Elevating the Human Condition
“Bioinformatics” is both a set of tools and a field with blurred boundaries, making it difficult to list its chief accomplishments. It is the practice of creating and/or using computational approaches to tackle biological problems.
ETH researchers led by Professor Martin Fussenegger have developed the first gene network to be operated via brainwaves.
I wrote a book “The Guide to the Future of Medicine: Technology AND The Human Touch” to prepare everyone for the coming waves of change, to be a guide for the future of medicine that anyone can use. It describes 22 trends and technologies that I think will shape the future.
Two recent studies, both published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, show a promising alternative to small-molecule drugs that are the mainstay of antibiotics today.
Last year, they figured out how to insert and delete genes. This year there are methods for repressing and perhaps promoting genes (epigenetically, without modifying the genome) using CRISPR-derived technology.
If the controversy over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) tells us something indisputable, it is this: GMO food products from corporations like Monsanto are suspected to endanger health. On the other hand, an individual’s right to genetically modify and even synthesize entire organisms as part of his dietary or medical regimen could someday be a human right.
Human cloning is anathema to most of us conjuring up Metropolis visions of identical humans serving tyrannical masters. But might this be a mistaken horror story? Could human cloning instead lead to medical breakthroughs and the end to infertility?
Advances in genetics now permit to edit one’s genome relatively easily. Gene therapy is now used exclusively to fix diseases, but could soon be used by transhumanists for genetic enhancement, such as augmenting one’s mental faculties or improving one’s physical appearance. What exactly can we modify and what are the risks involved ?
In a recent article over at the ironically named “Evolution News”, an intelligent design blog, ID advocate and frequent critic of transhumanism Wesley J. Smith gets nearly everything wrong.
Where are technologies heading in the next 30 years ? How will they affect our lifestyle and human society ?
