Michael BessReseñas

This didn't work for me. The increasingly melodramatic vignettes, featuring a suicidal uplifted orangutan and a young woman attracted to her extremely well-preserved great-great-great-great grandfather, could have been rejects from the slush pile of a science-fiction magazine.
The arguments were equally speculative, often based on theoretical and philosophical arguments rather than scientific or even anecdotal evidence. For example, the terse dismissal of all moral enhancement as harmful to free will would have been improved by a discussion of John Elder Robison's memoir [b:Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening|31826198|Switched On A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening|John Elder Robison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472865255s/31826198.jpg|43596101], which explores the complexities of using TMS to enhance empathy. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction, which is saying a lot, given the content of this book.

Prediction can be a risky endeavor but Bess manages to limn a possible future by building on current science and technology while avoiding the common pitfalls of painting a rosy utopia or a dark dystopia. Short vignettes of how we may live in the future give a glimpse of a strange new world.

That future has begun. In just the last century we have changed our life using pharmaceuticals such as aspirin, antibiotics, and vaccines. Bioengineering has given us hip replacements, cochlear implants, and limb prosthetics. Genetics and epigenetics have taken us from selective breeding to cloning (Dolly the sheep) to in vitro fertilization and more recently to trans-species interbreeding. These three areas will be the source of amazing changes which may decide how we live and how we see ourselves and others. Will we become a post human species and how will we relate to non-modified people?

The reality will probably be exciting, perplexing and just a little bit frightening. Governments will have to implement policies to guarantee everyone access to the latest developments. Some people may choose to forgo enhancements, especially for religious reasons, much as the Amish eschew electricity today. Others may choose only basic modifications. For some, choosing enhancements could be similar to wanting the latest hairstyle or clothes or having the fanciest gadget. Populations may self-segregate according to their shared attributes. "[I]nterspecies mixing will become an increasingly normal feature of tomorrow's society." Transgenic creatures such as glow in the dark pigs (incorporating jellyfish DNA) have already been created by scientists.

Personal relationships may be very different which will have unexpected repercussions for society. Enhancements may lead to a higher divorce rate as parents disagree about how to design their children. Serial marriages will become even more common as people live longer (Bess estimates 160 years may soon be a normal lifetime). It just may not be possible to remain married to the same person for a hundred years—or longer. Career changes every thirty or forty years will also be typical.

Our Grandchildren Redesigned often reads like science fiction but the future it describes is almost within our grasp. Change is guaranteed and the future could be dazzling. One almost wishes one could be here to see it. At least our grandchildren will have the chance to live in exciting new ways. The book is indexed and the extensive notes add to the text. There is a companion website as well.½

After reading “Our Grandchildren Redesigned”, by Michael Bess, I clandestinely watched my grandchildren to see if maybe they had yet been bioengineered far passed my capabilities. Bess creates a clear case on the difficulties in predicting the future, especially in technical areas. Through cleaver storytelling and factual analysis, he unveils a bioengineered future for humankind, discussing both the advantages and possible horrors. I was a bit annoyed with all of his references to “Her” and few if any “He”, and the clear liberal slant to the text, as it distracted from the topic. Additionally, the later chapters tend to rehash the former, losing the intellectual flow. However, the book is well written, extensively researched, and a must read for all those that care about our engineered future. And, my grandchildren have not yet advanced beyond their grandfather in any noticeable way. At least not yet.

I give the book four stars.

10/22/2016

Michael Bess's book is well researched and shocking to someone, like me, who has not closely followed all of the breakthroughs in medicine, biotechnology and genetics research. Bess begins by clearing spelling out what trends and technological leaps he believes are within the realm of predictability and why, while contending there is plenty of room for unpredictable wild cards. His book touches on more than just the medical and sterile descriptions of what may be, but also delves into the psychological, political and social reactions that are likely to manifest in this near future. I will happily share this book with friends interested in science and technology.½

Upon the start of this book I had high hopes to learn about something that I had no minisucle knowledge of. The first part was interesting even though I couldn't understand half of what was written. I kept reading though still interested and yet again I was amazed at the things that have been created and what will or even could be for the future.
Most of these things that have been done are things that I never hear of in my small town of about 15,00 in Iowa. I even have a learning disability and I am amazed how well I understood all the specifics. Just as amazed as I will be when many of this technologies are implemented especially the kind that helps people for not only my future children but also my future grandchildren. I liked this book for its very knowledge was informative to my young mind.

As someone with a science background, this book is amazing. It reduces large complex topics into easy to understand chapters without making you feel like you're reading a guidebook for dummies. It's also really good because it refutes counter arguments very smoothly. Although you have to be in the right mood to read such a technical book, once you pick it up you can't put it down.

Humanity has a history of being used as guinea pigs by the wealthy and powerful. We have been used by the chemical industry, the nuclear industry and the communications industry. Always with glowing promises of multiple benefits (funny how one of those benefits, not so much heralded, is the profit made by the industry). Anyone who naysays the product or procedure is immediately labeled 'anti-science' and thereby silenced. So it is with the biotech industry - they are promising we will become gods. The truth of the matter is likely to be far different. One thing is for certain, this field has the power to change humanity in ways that are all but unimaginable - we owe it to ourselves to make an informed and rational choice while choice is still (somewhat) available to us.

So who better to present the pros and cons of this field and its impact on humans than a historian. I initially would have thought a computer scientist or someone with a biology background would have more to offer but no, a historian is perfect. And Michael Bess does an outstanding job at taking the middle road between wild enthusiasm and bleak pessimism. With painstaking research, Bess lays out the good, the bad and what we may need to consider (I keep up with this field regularly and Bess presented things I was not aware of; much to my surprise). He divides the book into four parts. First, the nuts and bolts of the technology. Second, the ethics and social engineering aspect of the tech (this was an eye opener). Third, what this tech can mean in regards to identity, character, and personhood. And last, but in my mind, certainly not least, the choices that must be faced - after all, no one will partake of this technology in a vacuum. This was my favorite section as it outlines the steps that need to be taken in order to integrate this techology into the greater societal fabric with equity and balance. To add to the usefulness of this book, Bess includes an extensive set of resources for further study to include a bibliography, a filmography, and even a companion website (and it is not just a site promoting the book).

What a wonderful book. This is a topic I have a great deal of trepidation about and, while I wasn't exactly put a ease, I do have a more balanced view of the reality of this field. It helped that Bess put short, fictional vignettes at the beginning of many chapters that tell a story of how a particular issue might play out. I applaud him for writing this all important book and for doing it so well. For the love of humanity, everyone owes it to themselves to read it. Most highly recommended and one of my favorite books of all time.

Anyone who's paying attention will realize we're facing major advances in biotechnology that will increasingly empower us to change ourselves in ways that heretofore have only been dreamed about. So who doesn't want to live a longer, healthier life? Who doesn't want a child to reach his or her full potential? But just what is that potential and how do we decide what kind of tinkering is okay and what is not? What happens when some people can afford modification and others can only wish? What happens to democracy? To humanity? How much modification of a human is possible before you no longer have a human?

This is a fascinating read that outlines many of the enhancements that will become available, along with ideas that can help us keep our balance as we wade into this mind-blowing stream.

The title is solemn and perhaps, to some, downright chilling: Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future. I suspect few today are eager to “redesign” something so dear, though many might admit they welcome the advent of research which has reduced the tragedy of certain genetically transmitted diseases. The term “redesign” conveys exactly what the author is addressing here, however - far-reaching interventions which will or could alter the lives of our grandchildren and the human landscape. When the author can speak of “species metamorphosis,” you can assume that we are entering the terrain of mind-boggling change.

The PBS Newshour recently did a story on the possibility of a new genetic technique involving the use of genetic material from 3 people – the mother, father and a mitochondria donor- to circumvent the transmission of a terrible disease. This research achievement in in vitro fertilization reflects our expanding toolkit to shape life as we want it. The genetic code would be a man-made amalgam that introduces a third party’s genetic material, rather than derivative from the parents alone. Advocates for this procedure point to the likely outcome: a healthy baby free of the disease. Skeptics and critics note that we do not know what will actually result and whether there will be unforeseen complications.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/term-three-person-baby-makes-doctors-wince/

The general public is probably not following such stories closely unless they make the mainstream news or are referred to in popular culture. The mitochondria story is a straightforward example of how redesign is already part of our world. Such developments are happening so often now we’ve become a bit blasé about them. The pace of change is a geometric progression: faster and more sweeping with shorter intervals between developed products or results. They are awesome and inspiring, but also raise questions which shouldn’t be swept under the rug.

Michael Bess’s book describes a vast array of fields active in this redesigning effort. The list of these fields reminds me of the opening credits of the tv series Fringe which flashed subject areas such as transhumanism, synesthesia, suspended animation, and a much longer list of these newer areas of science.

Bess describes research in the use of drugs, bioelectronics, genetics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and robotics, and synthetic biology which will profoundly affect the potential to enhance human capabilities, appearance and lifespan. Some of those changes will be one way doors; once opened, it may be impossible to go back in the opposite direction. Ethical questions now posed by contemporary situations, such as the use of genetic modifications or deliberate choices to extend or end life, are prelude exercises to far grander and complicated scenarios with their moral dilemmas.

Even as we head pell mell down the rabbit hole towards healthier, stronger, happier, and everything else we associate with perfection, we do so not fully understanding human attributes, such as thought and memory. Despite lacking a clear understanding of what these things are, research is well on the way to enhance cognition, perception, and experience.

When these research developments are fully realized, what will the human experience become? Will human potential enhancements be evenly distributed or will castes result making today’s maldistribution of wealth seem trivial by comparison? And who precisely will be presenting, reflecting upon, deciding or controlling the full range of implications raised by such changes. For example, even as one aspires to improve the human condition, the hybridization of man with machine and other species could result in unintended consequences, including new kinds of man-made suffering

Bess cites many research examples, both past and on the horizon. He heightens their dramatic impact by complementing them with fictional vignettes which make the plots of today’s science fiction movies seem as if the writers are not paying attention to how much science fiction has already become reality. Bess’s vignettes, unsettling and thought provocative, are reminiscent of Twilight Zone episodes which also covered a lot of territory in short episodes.

Science fiction movies fall short in presenting the moral dilemmas faced. They often portray a world where the blending of biology and machine is confined to isolated creations. But the redesigned world will become a large scale phenomenon like the one envisioned by Ray Kurzweil. Michael Bess notes one fictional work which does the best job of presenting a world inhabited by transformed humans - Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. But even Huxley could not see the full potential for change.

Kurzweil is at the forefront in his advocacy of singularity and believes, as his book title says, The Singularity is Near. Singularity is the culmination of the interplay among all the developments Bess has described. It will be “an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today-the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.”
http://www.singularity.com/

That’s easy for you to say, Ray. Some will see the move toward singularity as welcome, exciting and inevitable. Others will see it as dangerous or evil. Regardless of which slant you prefer, however, the changes challenge our expectations of what it means to be human. They might impel some to consider what constitutes a good or meaningful life.

Among the many preparations for this new world recommended by Bess is one for all to become educated in the new field of STS - science, technology, and society. He argues for the Jeffersonian ideal of an informed citizenry.

If you’ve been critical or cynical of the level of political discourse in this presidential election year, this book will make you despair. Bess sounds like Cassandra here, warning us we must start thinking about the ethical issues at hand, and yet how can anyone believe there’s a chance of that happening short of a major disaster. He asks that we not only dazzle in our wizardry as we redesign humans, but that we also apply these designs with a critical eye, complex judgments and reflective decision-making. This part of his vision is actually more difficult to fathom than the transformative changes he describes.

It is important to recognize that Bess is an historian and not just a gadfly. His remarkable and thoughtful book is extensively annotated and referenced. It is not a diatribe but a balanced and compelling argument to pay attention. We should be hopeful but also careful. Very, very careful.

I received this as part of the librarything early reviewers program. I really enjoyed this book. I don't have a strong science background and I was a little worried that might hinder my enjoyment but it didn't at all. Mr. Bess write in an engaging and easy to understand way that kept me reading (and occasionally rereading certain parts).

I would just like to say that despite my initial misgivings that this book would be too "over-the-top," the conjectures Michael Bess makes for our near future are realizable and well thought out. The sections I found particularly notable are the pharmaceutical, genetics and epigenetics, and the nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and synthetic biology sections. That is part one. The second and third parts of the book discuss these changes and what ramifications they would have socially, ethically, to our self identities, etc. I really enjoyed this enlightening treatise about one potential path for our future and I hope you do too!

Our Grandchildren Redesigned evokes several OMG! moments.
Author Michael Bess writes in his introduction, “Welcome to the Future,” about human enhancements coming via technological changes, saying “…it is not our gadgets that will be transformed—it is we ourselves, our bodies, our minds…” [for] “…direct and precise control over our own physical and mental states…” Whoa!
More than 65 pages of references and a 13-page index are evidence of Bess’s comprehensive research and analysis. His writing style is crisp and clear that makes for an easy grasp of what he offers and proffers. Even so, there is much to take in and it is best digested slowly and deliberately.
Yet, in conclusion Bess exhorts readers to humility about technological advances and opines that “…The merest act of kindness will still remain the Ultimate Enhancement.”
Evolution, climate change and the sooner-rather-than-later inevitability of human enhancements of the body and mind lay the book’s foundation. (Souls and spirits are matters altogether different.)
Those who believe morality and “being” fall under the jurisdiction of an Almighty God and Creator may attribute the quest for “enhanced” human existence to lust, pride of life and to hunger for power. On the other hand, Bess reminds of medications and pharmaceuticals in wide use and acceptance today - precursors of more fantastic things to come.
Bess earns high marks irrespective of agreement with or support for content. His book is well written, comprehensive, instructional, educational, and certainly eye-opening.½

I received this book from Librarything Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review

This may be one of the most important books of 2015, in that it is an early warning to us all, and it would benefit us to pay close attention. If you thought that our obsession with plastic surgery is out of control, try to picture people changing their bodies out in the same way that they trade in old Smartphones for new ones.

Read the complete review in The Thugbrarian Review @ http://wp.me/p4pAFB-wL

This is a thoughtful and well researched book exploring bioengineering and its implications for families and societies. The author, Michael Bess, presents his arguments cogently as well as entertainingly. A worthwhile read.

Predicting the future usually turns out tricky at best and otherwise an exercise in futility. Rarely do guesses years in advance of what is coming turn out reasonably accurate. This new book by Michael Bess propels us few generations into the future. Time will tell how well he has hit the mark.

Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future is a scholarly projection of where science might take humankind. It presumes that humans will become drastically different. Bess posits that the journey has already begun into the kind of future he discusses. He cites a 2011 survey indicating that as many as 30% of students were already employing cognitive enhancers fairly regularly on some campuses.

Here are a few things that could be coming in the author's view. The future may see people able to transmit thoughts brain-to-brain. Human technology may overcome practical limits to a human lifespan. In one of several vignettes in his book, the possibility is raised of average human lifespans of 155 years for men, and 160 years for women. With much longer lifespans coupled with good health, a person might be able to have multiple careers over their life. An “enhancement industry” could arise to package human traits.

There's much food for thought there. The book is best devoured at a slow read.

Know that Our Grandchildren Redesigned does not shy away from the scientific details. I think I was expecting something more accessible, less academic. Michael Bess' book is still worth a look. Just be prepared with a technical mind-set.

A note about these newly posted non-link reviews.

I got this book via the LibraryThing.com “Early Reviewers” program, and like most (if not all) of the books featured there, it was a bit of a “pig in a poke”, as the information one is provided to make one's request decisions is typically a scant few sentences about each featured book. Fortunately, Michael Bess' Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future is pretty good … a bit “more than I really wanted to know” on the topic, but certainly interesting and informative. I have some friends who are very into the thought of “posthuman” existence (especially into living forever), and this book would be ideal for them … for everybody else, well, it might be a bit speculative. However, in this case, the speculation is backed up by a metric s-load of research … the book itself is only 216 pages, which is followed with another 70 (one-third more) pages of bibliography and notes (and in this case you have to follow along in the end notes, as there are frequent major chunks of text back there supporting arguments or adding context for things in main part).

The book is structured in four sections, “Humans Redesigned”, “Justice”, “Identity”, and “Choices”. With four to six chapters each, looking at specific topics. Part of me wants to rattle these off, but there are a LOT of them. One of the admirable elements to the book is how it's integrated with a companion web site. Now, I've had bad luck with companion sites in the past (they have a bad habit of being neglected, if not ending up 404'd), but this one looks like it's a very well designed web site (well, with the glaring exception that the “Dialog Page”, featuring what would no doubt be a fascinating forum for the various topics, is empty, and requiring one to be “logged in” - despite what appears to be the fact that one can neither register to log in, nor log in if one were registered – to start a discussion), which notably features 16 appendices of follow-up information for various parts of the book, plus “update” sections, featuring recent articles in the Science/Technology area (the first section of the book, featuring Artificial Intelligence, Bioelectronics, Genetics, Nanotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Robotics, and Synthetic Biology) as well as the Social/Cultural arena (the three other sections, Choices, Identity, Justice). This is at the unwieldy, albeit unmistakable http://www.ourgrandchildrenredesigned.org/.

One of the interesting format elements here is that most chapters start with a “brief fictional vignette” which, while (naturally enough) somewhat sci-fi, allow the author to paint a rather vibrant picture of how some of these enhancements/developments might play out. There was one snippet of one of these that I found particularly engaging – part of a story about a sort of rescue shelter for bio-engineered “mistakes”, this being an encounter with a orangutan which had been engineered with “twenty percent human cognition-related genes”:

She led him towards a side door. “There's one more guy I'd like you to meet before lunch. Over in that small red barn over there. His name's Jeremy.
He followed her into the barn. Same musky smell, only more pungent. A dappled light coming through the skylight. Steel bars, the whole place a cage. A thatched hut over in the far corner of the cage, woven from sheaves of grass and leaves.
“Jeremy,” she called out, “You have a visitor.”
Silence.
David peered into the darkness, his eyes adjusting. A holo screen on the wall lit up. Letters began appearing, forming words.
GO WAY.
David looked at her, but she ignored him.
“Come on, Jeremy. Just a few minutes so you can meet your new friend David.
He noticed she was speaking more slowly and clearly than usual.
Silence. Then letters.
SLEPING.
“No, you're not. You're just being unfriendly.”
THRO POOP.
“You better not! If you want dinner today.”
Rustling, the grass parted, and he came out. An orangutan. About one-and-a-half meters tall, a huge round face, round brown eyes. He stood leaning forward, holding a large wireless keyboard in his left hand.
…
“So … why's he here? Why wasn't he considered a success?”
“Because he's miserable, that's why. He's tried three times to commit suicide.”

I have quite a few little bookmarks though this, flagging things that I felt were particularly notable. There is so much stuff covered in Our Grandchildren Redesigned that I won't try to walk you through it all, but will hopefully be able to give you a sense of what's in here by dropping in on the bits I felt were worth a slip of paper …

In the Envisioning The Future chapter, the author lays down some cognitive grids to consider these developments, a chronological division into Long Structural Processes (50 years or more), Short Structural Processes (20-50 years), and Conjunctural Processes (1-20 years), which get further elaborated with:

But here, another aspect of our three-tiered list comes into play. Novel technologies tend to change more quickly, radically, and unpredictably than human social, economic, and cultural institution. The rise of the Internet, for example, became a major historical phenomenon in less than twenty years, but phenomena like racial prejudice, class conflict, gender bias, and similar social and cultural factors tend to evolve much more slowly. The implication is clear: we are likely to do better at predicting general patterns of the coming century, we should not try to foresee too precisely which technologies will exist in different decades. If we insist on doing so, we are likely to end up pulling a Rutherford.

Of course, one has to love that phrase “pulling a Rutherford”, which refers to the great physicist Lord Ernest Rutherford, known as the “father of nuclear physics”, who came up with the concept of radioactive half-life, among many other discoveries, yet totally dismissed the possibility of harnessing atomic energy just a scant dozen years before Hiroshima and Nagasaki were introduced to it.

In the Pharmaceuticals chapter, in a discussion of the development of memory-enhancing drugs (some of which are in clinical trials), Bess notes:

The notion of boosting memory in humans sounds at first like a terrific development. I would be able to learn foreign languages faster, recall more accurately the names of people and places I have known, find my car keys without a lot of cursing and fuss. But what abut forgetting? When we examine the functioning of memory as a practical component in a person's daily life, we find that it is just as important to be able to selectively lose information as to retain it. Without this ability we would rapidly find ourselves drowning in a sea of trivial details, impressions, emotions, and images.

He takes a look at various pills that are currently on the market (interestingly, most of these were not developed to be brain or mood enhancers), and how new sorts of research are able to push the envelope as researchers learn more about the underlying biology/chemistry of consciousness.

One term that I notably had not previously encountered was “epigenetics”, which is dealt with (duh) in the chapter Genetics and Epigenetics. Here is how the author frames this:

The new scientific field that studies these patterns of genetic activation and transcription is known as epigenetics. Though definitions vary, an epigenetic process can best be describe as any molecular mechanism that changes the expression of genetic information without altering the underlying DNA sequence itself. The DNA code stays the same, but certain portions of it are selectively silenced, while others are spurred to action, resulting in dramatically different phenotypic outcomes. … In recent years, scientists have discovered a variety of epigenetic mechanisms that allow the DNA script to be read differently by the body's cells under distinct circumstances; the two most common of these are known as DNA methylation and histone acetylation. These two molecular mechanisms act like volume knobs on particular segments of DNA: one mechanism (methylation) turns down the potency of expression for a given section of code, all the way down to a whisper; the other (acetylation) cranks it up to a shout.

He notes that this approach is likely to allow temporary changes, as it alters how individual genes are expressed, without messing with the underlying code … an important factor if genetic research speeds up, and you don't want to get stuck with “outmoded” enhancements.

Moving out of the tech section and into the “Justice” section, Bess puts forth what he refers to as a “meta-list” of “Ten Key Factors in Human Flourishing” to provide a moral framework for addressing these extremely disruptive trends. These fall under two categories, the Individual Dimension which includes Security, Dignity, Autonomy, Personal Fulfillment, Authenticity, and Pursuit of Practical Wisdom, and the Societal Dimension which includes Fairness, Interpersonal Connection, Civic Engagement, and Transcendence. He adds:

Here, therefore, lies and excellent framework for evaluating enhancement technologies. For each of the enhancements described in this book, we can hold up an ethical yardstick by asking, “Does this device or modification contribute to human flourishing, or does it not?”

In the chapter “A Fragmenting Species?”, he returns to the concept of epigenetics:

As I described earlier, two kinds of human genetic engineering may become available over the coming decades. One form, germline reengineering, would require making changes to the DNA of individuals soon after the moment of conception. The other method, epigenetic modification, would target the molecular mechanisms that regulate DNA expression (while leaving the underlying DNA unchanged). In principle, both methods could generate powerful modifications to the body and mind of the individuals, but the epigenetic pathway would possess two major advantages. Whereas germline engineering would be a one-shot deal, fixed and irreversible, epigenetic modifications would be flexible, reversible, and upgradeable over time. Furthermore, while alterations to the germline would have to be made by parents on behalf of their just-conceived offspring, epigenetic modifications would be available throughout a person's lifetime and will therefore result (in most cases) from choices that individuals will be making for themselves as the years go by.

He goes on to look at some of the ethical issues of the germline modifications, how a child, although “engineered” to be a tennis or cello prodigy might not have the attitude necessary to excel in the path his or her parents chose. This is one of the places that I felt the author could have “enhanced” the telling by including some popular culture reference, in this case The Boys From Brazil, which featured a number of clones of Adolf Hitler, most of which had no interest in anything like world conquest (although there was that one right at the end...). Obviously, this was a minor quibble, but one that came up in my reading when I'd hit passages where I'd be thinking “wow, that's just like X”, and wondering why he'd missed that (he does refer to the Star Wars clone armies at one point, and uses Vonnegut's “ice nine” as an example of unintended results of technological developments).

In the chapter “Why Extreme Modifications Should Be Postponed”, the author sets out “three levels of possible human enhancement” ...

■ Low-level modifications: Capabilities at the high end of today's human range.
■ Mid-level modifications: Capabilities well beyond today's human range, but still recognizably human.
■ High-level modifications: Capabilities utterly beyond human parameters.

He further notes that “This latter form of high-level metamorphosis appears to be what many transhumanists eagerly envision for themselves.”, and later adds:

... the act of undergoing extreme transmogrification inevitably entails serious risks, not just for the person doing it, but for the rest of humankind as well. Such acts of creation would bring into being new kinds of “posthuman” entities that have the potential of being extremely powerful and uncontrollable. We have no way of knowing how they would behave toward the rest of the biosphere – including all other sentient beings on our planet.

This was another place where I felt a pop-culture reference would help frame the concept – in this case bringing up the character of Doctor Manhattan the “posthuman god” of the Watchmen comics (and movie), which is, I believe, exactly the sort of being that Bess is worried about unleashing here.

In the chapter “What You and I Can Do Today” he outlines “five tangible goals people can work for as they mobilize to influence the development of human biotechnologies”:

1. Mandate basic education in science, technology, and society (STS).


2. Build “bioethics coalitions” across the left-right divide.


3. Create a strong governmental agency for technology assessment.


4. Adopt the precautionary principle in crafting bioenhancement legislation.


5. Strengthen international cooperation in governing technology.

Obviously, the assumption here is that without a strong, stable, and wide-reaching “ethic” for channeling these developments along approved lines, the “genie will be out of the bottle” soon enough, with the possibilities of rogue states creating armies of super soldiers, or wealthy individuals trying to get to that “god” level. One of the things I've not touched on here, and which the author spends a lot of time with, is the economic concern … how a “baseline” of enhancements will likely have to be funded globally, to ensure that less-developed parts of the world (or poorer parts of individual countries) don't devolve into a Morlock-like subservient sub-species, while the well-to-do evolve into the Eloi (another pop-culture citation – that of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine that could have well be used here).

In the “Enhancing Humility” chapter Bess posits an interesting cultural generalization:

Reform works better than revolution. Strategies of slow, incremental change have succeeded far better at achieving the aims of historical actors than strategies of sudden, drastic change. ... it leaps out at me from the mass of historical events with such intuitive force that I feel compelled to take it seriously. I bring it up here because it has major implications for how our society chooses to pursue the bioenhancement enterprise over the coming century.

I would love to just stick in the next page or so here, where he contrasts the French revolution ending up in “the iron rule of Napoleon”, the Marxist revolution ending up as “a bizarre Orwellian nightmare under Stalin”, and the Maoist revolution ending up “in the famine of 1958-1962 and vicious factional strife of the Cultural Revolution”, with the slow achievement of Women's rights “over a dozen generations”, the growth of rights and power in Western democracies (with working conditions starkly in contrast to those detailed in the works of Charles Dickens), and the evolving status of Black rights over the past century, but that would be way too long. However, he goes on to say:

... Gradual reform, in short is not just morally superior because of its generally nonviolent character; it is also more effective in the long run, engendering forms of enduring change that penetrate deeply into the fabric of society, altering hearts and minds as well as institutions.
When it comes to the pursuit of the enhancement enterprise, therefore, our society would do well to take the comparative history of reform and revolution into account. We should choose the long, slow, plodding road rather than the shining superhighway of radical change. Technological innovation may indeed be accelerating, but we should not allow it to transform our lives more rapidly than our social, cultural, and moral frameworks can absorb. If we permit enhancement technologies to advance too quickly, the resultant stresses could end up massively destabilizing our civilization, perhaps even tearing it apart.

Our Grandchildren Redesigned has only been out for a month at this writing, so should be available in bookstores that have futurist stock. The online big boys, of course, have it at a substantial discount (currently 36% off of cover), but oddly, quite reasonable new copies are in the new/used channel, that even with shipping come in at about a 60% discount. Frankly, this book was quite the firehose of information, but if you're into the things under discussion in it, I'm sure it will be quite a gripping read … it's certainly one of those topics that is not going away, and having read this will put you in a place of at least not being categorically surprised when these strange new worlds start manifesting around you!




CMP.Ly/1

A link to my "real" review:
BTRIPP's review of Michael Bess' "Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future" (2748 words)

In Our Grandchildren Redesigned, Michael Boss provides an overview of advances in pharmaceuticals, genetic medicine, and bio electronics, then presents the possible implications for society.
The book opens with an interesting, though at times very dry, review of the advances todate and where where continued research and development may lead.
More compelling is Bess' look at how these technologies will be applied---how extended life spans, enhanced intelligence, engineered skills and strength may impact society.
The book provides a thought provoking look at the sometimes very near future and long time future and leaves this reader both excited and very concerned about the world our grandchildren will inherit'

The author covers a few ideas of how the advances in biosciences will enable increased longevity and enhanced abilities. The use of advanced drugs, neural stimulation, and genetic manipulation to create a gradual modification of life and society. Michael has truly thought this through and provides insight into likely scenarios and consequences of the scientific advances. The use of biomagnetic brain waves to enable perception of others thoughts seems somewhat theoretical but he provides some evidence that such a capability may be feasible. The use of nanotechnology for treatment of maladies seems more imminent but also limited in scope for the near future. I enjoyed the book and learned some new ideas.

Our Grandchildren Redesigned offers a comprehensive and balanced look at the inevitable future of human enhancement. Unlike some futurists, who tend to approach these issues with a strong pro-enhancement or anti-enhancement bias, Michael Bess brings an unwaveringly pragmatic viewpoint to the subject matter. His thesis is that our best hope for integrating enhancements into our society, without creating undesirable gaps between the haves and have-nots, compromising our values, or losing touch with what it means to be human, is to create a worldwide regulatory framework that keeps tabs on enhancement technologies and ensures they progress in a measured and sensible way, ensuring access to basic enhancements by all and banning certain technologies that pose too great of a threat to our values. He effectively uses hypothetical scenarios to show how various types of genetic, pharmaceutical and bioelectric enhancements would impact our day-to-day lifestyles, and draws upon these examples to frame important questions about justice and identity.

While the challenges he identifies are daunting, and the solutions he proposes are often complex, in the end he leaves us with an optimistic message that the human race can influence its future evolution by making careful choices about what enhances and detracts from important human values. I can only hope that leaders in these fields read this book and consider its important message.

-Kevin Joseph, author of The Champion Maker

In Our Grandchildren Redesigned Michael Bess writes about the coming 21st century challenges of biotech, genetic modification, pharmaceutical drugs and more, and how they will shape future generations. Each chapter begins with a vignette before delving into the topic. While the topics sound like they are science fiction or fantasy, Bess points out that they are not too far off. He also makes points and counterpoints to each topic. The overall idea of the book was to get readers thinking about the future and showing them how it's not too far off. I agreed and disagreed with some of Bess' assertions, but I found the book though provoking-- which was the idea.½

I think this is a pretty important book. Not because it gets everything right, but because it raises questions and issues of substance and timing and makes you think—surely useful?
Dr. Bess makes educated assumptions on what might happen in a variety of areas (pharmaceuticals, genetics, bioelectronics, etc.) in a reasonable time frame. You might disagree with some assumptions or feel he left some key areas out, but he has to start somewhere with this type of thinking and he carefully explains why he chose to focus as he did.
Once he has laid out some of the areas that could/will see rapid change, he uses the metric of human “flourishing”, defined by experts in that psychology discipline, to try to measure some of the positive and negative effects that might occur for individuals and for society. Again, you might disagree with his premise, but simply not talking in these hypothetical terms because there’s no perfect ruler is also not helpful. And I actually think it works pretty well.
He starts several chapters with “vignettes” of what it might look like to live in a world where some of these enhancements are used. Some work better than others, and they make you think of science fiction or fantasy—but that’s the point. Science fiction and fantasy also raise more or less thoughtful questions about how individuals and society might cope if politics and organizations and groups were differently arranged and individuals had new and diverse capabilities—but these stories are different, because they are plausible if developments already begun reach some potentially logical ends. Some of his cautions and guidelines about how the world should act towards these developments seem heavy handed—but we’d all better be thinking carefully about how we’d manage it before it all just happens.

Study of the moral problems arising during the 2nd World War.
(Saturation bombing, A-bomb, Nuremburg trials.) Very good, but has
a tendency to overlook the emotional climate at the time.

Michael Bess’ The Light-Green Society deals with the rise of French environmentalism and its impact on French society. He shows that while the French embraced technological prowess, they also developed concerns about technology. He argues that the result is a light-green society, a blend of environmentalism and technological enthusiasm that resulted in a "partial greening of the mainstream, in which neither side emerged wholly satisfied, not utterly dismayed, but in which a whole new complex of discourses and institutions nonetheless came into being" (p. 4). Instead of leading to a radical green society, environmentalism became just another choice in the postmodern supermarket of modern consumerism. Rather than lamenting this condition, Bess believes we can build a "constructive and respectful relationship with this kind of potentially wild nature" (p. 295). Nature and culture, technology and society, are impossible to tell apart. Indeed, they can not exist without one another.½