There's a tendency to dismiss performane enhancing drugs and other aids as "just a crutch". We may be entering an age where crutches are the norm, because the natural state of even the healthiest and most able person is crippled.
Neural implants may be one path. Computers are getting smaller, and scientists are getting better at making direct connections between the human brain and inanimate devices. Cochlear implants are often cited as an example of the latter.
Today, if I want to look up information, I have to get to a computer, connect it to a web site, and type in a search phrase. In the future, perhaps I will have an implant in my ear that can handle communication between my brain and the Internet, so I will not need the computer or its keyboard. Alternatively, my implant will communicate with a sort of mega-iPod, small in size but large in storage capacity, that can access and process all sorts of data.
Genetic modification may be another path. Perhaps scientists can find a way to modify genes in enough of my brain cells to improve my memory or other cognitive skills. If not, then they are likely to develop the ability to enable parents to determine genetic characteristics of children. If nothing else, they will be able to give parents of babies fertilized in vitro the ability to select based on genetic characteristics. Already, the combination of fetal diagnostic technology and abortion poses, as a recent Washington Post op-ed pointed out, ethical issues concerning the decision of parents to terminate pregnancies on the basis of prospective birth defects.
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