Super charging Human evolution?

[SG-17]

would it be possible and ethical to creat a perfect human from a stem cell by activating/de-activating certain parts of the dna to change the percent of the brain that the perfect person would use, the higher the percent the more you can do, like telekinese



please ignore spelling

[Admiral Valdemar]

Hmm, where to start...

Firstly, we use all of our brain anyway. The myth that we only use 10% stems from people misinterpreting the fact that only 10% by volume of our grey matter is firing at any one time, sometimes more, sometimes less. All of it firing at the same time would lead to a very overheated head and subsequent seizures.

Secondly, a "perfect human" would have to be engineered from scratch to whatever arbitrary standard "perfect" is defined as here.

Thirdly, genetic engineering is not as simple as turning on or off "good and bad" genes.

Fourthly, telekinesis doesn't exist.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

would it be possible and ethical to creat a perfect human from a stem cell by activating/de-activating certain parts of the dna to change the percent of the brain that the perfect person would use, the higher the percent the more you can do, like telekinese



please ignore spelling

A) Telekinesis, like telepathy, clairvoyance, ESP, and other paranormal powers don't exist in reality. Anyone who thinks they can prove otherwise can apply to James Randi's One Million Dollar Prize.

B) What turkey gets to define "perfection" in this case?

C) As has been said, the brain is already 100% utilized. And hundreds of millions of years of evolution in a conspiracy with the laws of physics have cleverly arranged it so you can't boost performance in one area without losing something from another area. So without some sort of cybernetic enhancement, or some serious additions to the human genome, you can't really create a genetically engineered superman.

D) As has been said, genetic engineering to the degree you're proposing is nowhere near as simple as you seem to think it is. Owing to the aforementioned hundreds of millions of years of evolution that have taken place since the dawn of multicellular life, a given gene has been forced to play several different functions. Suppressing a given gene to get A effect will produce side-effects B, C, D, and E. And you have to know when to express the genes, and where to express them. This is far beyond the scope of mucking about with a single egg cell. As a further testament to the difficulty, consider this: You share half your DNA with the humble daffodil, and only a couple percentage points of difference seperates you from a chimpanzee.

[Enforcer Talen]

So, to clarify:

Possible? No.
Ethical? I think so.

[SG-17]

is see both of your points
and by perfection i will elaborate
imune to all illness
20/20 vision
flawless hearing
not physical or mental imparments
increased strenght
increased level of active synapses below 70% of all to avoid physical consequences

and the human brain has unlimited potential, so telekinese may be possible as we evolve

[Enforcer Talen]

is see both of your points
and by perfection i will elaborate
imune to all illness
20/20 vision
flawless hearing
not physical or mental imparments
increased strenght
increased level of active synapses below 70% of all to avoid physical consequences

and the human brain has unlimited potential, so telekinese may be possible as we evolve

Please, please, for the love of FSM, use grammar.

Also, your last point has already been dismissed.

[SG-17]

In today's understanding of the universe i does not exist.

[KrauserKrauser]

The human mind has as much capability for telekinesis as I do for getting pregnant.

Actually, genetic engineering could feasibly have a male pregnancy, though I'll leave that to the women folk. No watermeons are coming out of me, no thank you.

[Enforcer Talen]

I dont expect you to exist here much longer either.

[Darth Raptor]

and the human brain has unlimited potential, so telekinese may be possible as we evolve

The brain does not have unlimited potential. It operates under very strict space, power and damage limitations. Even through extensive cyberization, you're not going to get a brain that can do things that are physically impossible, like psychokinesis.

[Enforcer Talen]

The human mind has as much capability for telekinesis as I do for getting pregnant.

Actually, genetic engineering could feasibly have a male pregnancy, though I'll leave that to the women folk. No watermeons are coming out of me, no thank you.

Just think, you'll be that much closer to perfection; an all male society.

. . .

[CaptainChewbacca]

In today's understanding of the universe i does not exist.

...what?

[KrauserKrauser]

In today's understanding of the universe i does not exist.

In Soviet Russia, Universe does not exist me!

[Darth Raptor]

In today's understanding of the universe i does not exist.

...what?

Another nihilism wanker, I suppose. "You can't prove something doesn't exist, therefore it does!" Psychic beam attack!

[Enforcer Talen]

In today's understanding of the universe i does not exist.

...what?

Another nihilism wanker, I suppose. "You can't prove something doesn't exist, therefore it does!" Psychic beam attack!

Aieee! Your power of telekenisis have destroyed me!

[Eris]

Actually, genetic engineering could feasibly have a male pregnancy, though I'll leave that to the women folk. No watermeons are coming out of me, no thank you.

Actually as a matter of definition no male can be pregnant. Being incapable of pregnancy is one of the fundamental characteristics of being male. Now, you might have male sex characteristics and still be able to become pregnant, but that would just put you in some third sexual category. To be fair, this is not only off topic, such as there is one to begin with, but also is a semantic nitpick. Your point remains that we could in theory genetically engineer a creature that has both female and male sex characteristics; it happens by natural mutation after all, and I see no reason why that's an unduplicateable feat.

In today's understanding of the universe i does not exist.

What the fuck does that even mean? I smell the terrible reek of someone who's read too much Continental philosophy.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

is see both of your points
and by perfection i will elaborate
imune to all illness
20/20 vision
flawless hearing
not physical or mental imparments
increased strenght
increased level of active synapses below 70% of all to avoid physical consequences

and the human brain has unlimited potential, so telekinese may be possible as we evolve

A) Oh for fuck's sake, did you miss the two posts that state that "telekinesis is not possible"? It's not possible, period. The laws of physics prohibit it. Even if you could do it, the first time you tried to move something of any real mass, your brain would be crushed to a gooey, useless pulp due to conservation of momentum.

B) Immunity to all illnesses is also not possible. The best you can do is have a fast-responding immune system, so you spend less time sick, but viruses and bacteria mutate and adapt. Eventually something sufficiently virulent will crop up and exploit some trick you never even foresaw when creating your genetically engineered superman.

C) While ensuring 20/20 vision is certainly possible, why not go for 20/15 or something similarly improved? Of course, you'll probably lose this capacity as the genetically engineered superman gets older, so to counter that you'll have to modify the way he ages. You could engineer someone with the visual acuity of a hawk, but that would involve giving him eyes the size of baseballs and fundamentally reorganizing his brain. You could also similarly engineer someone to have "flawless" hearing, but difficulties arise when you want to make him capable of hearing infrasonic or ultrasonic frequency sounds.

D) To give your genetically engineered superman enhanced strength, he's going to have to eat more (all that extra muscle demands more calories, after all,) and won't be as able to tolerate starvation, excessive heat, or excessive cold. You'd also have to make sure his bones are up to snuff too.

E) "Increased level of active synapses below 70%" What the hell does this even mean?

[Enforcer Talen]

Admittedly, I do like the idea of improving humanity (I like the transhumanist philisophy, for that reason). If you are into that, Id reccomend "Citizen Cyborg" "More then Human" or anything by Kurzweil.

[Darth Raptor]

E) "Increased level of active synapses below 70%" What the hell does this even mean?

He wants as many synapses firing at once without having the poor sod go into a seizure.

[Covenant]

Ahem, to approach this seriously, could you 'improve' people through genetic engineering and/or selective breeding? Quite possibly, if you had some goal in mind and were willing to have tradeoffs. As always, it's a question of what you want and what you're willing to pay.

The brain, of course, is a lump of wet cells and it's fully utilized. It could be BETTER utilized I'm sure, but any machine or construct can be refined, changed, and improved to one goal or another. Dicking with the brain is likely to have so many difficulties you're better off investing in superior education methods, an extended lifespan, and the dissassembly of the fundamentalist institutions of the world if you're looking to unlock the brain's 'potential.'

Dogs are a good example of what you can do with breeding. My bulldog is certainly not much of an 'improvement' on the design. I sure wouldn't be as afraid of a pack of bulldogs as I would of Great Danes or Wolfhounds or something. But just like you can make a great dane or wolfhound capable of following orders, killing a wolf, and doing tasks for people I'm sure that you could probably go through the reprehensible process of breeding people or engineering them to accomplish certain goals. I assume we're animal enough, but I have no idea how successful it would be on breeding in or out personality traits. Behaviors have to do with your genetics, but for all I know it's locked in some arcane segment of the brain that we can't really mess with at this point.

[Enforcer Talen]

Keyword being this point. 20-50 yrs down the line, it will be interesting.

"I want designer babies with that. Thankyou"

[KrauserKrauser]

E) "Increased level of active synapses below 70%" What the hell does this even mean?

He saw that 100% activity would be too much, and thinks 70% is better, as it would lessen the overheating previously mentioned.

Now there is more than likely something you can do to genetically alter the smarts of a person, play around with the manner in which it creates the folds and what not, unless Einstein's brain having folds, etc is a urban legend. If it is, then fuck it, genetic engineer some Wolverine claws on every one.

Wolverines!

[FedRebel]

and by perfection i will elaborate
imune to all illness

Not possible. viruses and bacteria evolve like we do

How in the Hell else do you think you have to worry about influenza every year (and have already contracted it several times before)

20/20 vision

That already has been achieved naturally

Surgery and external corrective devices are also capable of canceling out the most common defects

flawless hearing

Already exists naturally

External devices can cancel out the most common defects

not physical or mental imparments

Already exists naturally, provided that the mother eats a balanced diet, and never ingests alcohol or other toxins.

increased strenght

This can be achieved naturally via exersize

and the human brain has unlimited potential, so telekinese may be possible as we evolve

And pigs can fly

No evidence exists that "Jedi powers" are possible, and our brain has reached the limit of it's current stage of development.

Any natural improvements would enhance what we already have, not create new "powers"

[Enforcer Talen]

Cyborgization is prolly easier then genetic engineering; we've already started in the first, as FedRebel has noted.

[KrauserKrauser]

How about genetically engineered proper spelling and grammar?

Too much to ask for?