Human 2.0

If you have been paying attention – you might have noticed some small news stories about polymerized stroma free hemoglobin (a.k.a. Artificial Blood). I only mention this because my mind often takes these “turns” when I hear about potentially changing the human condition… turns that guide me towards the “what if” and the “what then”.

Companies have and are currently developing Artificial Blood that can hold greater quantities of Oxygen (among other things) and could eventually be more efficient then what nature has given us. Experiments have already been done where mice (with transfusions of Artificial Blood) have survived in Oxygen deprived environments for hours instead of minutes.

The benefits are limitless – in the fields of Medicine alone, countless lives could be saved and/or prolonged. Harmful blood pathogens and diseases could be eliminated, while organs could be kept alive for later transplantation. In sports, we could be seeing an end to performance enhancing drugs as this “new blood” would allow athletes to endure far beyond their current levels. So with all these very cool (and it is very cool) benefits, why would anyone be concerned?

As for the technology – I’m not upset or concerned. I have no religious qualms about replacing the biological for the artificial, but I do take issue in how this (and other advancements) will impact us as a society.

As with most technological advancements – there will be those that benefit and those that are left behind. Not everyone gets an ipod, not everyone can have movies on-demand and not everyone will have access to biological advancements of the human condition. We already struggle with the economical “have’s” and “have not’s”, but now we are facing a sociological divide between the augmented and “the not”. Questions of whether to hire the Doctor from Harvard Medical School or the person that has had the entire National Library of Medicine downloaded into their brain could some day be a real topic.

It’s just blood for now, but let’s be prepared for the days of nanotechnology and genetic upgrades, when we will have to make the decision of whether we should spontaneously evolve or remain behind and become anthropomorphic antiquities.

As my grandfather told me – “Never confuse change for progress”