company he worked for. This really sums up how positive biotechnology can be. However, in the sense of being a menace to society, giving weapons and tools like those in the video to someone who might use them for something negative really supports the naysayers to body augmentation.

Sure, the world Jensen lives in is rife with corruption, chaos, and killing. Look at it the way most rational people would though, and consider how much better people's lives are when they're given back the quality of life they once had, or even more. We as people have a right to develop these advancements. If the idea of life is to be the best person we can, shouldn't we then want to advance things that would make us better people? Morally, yes there are repercussions to this idea. A new class separation would be a problem, and causing war is a very real possibility.

But don't the ends justify the means here? We could have drastically improved lives. And further, if we use some form of judgment while making these advancements, we could easily keep the Armageddon-situation argued for from occurring. Besides, if an end of worlds scenario evolves, chances are there will be more than one source of woe than mere body augmentation.


Just my two cents on the topic, comment with your own theories. Honestly I love hearing new ideas and concepts to try out.