Recently I have become increasingly aware of an
emerging emphasis on using advances in biotechnology not just to cure disease
but to improve the capabilities of healthy people. This ‘human enhancement’
phenomenon is cropping up in all sorts of places ranging from the military
experimenting with ‘exoskeltons’ to give soldiers extra strength, to supposed
life-style enhancing ‘nutraceuticals’, to the first attempts to increase
longevity with drugs such as rapamycin. An interesting example was recently reported
in a NY Times Magazine article “Jump-Starter Kits for the Mind” (1). This
involved trans-cranial direct current stimulation (tCDS), a technique where
small currents are applied to regions of the brain to improve memory or
executive function. The idea is that the current stimulates neural tracts and
such ‘exercise’ increases function, thus reflecting the well-establish
neurobiological concept of Long Term Potentiation. As with it’s near relative, transcranial
magnetic stimulation (TMS), a number of studies in ageing patients with
impaired mental functions have claimed to detect benefits with use of tCDS.
This has prompted investigators to examine the effects of tDCS in healthy
people and, as described in the Times article, some positive results have been
found. Apparently, since the technology is so simple, this has also prompted
handy do-it-yourselfers to download how-to videos from YouTube and make tCDS
devices for themselves. Since there have not yet been large-scale, blinded,
controlled trials of tCDS or TMS the jury is still out on whether they really
work. However, the enthusiasm with which they have been adopted by scientists
and by some members of the public illustrate that there is tremendous interest
in in the whole human enhancement thrust.
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