Nearly two thirds of people in leading Western European countries would consider augmenting the human body with technology to improve their lives, mostly to improve health, according to research commissioned by Kaspersky.
As humanity journeys further into a technological revolution that its leaders say will change every aspect of our lives, opportunities abound to transform the ways our bodies operate from guarding against cancer to turbo-charging the brain.
The Opinium Research survey of 14,500 people in 16 countries including Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain showed that 63% of people would consider augmenting their bodies to improve them, though the results varied across Europe.
In Britain, France and Switzerland, support for augmentation was low – at just 25%, 32% and 36% respectively – while in Portugal and Spain it was much higher – at 60% in both.
“Human augmentation is one of the most significant technology trends today,” said Marco Preuss, European director of global research and analysis at Kaspersky, a Moscow-based cybersecurity firm.
“Augmentation enthusiasts are already testing the limits of what’s possible, but we need commonly agreed standards to ensure augmentation reaches its full potential while minimising the risks,” Preuss said.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s neuroscience startup Neuralink last month unveiled a pig named Gertrude that has had a coin-sized computer chip in its brain for two months, showing off an early step toward the goal of curing human diseases with the same type of implant.
The survey found that most people wanted any human augmentation to work for the good of humanity, though there were concerns that it would be dangerous for society and open to exploitation by hackers.
The survey showed the majority of people felt that only the rich would be able to get access to human augmentation technology.
Every time I see an item such as this, I go into what I call the Terminator Syndrome. While technology has provided many conveniences to people, I fear that eventually artificial intelligence will develop a mind of its own as it did in the movie, and overtake human freedoms and control. I hope I’m wrong, but somehow I doubt it, because I believe the handwriting is on the wall for those who have eyes to see it.
I totally agree that the handwriting is on the wall! Can augmentation be used for harm? Absolutely! Consider the vaccine that will change our very DNA! Not tested, but being pushed for every living human, including children, our most precious resource. Not only will this “chip” curtail our freedoms, but no one knows what changing our basic DNA structure will do to us in the long or even short term! Along with allowing anyone to know all about us (health history, spending history, location history, etc.), what else may it do? The beginning technology was developed in secret and was “surprisingly” available for these vaccines. What else have they programmed into this “chip”? Do you know? Can your brain even wrap around the possible evil which could be incorporated into this technology? Could this technology alter our thinking, our ability to stand against evil, force our complacency, make us think everything is hunky dory, while we are being led to a slaughter of some type?
I don’t think we have truly seen the evil this technology can be easily converted into. And, as I’ve already said, what exactly will we become when our DNA is altered, an masse, for us? Has anybody actually stepped up to have their DNA altered to find out how the new gmo-human will behave or think? The negative implications are guargantuan!