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Americans worry about "human enhancement" technologies: poll

Xinhua, July 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Americans are more concerned than excited when it comes to the potential use of emerging "human enhancement" technologies that can make people's minds sharper, their bodies stronger and healthier in the future, a new poll showed Tuesday.

The Pew Research Center surveyed more than 4,700 U.S. adults on their views about three emerging technologies: gene editing that might give babies a lifetime with much reduced risk of serious disease, implantation of brain chips that potentially could give people a much improved ability to concentrate and process information, and transfusions of synthetic blood that might give people much greater speed, strength and stamina.

It found a majority of Americans would be "very" or "somewhat" worried about gene editing (68 percent); brain chips (69 percent); and synthetic blood (63 percent), while no more than half say they would be enthusiastic about each of these developments.

"Developments in biomedical technologies are accelerating rapidly, raising new societal debates about how we will use these technologies and what uses are appropriate," lead author Cary Funk, an associate director of Research at Pew Research Center, said in a statement.

"This study suggests Americans' are largely cautious about using emerging technologies in ways that push human capacities beyond what's been possible before."

The survey also showed that most Americans said they would not want enhancements of their brains and their blood -- 66 percent and 63 percent, respectively -- than say they would want them (32 percent and 35 percent).

U.S. adults are closely divided over gene-editing to significantly reduce their baby's risk of serious diseases and illnesses: roughly half (50 percent) say they would definitely or probably not want this for their own baby and about the same share (48 percent) says they would.

On balance, Americans who are more religious, said the poll, are less likely to approve of these potential enhancements, and people with high religious commitment are less likely to want these potential enhancements for themselves or for their baby.

Today, none of the techniques studied in this poll are available for enhancing purposes, but many Americans foresee a future where each would be commonplace, according to the poll.

For example, 81 percent of U.S. adults expect artificially made organs to be routinely available for transplant by the year 2066. Roughly two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans say scientists will probably or definitely cure most forms of cancer within 50 years.

In addition, roughly half of adults (54 percent) think the idea of implanted computer chips is likely to be a routine occurrence in the future.

Some 48 percent say humans will definitely or probably use implanted sensors to monitor or adjust all food and medications that enter the bloodstream by the year 2066.

A similar share of adults, 47 percent, foresees a future with almost no birth defects because of genetic modification of embryos prior to birth, the survey showed. Enditem