God: The Next Update

Sreeram Yashasvi, from the United Nations General Assembly – Disarmament and International Security Committee (UNGA - DISEC), tries to peek into the future.

History is supposed to have started when humans started writing.

As history would suggest, we, humans often achieve what we set out to accomplish. This ability of the human mind to push beyond what was previously thought possible has resulted in some mind-blowing inventions and discoveries.

How far have we come?

Problems or questions which we thought were left to the gods or nature are being answered by science almost on a daily basis. We have always tried to reduce the number of unknown variables, but as we keep eliminating the known unknown variables, we seem to be finding even more.

Issues like the epidemics and famine have troubled us for centuries. Not anymore. Science has helped us cure many diseases which were previously thought to be incurable. Cures have been found for flu, different types of pox and so on. As of today, some diseases like the AIDS and some forms of cancer still seem elusive. We are only able to prevent them but not cure them completely.

The Agricultural Revolution has guaranteed us enough food so that nobody ever goes to sleep feeling hungry. We are now in a position where we are able to stock enough quantities of food to get through an unexpected famine. Our ancestors were afraid of losing their stored food to pests or natural rot; we are now blessed with state-of-art facilities which help us store food for years together. We now face a higher risk of dying of obesity rather than because of starvation. Having been assured of basic supplies we have now started experimenting with synthetically producing food so that we can have better yields in a shorter time.

The cost of war has become so high (both in monetary and political terms) that no country really can afford it. If we come to think of it, sugar is more dangerous than gunpowder.

Mind: The Pandora Box

Solving the basic problems which have plagued us for many centuries has now given us enough time to try to understand the myriad mysteries of the human body. To start with, the complex nature of the mind has always befuddled us. There have been several scientists who have tried to answer this question. Among many notable works, the work of Sigmund Freud has found widespread acceptance[1]. Here in the twenty-first century, we are able to delve into the deepest recesses of the brain, and our understanding has grown by leaps and bounds. Scientists can now dare to think of transplanting a head![2]

A huge chunk of research is now going into methods to mimic the natural mechanisms wherein the ultimate aim is to be able to build spare parts for a human body. For starters, consider this, an amputee today is able to feel the different possible human sensations in his bionic arm, whereas people before him even in the early 2000's suffered from mind-numbing pain that their prosthetic stumps had caused them[3]. We are now looking at bio-resorbable materials which can form a natural bond between the metal and natural human tissue. This totally eliminates the problem of infections in the amputated parts.

This brings us to the next area of consideration. Genetic engineering studies the different biological processes inside the body and looks for possible tweaks which can increase the performance of natural organs. Mix limb replacement and organ replacement and you may just be looking at immortality!

Disclaimer- Do not be surprised if your doctor doesn’t tell you that the replacement for your heart may have been harvested from a pig![4]

Beyond Death

Death has gone from something which we knew nothing about to just a technical error in our life! Our ancestors had tried to place it on the gods; they considered death to be just a part of the natural cycle as many of our religions would suggest, but there is an increasing sense of confidence that maybe death can be conquered too!

We may not possess the ability to become immortal in 2050 or maybe even 2100, but the direction in which we are heading can have only one destination. The highly dynamic nature of the scientific research makes it unpredictable.

The other aspect which made gods powerful is our assignment of different powers to different gods. The genetic and physical modifications may allow us to bridge that barrier; and just maybe, you and I can be superheros too!

Evolution through natural selection has brought us this far and it is going to be intelligent design by humans which is going to govern the next phase of evolution. The unpredictability makes it hard to be able to imagine what we might become. We are now in a position where we do not really know what we are dealing with. For all we know, we maybe the last generation of Homo Sapiens!

References-

[1] http://journalpsyche.org/understanding-the-human-mind/

[2] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/head-transplant-sergio-canavero-has-it-been-done-corpses-cadaver-human-a8060176.html

[3] http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29538385

[4] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/pig-organs-for-humans/536307/

and https://www.amazon.in/Industries-Future-Alec-Ross/dp/1476753652

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