To enhancement, and beyond?

By Jennie McLaurin  |  ChristianWeek Columnist

Jake is a paralyzed soldier who yearns for restored physical abilities. Paradoxically, he eventually obtains strength and agility far exceeding his previous capacities. The catch is that he has to give up his body in order to live as he wishes.

This is the theme of the movie Avatar, scheduled for release during the Christmas holidays. Jake joins an Avatar program which uploads his mind—much as a computer might upload a hard drive—and implants it into a new body. The body is genetically engineered as a human hybrid able to withstand far more physical stress than an ordinary human. Jake can now act remotely by directing his thoughts in a body detached from his organic self.

It sounds like science fiction, and of course, it is. But it's not too remote a possibility. Many scientists believe the 21st century will be the century of nanotechnology and human enhancement. Nanotechnology operates at a molecular level and includes everything from medication delivery to microchip implantation to stem cell therapy to nerve control of computerized devices.

Artificial intelligence has developed to the extent that experts predict we will have a computer with the abilities of a three-year-old child within three years. This capability includes not just computation, but intelligence—the capacity to infer, reason, make decisions, and interact socially. Artificial intelligence reflecting adult potentials is thought to be only ten years away. Superhuman possibilities naturally follow.

Proponents of artificial intelligence call nanotechnology "Liberation Biology." One expert commented it would be a wonderful experience, as thinking creatures, to finally be free of our bodies. Another researcher declared nanotechnology as the key to human happiness. Indeed, there is even a pair of "happiness genes" that nanotechnology might enhance so that we see the world with sunnier eyes.

Most radical are the transhumanists, who believe all human bodies are defective and in need of constant technological upgrades until we become independent of biology. Suffering, and ultimately death, are thought to be problems that nanotechnology will finally overcome.

Enhancement is the term used to describe the application of technologies to maximize human attributes, or even promote superhuman potential. Enhancement can be as simple as Botox or as complex as genetic engineering. Edmund Pelligrino, a physician-bioethicist and a Christian, examines the ways enhancement medicine may influence our concepts of health, well-being, and care.

While some see enhancement as therapeutic, Pelligrino prefers to define enhancement as attempts to "increase, intensify, raise up, exalt, heighten, or magnify."

These words sound an awful lot like worship. Pelligrino continues: "Hopes for an earthly paradise are seemingly within reach for many people who no longer believe in an after-life. For them, extracting the maximum from personal enhancement is a seductive substitute" ("Biotechnology, Human Enhancement, and the Ends of Medicine," CBHD, Nov. 30, 2004).

Perhaps this discussion seems far-out for those of us who believe in an after-life and a present-life marked by faith in Christ. But the dangers are nearer than we may think. We are besieged with products designed to make us stronger, smarter and sexier.

We live in a world where Down syndrome children are disappearing, euthanasia is promoted and ageing is denied. We keep configuring a new normal. In many ways, we already question whether we really must live as embodied souls. Enhancement sounds deceptively attractive.

It's ironic that the word "avatar" has Sanskrit roots and implies movement from the spiritual to the material world. Some translate it into English as "incarnation." But we witness to an incarnation where perfection was possible in the imperfect human flesh, where dying to self never meant negating the reality of the body, and where strength was found in weakness.

I don't know if I'll see Avatar this December. But I do hope to see the birth of Jesus with a mind renewed by the wonder of a God who would become one of us, that we might not escape ourselves, but become really ourselves, biology and all.

Jennie McLaurin is associate professor of bioethics at Regent College and a physician with 25 years of experience serving poor migrant communities.

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