[extropy-chat] The Catalog Of Correctable Omnipresent Human Flaws

Edward Smith weg9mq at centralmail.zzn.com
Mon Jul 4 23:38:52 UTC 2005


This reference may be copied and distributed freely.

PART 1: Corrections, Enhancements, And Species Names

All human bodies have numerous flaws which can be eliminated
by geneticly modifying the zygote. Those flaws exist because
their elimination was and is not necessary for the survival of the
human species. However, their elimination would greatly
increase the efficiency of our actions, and thus both our physical
prosperity and our quality of life.

A distinction must be made between corrections and
enhancements. Corrections are removals of negatives whereas
enhancements are additions of positives. The line between a
correction and an enhancement is not entirely defined, but most
modifications clearly fall on one side or the other.

A correction constitutes the replacement of an important trait
that had evolved away due to lack of necessity, or the
correction of a trait that had evolved wrongly due to
evolutionary expedience, except when the correction of such a
trait satisfies the criteria for being an enhancement. An
enhancement constitutes any augmentation of ones abilities that
are characterized as being competitive, other than the removal
of specific weaknesses, or any elaborate or unnatural addition.
Many examples of enhancements are: 1. enhancements, beyond
the removal of specific weaknesses, of muscle strength, muscle
disinhibition, muscle endurance, cardiovascular endurance, skill,
sensory breadth, sensory sensitivity, intelligence, mental skills,
appearance, speed of development, or ability to feel pleasure,
2. the ability to extract energy from sunlight, hydrocarbons, or
other sources that are unnatural for animals, 3. chameleon-like
color-changing ability or other camouflage, 4. echolocation
ability (which is mostly applicable in the dark), 5. built-in
phosphorescent light(s), 6. built-in fire lighter(s) (most likely
phosphoric and sulfuric), 7. wings, fins, claws, gills, serpentine
arms, cold-bloodedness, or any other complex animal-like
traits, 8. built-in weapons, 9. built-in armor beyond the removal
of any specific weaknesses, 10. any purely cosmetic alteration.
Obviously, some of such enhancements would not even be
practical, especially since artificial non-biological objects can
serve many of those functions, though such artificial
non-biological objects are often expensive and in any case they
depend upon a technological industrial infrastructure and access
to that infrastructure.

It is important to first focus on corrections rather than
enhancements, the reason being that corrections are limited
in their scope (there are most likely only 35-45 possible
corrections) and mostly benefit an individual by themself,
whereas enhancements are virtually unlimited in their scope, are
mostly beneficial to an individual in competition with others,
and/or are prone to abuse. Pursuing the latter traits may thus
touch off a rash of socially mutually-destructive genetic
competition if it is not clear that such enhancements must only
be made with the most rightful and socially responsible of
intentions, as characterized by the geneticly-determined
character of the enhanced beings, such that they have a fine,
clear, rightness-seeking abstract focus (caused by the H1, M1,
and M3 receptors in unmodified humans), which works in
opposition to both crude blind wrongness-seeking focus
(caused by the 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and 5-HT2C receptors in
unmodified humans) and ethically indifferent greed. Luckily
though, if a person is rational enough to support transhumanism,
then they are more likely to be rational enough to realize that
responsibility. The various possible human modifications fall on
a spectrum between being a correction and being an
enhancement (which may be called the correction-enhancement
spectrum), with most possible modifications clearly falling on
one side or the other. The further a trait falls toward the
[competitive] enhancement end of the spectrum, the more
dangerous it is, and thus the more rightful it's bearer's
temperament must be.

Being as highly modified humans that can reproduce certainly
constitute a new subspecies of homo sapien, there should be
specific species names to distinguish significantly-modified
humans from unmodified or minimally-modified humans, and to
distinguish humans that have only been modified by significant
corrections from those that have been modified by significant
enhancements (with or without significant corrections also).
Species names, by custom, are latin, meaning that latin terms
should be used to describe the 3 human types, following the
species name 'homo sapien'. The most appropriate latin
subspecies names for humans that are not significantly-modified,
significantly-corrected only, and significantly-enhanced,
respectively, are 'rudis', 'correctus', and 'altus', which mean in
latin, respectively: 'rough, raw, or crude', 'corrected', and
'grown or improved'.

There are also different categories of modifications for both
correction and enhancement modifications, which can serve to
classify the modifications when making lists. Those categories
are: 1. biochemical, 2. gross physical, and 3. neurological. A
modification can fall under multiple categories to some extent,
especially if it is complex, but such traits should be classified
into the categories that they best fall under. Those categories
may also have subcategories where appropriate, such as
'growth', 'autonomy', 'mobility', 'durability', etcetera, though not
all modifications may fall into one of the subcategories.


PART 2: Correctable Omnipresent Human Flaws

The reference below describes many of, and most likely the vast
majority of, geneticly-correctable omnipresent evolutionary
flaws of unmodified humans (descriptions begin with "In
unmodified humans,"), their corresponding corrected state
(descriptions begin with "In the corrected state," and use the
verb "will"), and any other relevant basic information. Closely
related flaws are described as a single flaw:

(Due to an email size limit of 30 kilobytes, this large section can
not fit into this email. The entire reference is at the URL:
http://www.cotse.net/users/t3nj/th.html )


PART 3: Application

As of now, mid 2005, transhumanist work has consisted of
nothing except discussions, news-sharing, political debating, and
some political work on behalf of issues that are related to
transhumanism. There have apparently been no attempts at
actually IMPLEMENTING transhumanism, that is, modifying
human zygotes (probably produced in test tubes), most likely
via a retroviral gene-delivery vector. The genome of an
unmodified human has approximately 22,000 genes (in contrast
to an early crude estimate of approximately 30,000 genes).

Before the genetic modification of human zygotes occurs, it is
first necessary to research the relevant genes and proteins of the
various traits that are to be modified. That constitutes identifying
what genes and proteins produce a specific trait; discovering
how they produce that trait; learning their sequences; using that
information to extrapolate the nature of the modified genes and
proteins and their sequences; and testing the modified genes in
animals (preferably fast-growing animals) that are sufficiently
geneticly similar to humans in the relevant genes, until the
modified genes function successfully. An other option is to
geneticly engineer laboratory animals to grow more rapidly (so
as to get faster test results) and/or to have more human-like
genes (so as to get more accurate test results).

It is therefore in the immediate interest of transhumanists to
share any of the aforementioned research information. To that
end, and to facilitate implementing transhumanism in general, I
recommend the creation of a new extropy institute mailing list,
probably best called 'extropy-research', which serves the
purpose of exchanging such information, and any other
necessary logistical information involved in actively implementing
transhumanism. To organize the information presented on that
list, an extropy institute reference should be created that is a
well-organized conglomeration of that information, and it should
incorporate this very reference as a guideline for research. The
new extropy institute reference is probably best called the
'extropy institute active transhumanism reference'. The active
transhumanism reference should be backed up on many users'
computers and on disks, in case theocratic terrorists manage to
hack into and destroy the online reference. I also advise that
transhumanists that intend to actively implement transhumanism
obtain a college degree in genetics, as that official recognition
will give you more clout when dealing with any
anti-transhumanists that will try to obstruct these goals. I have
already made an equivalent proposal to the WTA, but they have
not shown interest. I am hoping that the extropy institute is more
proactive.


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