In my lifetime, human augmentation has evolved from a fictional idea to a more attainable invention. Technologies such as wearable fitness watches, prosthetics, and genetic engineering that we have today give us opportunities to enhance our human capabilities. When using these technologies, we must balance reaping their benefits with ensuring that we do not violate ethical boundaries.
I think human augmentation will continue to evolve, and probably at a faster rate than we have seen before, in my lifetime. Wearable fitness watches like Apple watches and Garmins have advanced significantly over the past few years. The watches were previously used only to tell the time and track steps. Now, they can be used to track heart rate, notify the authorities if you get hurt, and potentially detect cardiac or respiratory issues. These functions allow us to know more about our health and transcend the typical health tracking we would be able to have at home. Prosthetics will most likely become more advanced and superior to human limbs. This type of human augmentation could lead to people getting prosthetics to help them surpass human limitations. This also could be useful to help people become more efficient in physical work which would contribute to our capitalist society. Genetic engineering and testing has been useful to help detect genetic disorders and diseases in people, especially before birth, to know their risk. Recently, the concept of choosing the characteristics for babies has also become more widespread. This will become dangerous as people begin using this to choose traits like appearance, intelligence, and personality. This could cause ethical issues because people are basically building their own children.
The level that I would go in terms of human augmentation is very limited. I currently use an Apple watch and plan to continue to use it since it encourages me to be active. It also has been useful in notifying me if there is a change in my heart rate trends or if I have a hard fall. Another human augmentation I would potentially use is Botox. As a future dermatologist, I see the benefit of using a little bit of Botox; however, I would not use a lot of cosmetic enhancements. I would not use any human augmentations that would push me way too far beyond my human limitations. I feel like that is immoral and disregards what it means to be human.
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