Better Lives through Biotech

BusinessWeek online carries a pretty good review of a book called More Than Human. I say it's just "pretty good" because I don't particularly like the reviewer's hand-wringing over the possible dangers of biotechnology and human genetic engineering. Not that aren't potential dangers; it's just that the reviewer seems to have thrown in these caveats almost as a sop to the Mrs. Grundys of our day (I'm thinking of people like professional worrier Jeremy Rifkin and his ilk)--an act of political correctness, in other words. Anyway, I put the emphasis on "good," since the review does make me want to read More Than Human, written by Ramez Naam, who has a day job is as a computer scientist for Microsoft.

Writes the BizWeek reviewer: "Imagine what your life would be like if a surgeon planted a computer chip in your brain that instantly made you smarter, more productive, and more sexually dynamic. And if you popped a pill every day that slowed the deterioration of your body's cells, all but assuring that you would live to be 160. Want to get tan without having to bask in cancer-causing sun rays? No problem: A simple injection would alter your genes, giving you the L.A. look you always wanted."

Sounds good to this extropian. Improving people through biotech? Bring it on.

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