The Future is Already Here! Produce the Life Form of Super Human by Gene Modification with Medicine

The Hollywood movie The Titan in 2018 shows us an upcoming future where the population and pollution continue to grow to a critical point, and most parts in the world including the U.S. have become uninhabitable to humans. Predicted according to the time in the movie, the earth will become in ruins ten years later, and humans’ survival and multiplying will be confronted with unprecedented challenges, however, a planet that may be inhabitable to humans has been found in this universe as the astronomy and spaceship develop, i.e., the identified largest moon of Saturn—the Titan. In order for humans to emigrate to Titan, an experimental group dedicated to accelerating human evolution has been set up, but the experiment is full of uncertainties and danger. And the scientists have made the "Titan Program", a secret experiment for body modification, for humans to emigrate to Titan and survive the harsh environment there before the end of the world.

Interstellar immigrants become the spark for humans to continue

Emigrating to the Titan becomes the only choice for humans to avoid the end of the world. As a result, the scientists have lunched a military experimental program: to transform humans into new human species adapting to the harsh living environment of the Titan through genomic medicine, namely, the genetically modified super Titan human. Multiple drugs in combination with the genetic data of existing animals on the earth (such as bat and fish) can change human DNA to adapt to the living environment of the Titan (low oxygen content, low temperature, and weak light conditions, etc.). The new humans after gene modification are significantly different from humans no matter in appearance or physiology; they can survive underwater like dolphins, can resist to super low temperatures, can communicate through infrasonic wave like bats, and have very big strength, becoming superman in human world, however, the scientists have not fully mastered the technology of gene modification with medicine when the experiment began, with very high initial death rate and accident rate…At the end of the movie, Phase II of the "Titan Program" has been formally launched and become an irresistible trend, despite the difficulties and accidents in the new human transformation…

Genetically modified humans are no longer a myth

He Jiankui from China has recently claimed that he has modified gene for two babies to enable them to be naturally resistant to HIV. The authenticity of the news and the feasibility have later been much questioned and caused ethical arguments, however, a species of new human immune to HIV may has been born. There may be a species of ultimate human in the future as the pharmaceutical and genomic technologies continue to grow and improve, whose IQ is higher and physique is stronger, with different "superman" abilities like those in the movies. The first step towards genetical modification of human has been taken as early as in 1977, and the birth of new humans only waits for stable technologies and solution of ethical problems. The fantasy joke in the following figure shows a situation in the future, i.e., the gene optimization techniques and gene optimization agents are popular and become one of the services affordable by everyone.

Gene technology to make humans achieve directed evolution

For the time being, the science and technology strength of humanity is still insufficient to "make" super-mutants, and knowledge of ordinary people and the society towards bionic man is still superficial. However, the strength of technological improvement is irresistible: it only took decades for the test tube babies from fantasy to technical implementation, in which we see the truly remarkable progress of biotechnology. And we can have early screening of Down's syndrome, spina bifida, and various genetic diseases in fetuses through gene screening technology, to prevent bad genes, etc. Soon, we will be able to rearrange the gene in human DNA chain, and redirect and define the evolutionary direction of human species. For example, we can change the DNA early in the fetal stage, to prevent occurrence of cancerization in the middle and old ages, however, implementation of those techniques will cause serious moral and ethical dilemmas, as the early-stage gene modification experiments will be unpredictable and risky like in the movies.

To sum up, we can predict that in the near future, human gene and pharmaceutical scientists will play the role of "god" to change the human evolutionary direction into an operable "genetic material"; superman will no longer be a dream, however, this brings a thought-provoking moral and ethical dilemma: is genetically modified bionic man still human? With new humanity being stronger, higher, and faster, how should old humanity deal with it? Natural selection and survival of the fittest. Would they be eventually eliminated?

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