The Pros And Cons Of Human Regeneration

When exploring the possibilities that humans will be faced with in the not too distant future in which humans are transformed into something that is human but different, the Trans-human. We see a future offering genetic manipulation, replace parts grown and used when needed, we can even see the possibilities of regeneration. The one that I contend will be the first and probably the fastest path to the future of mankind is the machine brain interface. I define this idea as any device that is not native to the biological human that interacts directly with the brain producing results that either enhance a person’s natural ability or somehow bypasses limitations that injury or disease has inflicted the individual with (paralysis). The closest

analogue that I can think of would the Borg in the Star Trek franchises though, hopefully, not as ambivalent as the race of cyborgs that is depicted in the TV shows and movies. I will look in to more specific ways that are currently being investigated and in the actual development cycle and show how they are reflecting the visions of some science fiction authors. There will also be an examination of the pros and cons to each of the ideas I will offer, in addition I will show where the possible outcomes that could be reached with the technologies offered today.
The first interface that will be seen within a timeframe that is manageable to most people will be bypassing injured parts of the body using artificial connections from the brain to an uninjured part of the body that simply needs the instructions to function again. We see this already being done in limited cases currently, the issue is that there are mixed results and so the scientists and engineers are working on perfecting both the technology and connections to raise the reliability of their devices. This approach offers the promise to bypass the damage of a spinal cord injury and allow the person to regain function of their legs and arms. A short list of pros for this advancement will be that the people seriously injured in an accident will be able to function as if nothing had happened to them. This will be considered a miracle by many while others are looking at this potential gift as man simply playing God on another human. The truth of the matter is this benefit will likely change how we see different diagnoses from paraplegic to even the crueler diseases like Multiple Sclerosis and potentially Parkinson’s Disease. Some potential draw backs to this advancement are first that someone will find a way to manipulate this and be able to turn a person into nothing short of a superhuman through manipulation of the commands that the brain sends to the limbs in question. This is a possible problem, however this would require a severe amount of manipulation of other systems within the body to be effective. Another con to this technology would be the ability for someone to hack the device somehow and be able to shut off the signal thus making anyone with this device unable to respond in a way they would be accustomed to. This is within the realm of reality as we have seen the ability of people perform this act becoming more ingenious with every hack and more sophisticated in their methods and use of technology to bypass security that people had thought unbreakable.
Another technology that is being explored is the idea of reprogramming a person’s brain. This is an idea that allows someone to basically rewire a brain to allow the person to either become more capable cognitively or to allow say a soldier the ability to have no memories that are so troubling that it triggers PTSD. This is something that again has both its good points but even more dire potential to become abused. The good that can come from this type of technology is that it may hold the potential to allow people with cognitive disabilities say Autism to rewire their brain so that they can begin to function at what doctors would call normal. Another benefit would allow a person who has had some traumatic event in their lives to have no recollection of the event so that they can lead a normal life without the haunting memories bleeding through to their conscience or unconscious life. While either of the benefits would be a blessing to anyone in those situations we must not forget that there is also a much darker potential that would need to be addressed. This darker potential is the same ability that could require a person’s brain to improve cognition or forget something terrible could also work to program someone to effect an event without the person even realizing it had happened. A good example of this would be Demolition Man where if a person was convicted of a crime they would serve their sentence in hibernation and would be reprogrammed and taught a skill that would benefit society rather than be a drag to it. The problem is when someone has an agenda and teaches an inmate to become an ultimate killing machine without anyone noticing then you have someone who has the knowledge and the ability to do terrible things. This movie also shows that a person could be controlled through the same programming thus may not be aware of the programming until someone or something triggers the program to activate. This could be the ultimate sleeper agent or if a criminal removes memories of a crime the potential then would be that he would be very hard to prosecute as he would clearly have no memory of the crime in which he is being charged. This this line of technology would have to be very carefully managed and even then, as is the case in most things, people will find a way either through subterfuge or simply paying people to come up with the same technology to gain access to it. It would fundamentally change our legal system and the notions of how we remember things.
The final area that I will explore is the ability to simply grow new body parts, this area holds great potential for mankind as we simply grow parts that we need to replace either defective parts like a kidney or lung or, potentially, new limbs if some tragic accident happens.

This will even be further refined and we will simply print out replacement parts as needed using a modified 3-d printer similar to what we have today. Whether printed or grown this advancement will have the potential to extended human life well beyond what we currently think the limits are. The pros for this advancement would be simply that what we consider life altering diseases or accidents would simply be a temporary condition until replacement parts are either printed or grown and then used to replace the defective areas. This has a clear potential to end several common modern conditions and allow people a normal life beyond what we can manage today. Cons to this advancement are numerous but the most apparent is when we combine genetic manipulation and this technology we can produce genetically superior body parts. Thus, the human condition we have at birth will be thrown out and replaced with something beyond our imagination. This also has a con in that as with genetic manipulation towards a superior human if someone had an ulterior motive they could in fact insert a type of gene marker that if activated could potentially kill the recipient or be used to control a person through either overt blackmail or covert control. AS is the case with all advancements we have looked at thus far we would need to manage this one and ensure the safety of anything being used to replace a body part is not modified to the detriment of the person receiving the replacement

part.