Are We All Going Bionic?

 

Photograph by Samuel Zeller

It started when I underwent an appendectomy at age 11. Horrible visual hallucinations under ether but, being near Easter, a tiny duckling was waiting for me when I got home.What followed years later was a cascade of repairs and replacements and reinforcements: a hernia repaired with mesh then re-done with sutures, a series of trigger finger surgeries, a few dental crowns, herniated vertebral disk alleviated by epidural spinal injections, massive rotator cuff tear re-attached, another partial rotator cuff restitched, both knees replaced by internal prostheses, three coronary stents to keep arteries patent, and most recently, cataracts exchanged for new lenses.It’s a short list compared to all that is out there. There are, of course, a plenitude of mechanical devices; every limb has replacement options. And we have been moving into electromechanical and, getting au courant, direct brain connections to mimic muscle management via a brain-computer interface.Still another soon-to-be-cutting-edge phenomenon is the use of gene expression to target specific brain functions from cognition to mental diseases such as schizophrenia and depressive disorders and even to intercept dementing processes. Genes are not simply stagnant roadmaps directing the production of cells, tissues, organs and the entire body. They are continually interacting with - and between - cells via various messengers. These messengers are, in turn, responsive to the immediate ever-changing environment. The brain, which is continually remodeling its microstructure, is a true hive of such activities..

"Today we are seeing some of the creators of social media and scientific technologies lamenting their own inventions."

.We may be soon reaching the point where we can effect significant changes in bodily structures and functions, from curing and reversing disease processes, to expanding cognitive potential and increasing memory capacity. All this occurs under the concept of genetic engineering.It all began with Mary Shelley's spectral and oracular novel Frankenstein. It was an immediate hit in 1818 because it captured the recent public fascination with electrically stimulated animals and the idea of creating new life by electrical means. At that same time Alessandro Volta, studying the electric eel's physiology, created the first battery. Frankenstein, a serious exploration of ideas about the dangers of manipulating nature, entered the public consciousness mainly for its horrific appeal. Plays soon emerged and new stagings and finally movies followed down through the two succeeding centuries.Genetic engineering is now poised to involve gene editing, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI as it is now known). It is a one-stop process that could eventually re-shape  and alter the human species.Goethe's Faust and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein both cautioned against tampering with nature. Today we are seeing some of the creators of social media and scientific technologies lamenting their own inventions. Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and a Facebook investor declared himself a social media “conscientious objector.” Justin Rosenstein, the inventor of the Facebook “like” button now regards social media as an enemy of democracy. Anthony Ingraffea, who invented the methodology of fracking, is now actively opposed to its use. The anthropologist Bruno Latour once championed the idea that objectivity in science is false, its objectivity unsettled and uncertain. Now, in the climate of alternative facts, climate change deniers and partisan media blastings, he has reversed course. Now he argues: “We will have to regain some of the authority of science. That is the complete opposite from where we started doing science studies.”Last April National Geographic published an article about Neil Harbisson, the first cyborg, who, born only able to see in black-and-white, had a device implanted in his brain which can pick up colors by converting them to sounds. Surely Mary Shelly and even Goethe would recognize the confluence of their creations and Mr. Harbisson.The transhumanism movement, which promotes the merging of software with "wetware" will embrace the emergence of a species of human, also reworked genetically with possible hardware inclusions. Consider all this in the harsh light of today's socio-political climate. We should shudder at the future of that grand illusion.Meanwhile we humans continue, as always, busying ourselves with extinguishing animal and plant species, poisoning our air and our oceans, altering planetary climate and unbalancing global waters. We also have never released ourselves from our ancient war-like ways. Since pre-history we have consistently fought our neighbors as fatal foes. Once again the insane, planetary death blow of a nuclear option is back on the desktops of world leaders.We can all relate to Faust's apprentice when (in 1808) he cried out:"...come to my assistance!Wrong I was in callingSpirits, I avow,For I find them galling,Cannot rule them now."