IngentaConnect Odysseans of the Twenty-First Century

Author: Bradley, James T.¹

Source: Zygon, Volume 42, Number 4, December 2007 , pp. 999-1008(10)

Abstract:

In his book Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies—and What It Means to Be Human (2005), author-journalist Joel Garreau identifies four technologies whose synergistic activity may transform humankind into a state transcending present human nature: genetic, robotic, information, and nano (GRIN) technologies. If the GRIN technologies follow Moore's Law, as information technology has done for the past four decades, Homo sapiens and human society may be unimaginably different before the middle of this century. But among scientists, futurists, and other pundits there is no agreement on the nature and ramifications of this transformation. Based on dozens of interviews, Garreau sees three possible scenarios for our species. The Heaven Scenario foresees enhanced bodies and minds in a disease-free world, perhaps even immortality; the Hell Scenario warns of losing our identity as a biological entity and perhaps the demise of liberal democracy; the Prevail Scenario predicts that we will muddle through the GRIN technology revolution basically intact, as we have prevailed during past technological upheavals. In this review, these scenarios are examined in the context of Kuhn's “normal” versus “extraordinary” science and in the context of current understanding about gene function.

Keywords: biotechnology; extraordinary science; Francis Fukuyama; Joel Garreau; genes; GRIN technologies; Heaven Scenario; Hell Scenario; human evolution; human nature; human values; Thomas Kuhn; Ray Kurzweil; Jaron Lanier; metaphors in science; Moore's Law; nanotechnology; normal science; Prevail Scenario; religion; spirituality; Gregory Stock; transcendence

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00885.x

Affiliations: 1: Mosley Professor of Science and Humanities in the Department of Biological Sciences, 331 Funchess Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849;, Email: bradljt@auburn.edu.

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