From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Sat Nov 30 2002 - 14:31:09 MST
From: Robert J. Bradbury [mailto:bradbury@aeiveos.com]
> > Let's say you wanted to make an adult human grow a new
> > mental capacity- the ability for 4D visualization,
> > say, or a new mental organ that could do fast
> > mathematical calculation.
>
> Well, now you are talking some really extensive engineering.
True - this is a pretty aggressive goal for genetic engineering. The
reason I used it as an example is that the origin of this thread was
in discussing whether genetic engineering would lead to even further
social stratification, where the rich could use their wealth to buy
mods for themselves or their children that would then further their
ability to accumulate wealth, ad nauseum.
To analyze this scenario we need to focus our discussion on mods that
might plausibly increase the ability to accumulate wealth. The
obvious categories of such mods that I can think of are those that
either improve mental function or improve social desirability.
More specifically the scenarios I can think of are improving problem
solving, improving learning and memory, improving attention, adding
entirely new mental abilities, improving looks, and increasing
charisma.
Actually looking at this list it seems to me that for the most part
these abilities most affect the earning abilities of upper middle
class white collar workers, not the truly super rich, who hardly have
to do much work themselves to maintain and improve their wealth.
*shrug*
> It might be a lot easier to simply build this in real
> hardware and then develop an interconnect. The interconnects
> (with dozens of I/O lines) are being done now.
Frankly, I agree. The brain/computer interfaces section of my book
was the first that I got to draft stage, and ultimately I think it's a
technology with a more profound ability to change mankind than even
genetic engineering.
cheers,
mez
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