James Wilsdon of DEMOS, a U.K. think tank, has a thoughtful essay (subscription required) in the Financial Times on the occasion of the release of a new DEMOS collection of essays titled Better Humans? The Politics of Human Enhancement and Life Extension. Here is an excerpt from Wilsdon’s essay:

This movement is known as transhumanism, and its central belief is that advances in science and technology will liberate us from the constraints of illness and ageing, and enable us to live longer, healthier lives. In its more modest form, transhumanism advocates the embrace of new technologies, such as smart drugs, cosmetic surgery and gene therapy, which can enhance our physical and mental capabilities and make us ‘better than well’. At the more radical end of the spectrum, you find futurists such as Ray Kurzweil, whose recent book ‘The Singularity is Near’, argues that ‘Ultimately we will merge with our technology… By the mid 2040s, the non-biological portion of our intelligence will be billions of times more capable than the biological portion.’ Such predictions have provoked a fierce reaction, both from religious and cultural conservatives, who see transhumanism as an assault on human nature, and from the liberal left, which sounds alarm bells about the implications for equality and human rights. Francis Fukuyama has gone so far as to describe transhumanism as ‘the world’s most dangerous idea’. Yet as the technologies for human enhancement start moving from the pages of science fiction into the laboratory, and eventually into the marketplace, these responses are no longer sufficient. The basic impulse behind transhumanism is a progressive one: a desire to extend current models of medicine and healthcare in ways that would enable us to live longer, fitter and more fulfilling lives. Provided that enhancement technologies are carefully regulated, and opened up to genuine public debate, there is no reason why they should not enjoy widespread public support. Most of us, given the choice, would seize the opportunity to live well beyond our allotted ‘three score years and ten’, even if this required us to take a cocktail of new drugs. The explosive growth in cosmetic surgery shows just how quickly attitudes can change, with enhancements that were once taboo now part of the regular diet of TV makeovers and lifestyle magazines. The big question is who will bring human enhancement and life extension into the mainstream. Politicians and business leaders, who are already struggling to cope with rising pensions and healthcare costs, may be understandably reluctant to speculate about a world in which we all live (and work?) well into our second century. . . What is politics for if not to improve the quality – and length – of our lives? The transhumanists have done us all a favour by drawing the lines of a political battle that is yet to be fought.

Read the whole report here.