Future Developments in Human Engineering
As imwrtant a s it is that we net students to understand and appreciate the nature of the miterial world, and as critical as it is that we keep abreast of developments that improve our own understanding of that world and our ~bilityto bring out the best in our students, it also is essential that we maintain some level of farniliaritv with advances in other areas of knowledge. No areas a r k o r e fertile at present than the bioloeical. behavioral and cornouter sciences. and no asoect of these siences is more provoiative than thiir applicat'ions to human engineering. Among the techniques workers in these sciences are using or planning to use in human engineering are those that can manipulate genes manufacture hearts and other organs modify markedly the beginning and end of life stimulate and alter the brain program the behavior of individuals or groups link humans to machines or humans to animals.
. ..
[For these and other examples, and a discussion of some implications in all this, see Vance Packard, "The People Shapers," Little, Brown and Co., New York, 1977; excerpted in Saturday Reuiew, August 20,1971.1 Two aspects of human engineering by gene manipulation are described as enriching the human seed and making biological alterations. Perhaps before the end of the century, enrichine the human seed will he possible on a laree scale. Human seed markets that deal in frozen sperm, frozen human eggs and frozen embryos could be in operation. Some of these might have their own facilities for uniting selected sperms and eggs, and for cultivatina the resulting- embrvos before implanting them in women. The possibility of multiple parenthood-already demonstrated with mice--may be possible with humans. This could be achieved by allowing cells from fertilized eggs of two sets of oarents to interminele and.,after an aooronriate oeriod of growth, implanting the new emhryo into a prepared woman. Althoueh creatine multinarented humans is not a t oresent on any responsible biologist's priority list, there are some eugenicists who cannot conceal their excitement over the prospect of producing humans carrying genes from more than two parents. - Before the year 2000, genetic diseasescaused hy the failure of a sinale gene to evolve a critical enzyme will be contn,llable. In cases where only one, two or threeknzymes are dominant, the abiity to modify certain body processes and physical traits may become a reality. Even now the ultimate height of children can be manipulated, in some cases, by hormones. Unless a major obstacle intervenes, cloning of humans will have been demonstrated by the end of the century. Manufacturing hearts and other organs to replace damaged or defective parts is within reach, although serious ethical questions are involved. For example, the cultivation of clones is seen as a source of organs. Also, laboratory cultivation of human reproductive organs-perhaps from young people lost to accident or disease-could be carried out so as to permit a continuous production of sperm and eggs. When fertilized, the eggs could lead to the generation of as many embryos as
.. ~. .
-
~~~
might be desired. A lone-term prospect . . is the creation of .'parahumans," special hhan-animal mutants, that might serve as surrogate mothers to carry the laboratory.cultivated embryos, producing organisms that could serve as sources of organs for transplants. The entire concept of laboratow created and mown embryos containing pr&ibed contents, peihaps from more than two parental donors, that can be implanted in prepared women or surrogates to create human life gives entirely new dimensions to thr origin and roots of the individual. In 81 similar wilv. the end of life mav be altered dramaticah as one organ af& another is replac2 to increase the life s p a . If and when replacement of a mature brain in a young body becomes feasible, the concept of the individual will have an entirely new meaning. Meanwhile, the behaviorists, including many neurophysiologists, psychopharmacologists, orthomolecular psychiatrists and behavioral psychologists are exploring some startling new technologies for stimulating and modifying the brain, and for programming the behavior of individuals and groups. As one behaviorist is quoted as saying, "We have the technology for installing any behavior we want." Competing of . - for the most fascinating and frightening projected human engineering technolugies is the hrain.com. puter hook-up. Roth feeding and reading the mind electronically are feasible, but mindreading may be the easier of the two to perfect. Small cumputers that recognize fluctuations in brain waves, and that can be implanted in the head are being developed. Using brain-wave patterns detected by these computers, it has been possible to know in advance how a person will react and perhaps even to alert him in time to avoid a wrong or dangerous move. Computers have been "taught" to recognize words woken or those onlv thought bv subiects. Lawrence ~inneu.'aStanford neurupfysiolr&t reports, "We conclude thnt it is feusihle for a human \.erl~nllvto comm~micatebnth overtly and covertly with a compute;using biological information alone, with a high degree of accuracy and reliabilityat least with a small vocabulary." Based on such advances, speculators predict that individuals might drive cars or pilot airplanes by thought control, and that students might learn basic school subjects without conscious and prolonged studv. he possibility of incorporating a memory-enhancing comuuter into the brain was the subiect of a session a t the 1976 AAAS Meeting. The plan is to p o i r a m the computer in rhe twain's own electrochemical lanruare so that it could both receive and send information. oncethe linkage is complete, material stored in the computer would be immediatelv available to the mind,greatlyexpanding itscapacity for [el;able memory. Such brain-computer linkages may be fifty sears in the future Before they areperfectedsome formidabie biological, chemical and engineering problems must be solved. The students in our classes today will be in their thirties, forties and fifties when many of these technologies achieve marketability. Many of us will live to see how they are marketed and how the society accommodates to them. I t would be helpful if we could somehow prepare our students and ourselves for the profound challenges t o our perception of humanness that these developments will surely bring. WTL Volume 54, Number 10. October 1977 1
589
