[ExI] Taxonomy of Human Enhancement

[Natasha Vita-More]

HI Mirco,

Thanks.  Actually, I thought I had said this clearly in my original email,
but I guess not.  I was looking for the historical use of the phrase "humane
enhancement", not humans altering biology, which is ancient (we can go as
far back as the Alchemists).

Best,
Natasha

Natasha Vita-More
PhD Researcher, Univ. of Plymouth, UK
Chairman, Humanity+ 
Co-Editor, The Transhumanist Reader

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Mirco Romanato
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 8:49 AM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] Taxonomy of Human Enhancement

Il 10/01/2012 15:15, Natasha Vita-More ha scritto:
> Putting varied pieces together, I have a pretty clear understanding
> now. It is a synthesis of preceding and subsequent social events and 
> technological paradigmatic shifts that spawned cybernetics' HCI and
> BCI and biotechnology's gene therapy. Issues of therapy vs.
> enhancement arose.  The New York Times article and Science mag
> article in 1972 spawned a concern and bioethics became a theoretical
> business.

Don't know if it is fit to the request, but the "human enhancement" idea
is old.
I have not direct access to the original strips of 1940's Captain
America but the talk is about a super-soldier serum able to enhance the
subject abilities at the peak of human ability.

Probably the idea come from the then newly developed substances:


> http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/drugs/steroids.asp
> 
> "The history of anabolic steroids can be traced back to as early as
> 1930's, before the term steroid was even used. In the 1930's, a team
> of scientists was able to create a synthetic form of testosterone (a
> male hormone) to help treat men who were unable to produce enough of
> the hormone for normal growth, development, and sexual functioning.
> Later, during World War II it was found that this artificial form of
> testosterone could be used to help malnourished soldiers gain weight
> and improve performance."
> 
> http://www.resistance88.com/topics/sport/nazisteroids1.htm#.TxGU3_kmbTo
>
>  Medicinally, steroids obviously have a very legitimate purpose for
> being. Athletically, their profound effect on the performance and
> appearance of users can neither be ignored nor denied. However,
> steroids didn't start being utilized for non-medical reasons for
> about a decade after being created. In the 40s, Nazi doctors provided
> steroids to their soldiers in an effort to make them more aggressive.
> The Soviet Union followed suit in the 50s by giving them to their
> athletes to enhance performance and strength..

Mirco
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