Do you like a robotic arm or an increase in IQ? Augmentations of the human body may seem like the music of the distant future, but they are already becoming an important topic for professionals around the world.
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Augmentations represent another milestone in human development, and humanity must be sufficiently prepared for their arrival.
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That is why body improvement was the main subject of the Next conference, which is organized annually by Kaspersky, a company dealing with cyber security. The main debate was attended by David Jacoby and Marco Preuss, members of Kaspersky’s global research and analysis team. Also Zoltan Istvan, writer and founder of the Transhumanist Party, and Julian Savulescu, a professor at Oxford University.
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Cyborg easily and quickly
Augmentation is the improvement of the body through technology
It often appears in science fiction works, but now it is already moving into reality
For example, augmentations are also being addressed by various transhumanist movements, which believe that technology and its incorporation into human bodies is another human evolutionary step. Augmentation can improve a person’s physical characteristics, but also cognitive function and overall intelligence.
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Southern states want improvements
The company also surveyed 16 countries around the world, including the Czech Republic, and found that the vast majority of people (92 percent) would change the physical aspect of themselves if possible, but “only” 63 percent would consider technological body improvement. both temporary and permanent.
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The Czech Republic emerged from the survey as one of the more conservative countries. When asked whether human improvement is acceptable, only 37 percent of Czechs answered in the affirmative. On the contrary, the most open nations to augmentations were the Portuguese and the Spaniards, who had 60 percent each. High levels of acceptability also appeared in Morocco, Italy and Greece.
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People justify the adoption of augmentation technologies by improving their overall lives (53 percent), followed by the opportunity to change their body to their liking (39 percent) as well as helping to reduce suffering (39 percent). People see the least sense in improving the economy (11 percent).
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Men want better eyesight and women want to be more attractive. But since the augmentation, both sexes want the most to improve their health. It is medicine that should be one of the first branches where augmentation will be used, the discussants agreed.
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Threat or opportunity
According to the initial presentation, augmentation of the human body will change almost all aspects of human life. According to all debaters, however, it is a double-edged weapon that will reach the general public sooner or later. The discussion then split on the level of individual freedom.
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Zoltan Istvan, known for his optimism about new technologies, was of the opinion that body augmentation should be approached with minimal regulation. According to the writer, each person must determine what he wants from the improvement of his body.
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However, other discussants pointed to the current problem with social networks, which, according to David Jacoby, for example, have outgrown humanity, and according to him, society can no longer afford a similar mistake. “We didn’t develop the technology until we found out what the problems were, which we had no idea about,” Jacoby told the conference.
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Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky is an international cyber security company.
It operates in approximately two hundred countries.
It was founded in the second half of the 1990s by Russian businessman Yevgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky.
There is controversy around the company over its alleged links to Russian secret services, which the company has consistently denied. However, in the US, for example, Kaspersky software must not be on government networks from 2017.
Kaspersky unsuccessfully defended itself against the US government’s decision in court.
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Oxford professor Julian Savulescu spoke similarly. “We need a moral compass to know which improvements are good and which are not. This is not a question for the individual, nor for the free market, “said Savulescu.
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He saw the problem primarily in the position of the technologies on which they depend, but which are at the same time driven only by profit. He also stressed that an important aspect in augmentations is the improvement not only of physical properties, but also of psychological properties, such as cognitive functions and morality.
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What if someone “hacks” my hand?
But neither participant sees an effective way to regulate human augmentation. There is no supranational institution that has the power to regulate similar technologies around the world. Self-regulation is also out of the question, because, as the individual discussants have suggested, there is a risk of a rise in China, which, according to an Oxford professor, does not share Western values and does not shy away from going beyond morality.
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There is also a real concern about the so-called biohacking, ie the hacking of human augmentations. 88 percent of those surveyed are potentially afraid of this.
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The most realistic solution was seen by the debaters in the form of connecting the private and public spheres in order to create new legislation, just as American lawmakers are now trying to regulate technological giants.
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Another threat that almost 70 percent of people fear, according to a Kaspersky survey, is growing inequality between people, as only the richest will be able to afford to improve their bodies. Initially, this will probably be the case, but the more augmentations the body exists, the more they become cheaper and more accessible.
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