Our Grandchildren Redesigned - 9780807052174

A panoramic overview of biotechnologies that can endlessly boost human capabilities and the drastic changes these “superhuman” traits could trigger
 
Biotechnology is moving fast. In the coming decades, advanced pharmaceuticals, bioelectronics, and genetic interventions will boost human physical and mental performance to unprecedented levels. People will have access to pills that make them stronger and faster, informatic devices will interface seamlessly with the human brain, and epigenetic modification may allow people to reshape their own physical and mental identity at will. 
 
The results will no doubt be mixed. People will live longer, healthier lives and will generate staggeringly complex forms of knowledge. But these technologies also threaten to widen the rift between rich and poor, to generate new forms of social and economic division, and to force people into constant upgrades merely to keep up. Individuals may acquire such extreme capabilities that they will no longer be recognized as unambiguously human. 
 
Award-winning historian Michael Bess provides a clear, nontechnical overview of cutting-edge biotechnology and paints a vivid portrait of a near-future society in which bioenhancement has become a part of everyday life. He surveys the ethical questions raised by the enhancement enterprise and explores the space for human agency in dealing with the challenges that these technologies will present.