Le Regard Libre N° 15 - Nicolas Jutzet
We owe the title of this article to Laurent Alexandre, enarque and surgeon by training, turned successful entrepreneur. Along with many others, he is convinced that our generation is going to have to face and answer questions of unprecedented complexity and importance. In a striking chronicle, «Lettre à mes enfants», he calls on us to open our eyes to this future. For yes, we are going to have to redefine our civilization, many of whose landmarks are going to be diluted in what will be the fourth industrial revolution: the fusion of technologies.
This will bring together nanotechnology (the infinitely small), biotechnology (the fabrication of the living), computer science (artificial intelligence) and cognitive science (the study of the human brain), in other words, NBIC. In concrete terms, this means legislating and guiding the disparate movement of transhumanism, which fights for the honorable cause of improving the physical and mental characteristics of human beings. In other words, the possibility of humanity triumphing over death, putting an end to the fatality that sees man as a mere mortal doomed to decline. It's the end of disease, aging and disability. Man takes precedence over nature and destiny, and is the only master on board.
You'll easily understand that this prospect deserves and demands an enormous amount of thought and preparation. The next stage of our adventure depends on it. We have a historic responsibility. Whether we defend or destroy this future, we will have to decide, not for ourselves, but for our entire species. Where do we draw the line, what safeguards do we need, and under what conditions? Change without forgetting the past: a titanic task. Let's rise to the challenge, because our elected representatives, some of them technophobes, don't seem to be aware of the tsunami that's on its way. Back in 1992, Max More wrote the following lines:
«Mother Nature, we are truly grateful for what you have done for us. You have undoubtedly devoted the best of your strength. But, with no disrespect to you, when it comes to the human constitution, you haven't always worked well. You've made us vulnerable to disease and injury. You've forced us to grow old and die, just as we're slowly attaining wisdom. And you forgot to provide us with the instruction manual explaining how we function!... What you've created is magnificent, but deeply flawed... We've decided it's time to improve the human constitution... We're not doing it out of the goodness of our hearts, without fear or respect, but we're doing it carefully, intelligently, with the intention of improving ourselves... In the coming decades, we'll be seeking to make a series of modifications to our constitution... We will no longer tolerate the tyranny of age and death... We will broaden the scope of our perceptions... We will improve our nervous organization and faculties... We will reshape our motivational structure, like our emotional receptivity... We will program ourselves genetically and gain mastery of our biological and neurological processes. »
I like the idea that we have a date with history, just as I would have liked to have been there at the time of the first industrial revolution. Watching a world die, disappear and be replaced by a new one. It's so demanding, so exciting, and unlike the first revolution, this time we can choose our destiny together. But let's be clear: these changes are always painful, and that's the price we have to pay for creative destruction. It's an illusion to believe that the fourth industrial revolution will be a smooth ride. Creative destruction is at work.
Far from stopping at human optimization, this will, for example, render obsolete a large number of jobs that can be automated, and create new, more qualified and more skilled jobs. de facto less accessible. Generally speaking, it will see a clash of worldviews, between those («bioconservatives») who are content with the current state of humans and their environment, with its strengths and weaknesses, and others who, to varying degrees, will embrace this evolution. This diversity of opinion is salutary, for it will force us to constantly question ourselves.
As far as I'm concerned, the hope of a life lasting several centuries is real. If Laurent Alexandre, who believes that humans will live for a thousand years in the not-too-distant future, is right, imagine the prospect that would present itself to us. After all, who doesn't have a project, a pile of books to read, an activity in mind for every little grain that runs through the great hourglass that is our life expectancy?
The last grain will give me time to check whether our generation has taken its role seriously... or whether, through its own fault, humanity has failed, whether through prudence or excess. Not everyone is a demiurge.
Write to the author : nicolas.jutzet@leregardlibre.com
Crédit photo : © 01Net
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