Americans are wary of enhancements that could enable them to live longer and stronger
Despite the technological potential to help humans live longer and stronger, many U.S. adults are not ready to embrace these possibilities.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Science
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The Scientific and Ethical Elements of Human Enhancement
Human enhancement may be just around the corner. How do Americans view these emerging technologies that may one day enhance our human capabilities?
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House seats rarely flip from one party to the other
Big partisan shifts in the House of Representatives happen, but not often. In only three of the past 12 election cycles has one party posted a net gain of more than 30 seats, and on average 93% of House members who seek re-election are voted back into office.
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Americans skeptical about the potential use of synthetic blood
Americans are more worried than excited or enthusiastic about the potential for healthy people to use synthetic blood (63% vs. 36%). And a majority of Americans – roughly six-in-ten – said they would not want synthetic blood substitutes in their own body to improve their abilities, while 35% would be open to it.
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Many Americans are wary of using gene editing for human enhancement
A new gene-editing method called CRISPR exemplifies how the technology is rapidly becoming a present-day reality. Yet, Americans are wary of editing embryos, according to a survey on the broader field of “human enhancement.”
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Split-ticket districts, once common, are now rare
In 2012, only 26 House districts out of 435 chose one party’s presidential nominee and the other party’s candidate for the House.
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Why Americans are wary of using technology to ‘enhance’ humans
Emerging technologies that draw from biomedical technology, nanotechnology, information technology and other fields may lead to any number of ways people might be able to “upgrade” themselves. But a majority of Americans greet the possibility of these breakthroughs with more wariness and worry than enthusiasm and hope.
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The religious divide on views of technologies that would ‘enhance’ human beings
Americans are wary of the prospect of implanting a computer chip in their brains to improve their mental abilities or adding synthetic blood to their veins to make them stronger and faster. And this is particularly true of those who are highly religious.
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Q&A: Two perspectives on human enhancement technologies and how the public views them
Christian Brugger, a professor of moral theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, believes that people are right to be concerned about the social impact of human enhancement. Anders Sandberg, a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, thinks that, on balance, human enhancement will improve and enrich our lives.
