English Audio Request

What does it mean to be human? Julian Baggini meets with scientists who aspire to take evolution into their own hands ...
Special to MORE INTELLIGENTLIFE
Many dystopian writers have imagined worlds in which a singular "human nature" has bifurcated or splintered into a plurality of human natures. They have portrayed societies in which the genetically modified rise above their inferior, natural cousins ("Gattaca"); or different castes of human are selectively bred for accomplishing different tasks ("Brave New World"). In some cases humans from working and middle classes evolve over millennia into two different species ("The Time Machine"), or they experience a reality that is entirely virtual ("The Matrix").
These dystopias are readily imaginable only because at some level it is obvious that human nature is malleable. There is no reason in principle why creatures like ourselves might not become radically different over time. Until recently, such mutations were simply abstract possibilities, limited to the power of gods, sorcerers and novelists. But lately we have begun to consider the possibility that technology might change us more in a generation or two than evolution has done over millions of years.
We already have some technologies that alter how we think and feel. Anti-depressants and treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) change us as much as they cure us. Students and executives are already popping drugs such as Adderall, monadafinil, donepezil and Provigil as neuroenhancers, to boost memory during exams or to maintain concentration through periods of intense work. Pharmaceutical companies are now working on the "female Viagra", designed not to correct physiological malfunction but to change the very pattern of our desires. But pretty soon any agonising over interventions like these might seem rather quaint—like worrying about the odd pothole the day before a city is bombed into oblivion. There are much bigger changes afoot.
With psychoactive drugs, prosthetics and genetic enhancement, we are already able to fashion the fabric of the self in much more radical ways than our ancestors ever could. As we learn more about how to change and enhance our brains and bodies, we are about to gain even more power over who and what we essentially are. We are moving to a time when we are no longer satisfied with trying to understand human nature; we are now moving to prescribe it.