PostHuman — What does it mean?
We often hear this word used in Transhumanist (H+) discussions, but what is meant by it? After all, if H+ is about using scitech to enhance Human capabilities via internal modifications what does it mean to go beyond these? In the following I intend to delineate possible stages of enhancement from what exists today to what could exist as an endpoint of this process in centuries to come.
Although I have tried to put it in what I believe to be a plausible chronological order a great deal depends on major unknowns, most especially the rapidity with which Artificial Intelligence (AI) develops over the next few decades. Although AI and biotech are at present evolving separately and in parallel I would expect at some point fairly soon for there to be a massive crossover. Exactly how or when that might happen is again a moot question. There is also a somewhat artificial distinction between machines and biology, which exists because our current machines are so primitive. Once we have a fully functioning nanotechnology, just like Nature’s existing nanotech (life), that distinction will disappear completely.
Additionally, a lot of the engineering paths described will be overlapping. In other words, many different paths will be followed simultaneously. There will likely be a whole ecology and hierarchy of intelligences deriving from baseline Homo Sapiens — from men to Gods. And may Darwin sort them out…
Finally, although all the genetic engineering techniques can be applied to embryos to create germline modifications that will breed true through the generations, some can be applied to adults. I will differentiate the two only where relevant. This is about the Big Picture of the future directed evolution of Homo Sapiens.
And on the subject of timescales, our horizons have contracted massively as scitech has advanced in the past century. “The future” used to be one hundred, or maybe three hundred years away (think Star Trek), but now it is hard to guess anything much beyond thirty. Yet there will be a twenty second century — and a fiftieth. Even that span is less than that of Human civilization let alone the age of our species. And we are relative newcomers on the evolutionary stage.
So when you hear someone disparage such speculation with comments like “it will take centuries”, that is but a blink of an historical eye. All it means is that we need to hurry up.
Stage 1 — Human Enhancement — Removing Failure Modes
This is the stage we have just entered with children already alive who have been engineered to remove genetic defects. We have the medical justification given for doing this kind of work, that is, “curing disease”. However, while it is clear that (say) Huntington’s Disease is unequivocally nasty there are a vast number of borderline conditions to which the engineering can be applied. What about tendencies to heart disease? Schizophrenia? Being very short?
Very rapidly “fixing” will give way to “enhancing”, and we already have a large number of target genes and alleles (gene variants) that confer advantages or detract from optimum performance. I have listed some at the bottom of this article, and that list is growing rapidly. Just today I read of a gene variant that allows its “owner” to get by on only four hours of sleep per night with apparently no ill effects.
Of course, where all this is headed is the perfect “designer baby” much beloved by the mass media.
Stage 2 — Human Enhancement — Optimizing Genetics
However, before we move on I should mention that in more complex human traits like IQ and mentality, genes confer “tendencies” towards outcomes and a lot depends on the environment in all senses of the word.
So, once we have eliminated the obvious genetic diseases and start to optimize genetics for enhancement, how far can we go? Well, consider the list at the end of this article as a good beginning but far from complete. Then take every extreme example of Human diversity and capability you can imagine, and mix and match. A myostatin knockout for the effortless piling on and retention of muscle mass… Extra dense bones that are far harder to break… enhanced immune system… extra resistance to mental stress… reduced sensitivity to pain… massive stamina and athletic ability… longevity and the biggie — high IQ.
The problem is that not all enhancements are beneficial. The person described above, for example would probably have a hard time swimming. They would likely also not be as able to survive famine as a regular fat guy. And being too insensitive to pain means injuries that should demand immediate attention are ignored until they become very serious.
Of course, some cosmetic modifications are probably fairly neutral. Eye, skin and hair color being one set. These will likely be among the first mods simply because they involve only a tiny number of genes. We are then on the cusp of “race”, or at least its outward trappings, becoming a “designer choice” especially since there is no one set of optimum genes. For example, one cannot have a physique optimized for long distance running and weight-lifting simultaneously. Or increased bone density and swimming ability.
However, it is when we can engineer hundreds of genes/alleles simultaneously the serious changes will appear — the alterations to mentality. We would be entering a state where society is populated by people who are genetically the best that they can be in all its diversity.
Enhanced Mentality
We will also be able to change tendencies that will affect mentality. The big ones are:
- IQ. Already the Chinese are pushing ahead in this area in order to understand the interplay between the hundreds of alleles that determine baseline intelligence. Given that the extremes of IQ span some 100 points and two thirds of that is genetically determined, it means the IQ distribution will narrow and shift to (perhaps) what today would be around 130. It would be a bigger difference than between Senegal and Singapore.
- Happiness. The second biggest change we might make is one often overlooked when planning “super-humans”. Again, baseline happiness appears to have a large genetic component. If possible we should get rid of the “depression” end of that spread.
- Emotional resilience. To some extent connected with happiness, some alleles appear to confer protection against the effects of mental trauma such as PTSD.
- Enhanced memory — aka “photographic memory”
- Psychopathy. Simply stated, do we want more or less in society?
There are probably a number of other such traits, but if there is a big shift in their degree in any society, that society will change radically. Hopefully for the better.
All of the above at this point preserve the Human phenotype — the general appearance, and none of them preclude the newly engineered from interbreeding with regular Homo Sapiens. Just like we interbred with the Neanderthals and one or two other species in our family tree. What comes next is where everything changes.
The Machine
Then we come to the joker in the pack — Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) and AI.
The idea is simple. We add AI capability to our mental faculties. Suddenly we can speak all known languages, know all know facts and visualize absolutely anything. The first problem with this is that it will take massive bandwidth to both extract, and inject, the required data streams into the brain. At present the closest we have is something like the Neural Lace being created by Elon Musk. However, this requires drilling small holes in the skull in order to insert long thin probes that can sample neural signals along its length. The obvious downside here being that there never will be such a thing as “minor brain surgery” when it comes to mass market consumer devices. The second problem is actually interpreting the data and having the AI “converse” in ones hypothetical “brain language”. At best, in the near term, we might be able to hijack the senses and inject sound, video, touch etc. into the relevant areas of the brain to create a super realist virtual reality.
The real social game changer would be something that is even easier to do given the above, which is to inject signals into the brain to modify emotions and behavior. Feeling angry? Just dial it back a bit. Need to be a bit more aggressive? Turn it up. Disappointed in love, cancel the feeling. Want to be able to concentrate on a single thing for hours? Switch to focus mode. Depressed and anxious? Replace with happiness and confidence. This would be a seriously PostHuman mentality.
Of course, if we can do high bandwidth another possibility arises, which is of networking brains together to create higher level gestalt intelligences. The best known (and totally unrealistic) depiction being the Borg in Star Trek.
Then we come to AI itself, and predictions of if/when it will surpass Human intellect in all spheres. Some people think it will happen by 2030, most by 2060 and a minority not until the end of this century. When it happens everything below goes into overdrive, assuming we can survive it. Our ultimate relationship with AI may be more like that of cats and dogs are to us, if we are lucky. However, the AI that is being developed right now is fundamentally alien in nature — we simply do not know how to create minds like ours.
Then we come to another putative technology beloved by Transhumanists — uploading.
This is where we “scan” a Human brain and upload its mental states into a computer where it is run in a simulated environment. In such a place it can be modified in a reversible manner, duplicated, merged, separated all under self directed control. And more important, it can be seamlessly integrated with AI components under a Human ego control to become a mentality that at least derives from and understands Homo Sapiens and shares at least some of our aims, aspirations and ethics. That is, until it augments itself beyond anything we can imagine. We will revisit this at the end of the article.
In the meantime, this technology is a long way in the future. We simply do not have the computing power to do this by factors of millions or billions. And even if/when we can there is the question of whether an uploaded person is still the same “person”, or just a copy of someone who is now (likely) dead. In one sense though, it does not matter — we have our humanized AI. A true PostHuman mind in all its power and glory.
Stage 3 — Near Term PostHuman — Breakaway Engineering
A few years ago a computer running what is termed a genetic algorithm was used to design a radio via an evolutionary process. That is, it used a process similar to that used in nature to home in on a particular functional design by trial and error, with errors being eliminated by a synthetic natural selection. Such AI has been used to create patentable designs, so it is more than just an academic toy.
In a normal radio, designed by Humans, it would be partitioned into separate functional blocks such as antenna, filter, amplifiers etc. in a rational way that is easy to understand (by engineers). The one that was evolved was totally unlike that. While it made extremely efficient use of components, it did so in a manner that was to an engineering eye very bizarre. For example, some parts of the power supply was used as an antenna. Even the way components were arranged was used to provide functionality. The downside of such a design process, apart from its obscurity, was the fact that many components served multiple purposes, and it was not possible just to alter one part in order to alter one function. Everything was connected, not only literally but conceptually. It was not what we call a partitioned design.
That is exactly the problem faced by contemporary genetic engineering — the genome is just like that radio above. In general, one gene does not do just one thing in isolation. It has knock on effects, most of which are at present unknown. However, there will come a point where all these interactions can be mapped and “understood”, at least with the aid of AI.
At that point would come a breakaway PostHuman form, where the DNA is completely rewritten and simplified with a view to making it far easier to introduce subsequent changes. Naturally, such a person would represent a major break with nature and would not be able to interbreed with Homo Sapiens.
So what other changes would we like to make, while keeping the approximate Human form? You need look no further than Japanese Manga to get an idea of possible aesthetics. Most notably, the eyes.
Our eyes are actually quite good compared with most species. We can detect as few as ten photons per second in total darkness, focus both close up and on distant objects and they have a central resolution that makes 4K computer screens noticeably better than lower resolutions. But…
- That high resolution applies only to a narrow region of vision. For example, if you use one eye to look at the first letter of any line how far can you read without moving your eye? The answer is “not far”. We can fix that.
- We also see only over a narrow range of wavelengths, from around 400nm (deep blue) to about 700nm (deep red). Lets extend it at both ends, from (say) 350nm (ultraviolet) to 12,000nm (deep infrared).
- Let’s also make the eye a bit better at night vision by adding a reflective layer behind the retina, like dogs have. And make them bigger for better light gathering ability, as well as being necessary to see deep infrared detail.
- Then we can have a revised lens system that gives us either microscopic or telescopic vision.
- And for protection, we can add a special transparent eyelid called a nictitating membrane. Just like cats have. Basically, a second transparent eyelid. In fact, we do have a vestigial one that does not work anymore in the corner of our eye. As well as offering protection from things like dust, we might also get it to double up as dark sunglasses — totally black eyed people! Or maybe mirror shades… The picture is of one of my FaceBook friends, Rima Romita.
However, all of this would come at a price. It would require a larger brain, which in turn would either need a wider birth canal than present Human females have, or much of the brain would have to develop post birth. The latter would probably mean an extended childhood compared to us.
So, what other useful feature could we add body-wise?
- Maybe get rid of the little finger and replace it with a second thumb.
- Ability to hibernate.
- Re-engineer the spine to be more load bearing than at present (hence the reason so many people suffer back pain).
- Perhaps make elbows and knees really “double jointed”, although this would mean changing the musculature.
- Teeth that regularly and painlessly regrow, like a shark, which would save on dental surgery.
- Limb regeneration like some reptiles.
- A tongue that could taste a wider range of flavors (we can only taste four or five).
- Hearing that extends into the ultrasonic bat range.
- The ability to make our skin pigmentation change rapidly over the course of minutes, from white to sun protecting black. Or perhaps photosynthetic green.
- Immortality in the sense that adults stop aging.
- And as for hair… or possibly fur…
You can probably add a few of your own, without going into the real extremes of gills or wings.
There is one more which would really separate them from us. Namely, a new brain region designed to interface either with each other, or with AIs, leading to hive minds or the ultimate in individualism. Such connections are going to be vital as almost all of the business of a PostHuman civilization will be conducted in cyberspace. The “real world” will be a trivially tiny part of a stupendous whole.
Stage 4 — Runaway Directed Evolution
Assuming this is possible, why do it given what may already be accomplished with the lesser techniques described above? The obvious answer is that this would serve as a basis for the very rapid development of multiple species, probably incorporating synthetic biology to graft on features beyond anything possible in the natural world. For example, brain structures designed to interface with bio-mechanical AI. Or possibly completely different phenotypes that would bear only superficial resemblance to anything we would recognize as Human. Multi-limbed octopus-like people adapted for weightless conditions in space, capable of tolerating vacuum with all arms and no legs? At this point we are beyond any reasonable hope of being able to make a plausible forecast, although Dougal Dixon has tried in his book titled “Man After Man”. The picture above is just such a vacuum adapted person, although Dixon goes more for the artistic aesthetics rather than plausibility. For example, in the above picture we are assuming a zero-G environment. It would make more sense to place the head and eyes in the center of mass so that they can see all four hands — a creature more resembling a four armed armored squid.
Stage 4 — Final PostHuman Forms
That handsome fractal flower is here because one particular PostHuman may end up looking like that, modeled after the Bush Robot suggested by Hans Moravec. It’s arms are fractal. That is, they keep subdividing down to the nanoscale enabling the Being to manipulate not only gross matter as we do, but also work right down to the atomic scale. It could in principle build anything material from scratch. Anyway, that representation is rather more aesthetically pleasing than a furry octopus…
So imagine this, with a brain bigger than ours to the degree ours is bigger than a mouse. It could drop into the deepest ocean on Earth, or the desolation of the surface of the moon and within months bootstrap itself an industrial infrastructure, replicate as many servitors as necessary each at or beyond Human intelligence, and create a starfaring civilization. It would be totally self sufficient intellectually and technologically.
It could strip down a contemporary Human atom by atom, including the brain, and run that Human in a simulation in part of its mind. Or it could take that simulation and rebuild the Human atom by atom. It would be what has been described by science fiction author Charles Stross as a “weakly godlike entity”, and would bear more than a passing resemblance to HP Lovecraft’s “Great Old Ones”.
And if one or several of those started messing up the neighborhood, there is a higher level that could deal with these as easily as we scratch an itch. In Transhumanism they go under various names, such as “Jupiter Brains” or “Matrioshka Brains”.
A Jupiter Brain is where entire planetary masses, from that of a small asteroid up to something the size of Jupiter itself is converted into computational substrate. A Matrioshka Brain is where this is done to an entire solar system, using the central sun to power it. And that is the end of the line as far as speculation goes. Can a microbe speculate about Human civilization and technology? Say hello to Lovecraft’s “Elder Gods”.
All of the above starts here, and now.
You are privileged to be witnessing its birth, and maybe have a hand in the directions we take. This is the most influential point in the history of our species. Choose well.
Appendix
Some gene targets for potential engineering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_deities
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/average-iq-by-country/
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