Despite
the popularity of superhumans in the X-Men series and growing interest in
transhumanism, the American public is wary of even mild forms of human
enhancement, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center.
In the
survey people were asked about three scenarios: gene editing to protect babies
from disease, chips in the brain to improve people’s ability to think, and
synthetic blood which would enhance performance by increasing speed, strength
and endurance.
None of
these are currently possible. Even so, people were “cautious and often
resistant”. Most would be “very” or “somewhat” worried about gene editing
(68%), brain chips (69%) and synthetic blood (63%). By a margin of 2 to 1,
people would not want to be enhanced themselves and only half would want it for
their children.
As an
index of how much the public trusts scientists, “At least seven-in-ten adults
predict each of these new technologies will become available before they have
been fully tested or understood.” Most believe that enhancement technology will
increase social differences because only the rich will be able to afford it. A
majority also believes that enhanced humans will feel superior to those who do
not have them. People with a deep religious commitment and women tend to be
more skeptical of enhancement.
The survey
also detected skepticism about cosmetic surgery, which is the closest legal
enhancement available at the moment.
For
example, 61% of Americans say people are too quick to undergo cosmetic
procedures to change their appearance in ways that are not really important.
Roughly a third (34%) say elective cosmetic surgery is “taking technology too
far.” And, overall, 54% of U.S. adults say elective cosmetic surgery leads to
both benefits and downsides for society, while 26% express the belief that
there are more downsides than benefits, and just 16% say society receives more
benefits than downsides from cosmetic surgery.
Unsurprisingly,
scientists feel differently. Some believe that if the US Congress continues to
ban germline modification – genetic engineering which can be passed on to the
next generation – the US will be left behind. “The United States is ceding its
leadership in this arena to other nations,” write I. Glenn Cohen and Eli Y.
Adashi in an essay in Science.
“We are
on the cusp of being able to do [gene editing] safely, and the prospect of a
telling a parent that they won’t have access to these therapies is morally
untenable,” transhumanist bioethicist James Hughes, the executive director of
the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, told Motherboard.
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