Trend: Enhancing life forms through technology

A trend indicates a direction of change in values and needs which is driven by forces and manifests itself already in various ways within certain groups in society.

‘Wearables’ are tools and sensor devices used to measure or detect events inside or outside of the human body. Wearables can be health-oriented, or military style sensors (such as those that detect chemicals), or robotics which function in human enhancement, replacement or repair. These areas are finding more and more applications.

Wearable sensors and human enhancement by robotics for e.g., are offered with grand promise in both civil and defence industries. The use of sensors has already been developed in the context of rehabilitation, elderly care, the treatment of people with chronic medical conditions and big sensors’ data can be used for personalised healthcare. 

Humans and the human mind have striven for a long time to find ways to communicate through the brain. Big leaps in science are paving the way to functional brain-human interfaces. This technology offers opportunities for those born with physical disabilities, or those who have lost an arm in an accident for e.g. The person could have a robotic replacement arm that is controlled through brain signals. This could be linked with advances in genetic engineering. Modern technology makes it possible to alter genetic material to create novel traits in plants, animals, bacteria and fungi.
 

This Trend is part of the Megatrend Accelerating technological change and hyperconnectivity

Manifestations

Developments happening in certain groups in society that indicate examples of change related to the trend.

Wearables

‘Wearables’ are devices worn on the human body that can be used for a variety of purposes, including monitoring vital functions, augmenting and providing assistance, or for substituting human motor function. Wearables often have 'dual-uses', meaning that they are usable in both civil and military applications. For e.g. they could be a device used to measure a pulse, blood pressure, or something that can be put on the skin with which you can sense the environment around you, sensing injury, CO₂, or toxic substances. The military have developed sensors to detect COVID-19 virus in the air. The possibility to monitor a patient or soldier’s health remotely, while collecting data over a long-time span, nurtures the expectation that wearables will enable a more complete medical analysis and a less cost-intensive healthcare. Wearables bring many ethical questions that go far beyond concerns of privacy and data protection and include questions about mass surveillance and human augmentation. 

Signals of change: Markets and Markets, STAT, Business Insider

Robotics enhancing humans

Robotic devices can replace some lost functions of a human body, or enhance skills and abilities that humans do not possess. Due to their versatility, wearable robots can be used in a wide variety of applications, from automotive, aviation, construction, health care, logistics,  manufacturing, and military, as well as many future application areas. A sub area of human robotics is wearable robots, which are human-body-worn activated devices that mechanically interact with the sensorimotor system of a human user for the purpose of augmentation, assistance, or substitution of human motor functions. There are devices to increase manoeuvrability or skills, for e.g. the military use foot enhancements. These are walking devices attached to a soldier’s feet allowing them to run faster and jump higher. Other examples include devices attached to hips of health care workers, allowing them to do more (patient) heavy lifting without getting back injury. Robotics bring ethical questions that go beyond concerns of privacy and data protection and include sensitive questions about human augmentation, fairness and competition. It is an area with big economic and strategic potential and will be widely developed.

Signals of change: NASA, MIT press

Brain-computer interface

Humans have long strived to be able to control things with their mind. Devices are in development that bridge between the brain and a technological device that allows the control of objects through the human brain-machine interface. A brain-machine interface (BMI) is a device that translates neuronal information into commands capable of controlling external software or hardware, such as a wheelchair, computer or robot. BMIs are often used as assisted living devices for individuals with motor or sensory impairments and are being developed for spatial navigation and a wide variety of applications (wearable headbands and earbuds) that are slowly moving into the mass market. A replacement arm device is in development for people who have lost their arm in an accident, they can control the movement of the new arm through their brain. Brain-human interfaces can also control objects that are not necessarily attached to the body - monkeys with chip implants in their brains have been shown to be able to play video games. The possibility to monitor and potentially control cognitive function, attention levels as well as motor function raises many ethical questions, alongside the potential for humanity.

Signals of change: ResearchGate Neuroscience, News Medical, The Guardian

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering/gene editing can be used to repair human capabilities, or to create new capabilities. CRISPR-Cas9 is the ‘genetic scissors’ that has revolutionised genetic engineering and holds great promise for the future. Gene therapy approaches include replacing a mutated gene that causes disease with a functional copy, for e.g. in immunotherapy techniques, cancers, viral diseases, or inherited disorders. Human capacities can be enhanced, creating 'super soldiers' that can withstand severe environments, or do not feel pain, or have better concentration capacities and are therefore better able to aim a rifle in stressful military situations. Genetic engineering can also be used to eradicate diseases transmitted by animals. Mosquito-borne infections could be eradicated by making male mosquitoes infertile. 

Genetic engineering can be applied to modify nature so that it can adapt to changes and new environments e.g. plants that can grow in the desert with very little water. Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally, e.g. through the introduction of a ‘useful’ gene. Advances bring possibilities for our future food systems and the environment, potentially increasing crop yields and quality, inferring drought resistance, impacting the cost of food through improved yields and reliability and so on. The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) remains controversial, and the EU has strict rules and complex authorisation procedures concerning their cultivation and commercialisation. See also ‘It’s a miracle’.

Signals of change: Techooid, ScienceDirect Genetic Engineering, WHO, EC

Biotech meets food and leaves

Bioengineering technologies promise significant advances in reducing the environmental impact of human activity. Market-share growth and diversification of artificial meat and dairy-based products could reduce the overall farming industry's carbon footprint. New processes such as precision fermentation (applying genome sequencing and gene editing techniques), result in microbes engineered for a specific purpose, such as feeding them to a fermenter in order to create artificial dairy products (such as cheese), coconut oil or palm oil.

Other fabricated bio components, such as artificial leaves that capture atmospheric CO2, could be turned into organic fertilizers, bringing the possibility of enormous crop yields - without the environmentally poisonous side effects typically associated with chemical fertilizers.

Signals of change: WEF, Science Focus, FTI

Interesting questions

What might this trend imply, what should we be aware of, what could we study in more depth? Some ideas:

• What if “cyborg me"/human enhancement possibilities become a private market?
• What if other life forms become 'cyborg-ed' and enhanced by technology too?
• Where should we draw the line and limit what data is available from wearables and to whom? 
• From where exactly is wearables data being collected and how long is it being kept?