Solomon Harris

ERH 102-01

Biotechnology Essay 2

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Reflective Tag

In this paper, I discussed the gradually increasing possibility of supersoldiers being used in the military, through the use of biotechnology. To start this discussion I first talked about my connection to the topic, explaining how and why my own interests led me to talk about this specific topic. Essentially, it was my love for superheroes that led to this topic, being that it was the closest method of making an initially fictional idea into reality. After introducing my topic I went on to introduce 3 sources that talked about the topic and explain certain developments that are taking place in that particular field. Each source had a different perspective about the possibilities that the creation of supersoldiers with biotechnology could bring to the world, providing both potential benefits and consequences. For each source, I summarized the authors’ main themes, and stated any arguments that were trying to be made. I then responded to each source with my own thoughts, providing points that I believed and agreed with and points that I doubted or disagreed with.

The Rise of Super Soldiers: What was Once Fiction is Becoming Reality

Since I was little, I have had a near-obsessive interest in superheroes! My interest first started with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers, which later switched to Marvel and DC comics. I had all four of the Ninja Turtles, and just a few of the Power Rangers, but just about every Marvel and DC comics action figure you could think of, probably ranging in the 100-200 in total.  Additionally, I watched shows like Spiderman, Justice League, Hulk, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all the time, emulating the fight  scenes from the shows with my own toys. As I grew older the interest in superheroes grew too, as I put the animated shows  and toys away and moved on to the superhero movies that became extremely popular throughout my teenage years. When I was younger and even now, it is the superheroes’ capabilities that attract me. Being able to fly like Superman, have the strength of the Hulk, the Flash’s superspeed, or Spiderman’s spider-senses, just always seemed so interesting to me. I would just imagine myself with their abilities, when I used to play around as a superhero trying to save the world. When I was older, I realized that there was no real chance of me getting such powers until reading some new articles about the topic of biotechnology. In accordance with many of the readings I’ve seen, the U.S. military’s development of superheroes, or should I say supersoldiers is in the near future. Even though there are obviously limitations to what will be possible, so far, what the military’s scientists and researchers have in mind still seems amazing and almost unreal. I believe that the development of supersoldiers would be very cool to see, but that doesn’t mean that we need it, and so I’d pose the question: how necessary is the development of super soldiers for military use, especially considering the possibility that some of the changes soldiers may go through will be irreversible?

I began my search to answer this question with the article “Transhumanism and War”, by Nayef Al-Rodhan. I found this article by typing in “biotechnology”, “super soldiers” and “transhumanism”. From writing my previous essay, I became more aware of the development of super soldiers through the use of biotechnology so I used those keywords. I used “transhumanism” because it is a concept that my uncle talked to me about before, and the plans that the concept hopes to implement around the world. There is currently a plan for several major technological advancements to be made by the year 2045, a year that has its own initiative website illustrating what scientists and engineers want to be able to accomplish by then. I started with this article because it gave the best introduction to the relatively new idea of biotechnology leading to “transhumanism”, what I believe is the key to human enhancement. As the article lists possible capabilities that biotechnology could give humans, like superstrength, heightened senses and higher pain tolerance, the author claims that “such techniques could push us beyond what it means to be human, effectively bringing us on the brink of transhumanism”(Al-Rodhan). Transhumansim is an idea that he says  “challenges the very notion of the human condition as fixed, rooted and constant”, and from what I understand is the advancement of humans to superhumans (Al-Rodhan). Throughout his text, Rodhan explains how transhumanism may be beneficial, but also harmful to humans and the qualities that make people human. Putting these qualities a risk, I believe, would create the possibility of losing abilities that even technology may not even be able to provide. He believes that humans just have some special qualities that can’t be replaced, making them unique and good for certain jobs/roles, such as in the military. Al-Rodhan notes that human soldiers will always be one of the most important and necessary parts of the military. This is why the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which said that humans are currently the weakest part of the US military in an article that Al-Rhodan references, has major plans to implement certain enhancements in humans so that they can be more valuable and efficient in their jobs. When I read this source, I was first surprised by the examples it lists of things the military already uses to enhance its soldiers, like certain drug stimulants,used to increase alertness and adrenaline. As I continued to read this source, I got an overall summary of some of the military’s plans to add supersoldiers into their arsenal and the different groups working the most with biotechnology, such as DARPA. I noticed that DARPA was the most frequently used source, by the author, for information and concepts about future uses of biotechnology in the military. DARPA, according to the texts, seems to be very open about what they are working on. Some things that they are working on include “Accelerated Learning”, “Crystalline Cellulose Conversion to Glucose” (enabling humans to eat grass and other non-digestible plants), “Human-aided optical recognition”, (neuro-optical binoculars to detect threats), “RealNose”, (extra sensors to detect chemicals as accurately as a dog) and “Z-Man” (allowing humans to climb up walls like lizards)”. (Al-Rodhan) Reading about their plans made me realize how advanced we already are and how advanced we are becoming technologically. This new realization sprouted more ideas of what humans could achieve in the future but also fear of the consequences delving into this could bring. The article talks about microchips being implanted into human brains, to enhance certain functions. It seems like an innovative idea that could possibly make us smarter, and help us process react and process information faster, but what if the chip were hacked, would the hacker be able to control the person or turn off certain functions. If the chip was to malfunction would there be permanent internal damage in the human? There are just too many questions to ask, mainly because most of this technology just hasn’t been fully developed and tested yet, and according to the article it will be a while before it is. 

In Joe Papalrado’s “Short-Term Superhuman: If We Create Augmented Soldiers, Can We Turn Them Back?”, he explains that any enhancements that biotechnology is able to make must be reversible. The author poses two main questions supporting the need for the reversibility: how it will affect soldiers in the field, and then how it will affect them later in life after their military career. I think they are very controversial topics. In the field, enhanced soldiers would have to be able to work with non-enhanced soldiers, which may cause  inequality and/or social problems. Additionally when returning to civilian life, the enhanced individuals would compete with regular people for jobs, creating yet another seemingly unfair advantage for the enhanced individuals, especially if jobs are looking for more skilled/qualified employees. Permanent modifications may result in dehumanizing the soldiers that use the technology, which is why they are not being considered as the best options for soldier enhancement; instead, more “temporary, non-invasive ways to enhance soldiers”, are seen as the most optimal (Pappalardo). Pappalardo claims that there is a “line” that separates simple surgeries and vaccine usage, and “human enhancement” modifications. This line establishes that anything that corrects a deficiency/disability back to its normal functionality is not an enhancement, but anything that alters something to work differently, or more advanced than humanly possible is (Pappalardo). “Just as prosthetics for amputees can lead to exoskeletons, gene-based cures can be adapted to become enhancements” (Pappalardo). The author mentions how there have been recent incidences where scientists were able to use gene therapy to cure hereditary diseases, for example one the caused blindness in the people with the disease. After the gene therapy, the former victims of the blindness gained their sight. Considering that this procedure just fixed a disability in a group of people, it would be acceptable to Pappalardo, compared to a procedure that would give them x-ray or night vision. I agree strongly with Pappalardo’s view of reversibility in the biotech world. Considering that we have yet to see the full possibilities of what we can use biotechnology for, that means we also don’t know the negative implications it can have on those who use it.  Health effects are one of the main concerns. The body may react to certain modifications differently causing problems within the person. 

After changing my search by replacing “super soldier” with “enhanced people” I stumbled upon the article: “Human Enhancement: The Scientific and Ethical Dimensions of Striving for Perfection”,  by David Masci. I chose to include this article after the previous two because it talked about biotechnology and transhumanism on a broader scale, outside of just its future military usage. This article went deeper into the realm of transhumanism, which the author considers the binding of man and machine producing a newly enhanced human species. This consists of just using machines to enhance humans, and also actually implanting certain technologies inside humans. One working development that the article discusses is “synthetic blood” which will be used to not only fix the blood shortage problem, but also possibly “carry more oxygen or better fight infections” or increase clotting speed (Masci). In addition to synthetic blood, the use of gene mapping technology and gene editing technology (CRISPR), has enabled scientists to better understand the human genome and replace cells with new genetic code, respectfully. CRISPR technology has recently been used to help people fight cancer by strengthening the immune system. It is believed that the genetic engineering process of CRISPR  may be able to one day cure diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, among many others. (Masci) The author also talks about the concept of germline editing in which embryos are genetically altered at birth, either giving them enhanced genes or preventing them from getting certain diseases. This process is seen as the most ideal for producing enhanced beings, since scientists have come to the conclusion that editing an embryo is much easier than editing the genome of a human adult. I learned from this article that we are already in an age of “enhanced humans” whether we realize it or not, which it reiterates several times. I agree to the point that what we have now that enables us to be slightly enhanced, is nowhere close to what will be possible in the future. I am skeptical about how long some of the developments will take, because the article doesn’t elaborate on how close scientists are to producing complete products. The ending of this article begins to delve into the real world consequences that may result from genetic engineering being used in society. Equality being the main concern, both in the military and in the civilian world. For people in the military that get certain enhancements, and try to interact with others that don’t have the same enhancements, would give them at an advantage, almost giving the idea as if they are better than the non-enhanced people which will only result in segregation and inequality. I noticed a connection to the previous article that foretold something like this happening if the bioengineering process were not reversible.

A recurring theme that I saw within the articles that I used and other articles that I read is that, it is best to just do something before someone else just to be prepared and a few steps ahead if need be. The U.S. is the best example of this considering that we are always striving to be at the top, in just about every industry. When concerning the military, it is their top priority to have the most advanced technology so that no other country’s military would be as much of a threat to us. Therefore, according to the articles I read, I was able to come to the conclusion that super-soldiers are necessary, whether everyone agrees with it or not. The development of advanced human beings is inevitable not only because of human’s drive to reach perfection, but also because of constant competition with other countries and the urge to just be prepared by being a few steps ahead.

Citations

“Climate Change and Human Rights.” Global Policy Journal, www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/18/05/2015/transhumanism-and-war.

Pappalardo, Joe. “Short-Term Superhuman: If We Create Augmented Soldiers, Can We Turn Them Back?” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 25 Sept. 2018, www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a23457329/augmented-super-soldiers-reversible/.

Masci, David. “Human Enhancement: Scientific and Ethical Dimensions of Genetic Engineering, Brain Chips and Synthetic Blood.” Pew Research Center Science & Society, Pew Research Center, 4 Jan. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/07/26/human-enhancement-the-scientific-and-ethical-dimensions-of-striving-for-perfection/.