Our grandchildren redesigned : life in the bioengineered society of the near future / Michael Bess.

Life in the bioengineered society of the near future

Boston : Beacon Press, [2015]

xviii, 298 pages ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-228) and index.

Envisioning the future : between the Jetsons and the Singularity -- Pharmaceuticals -- Bioelectronics -- Genetics and epigenetics -- Wild cards : nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, synthetic biology -- Should we re-engineer the human condition? -- Who gets enhanced? -- A fragmenting species? : cultural preferences inscribed into biology -- If I ran the zoo. adventures along the plant/animal/human/machine borderlands -- Mechanization of the self -- Turbocharging moral character -- Shared intimacies: monitoring and transmitting mental contents -- Virtual reality and (yawn) this other reality -- Til death do us no longer part. Implications of extremely long healthspans -- New sounds for the old guitar : sex, food, privacy, the arts, warfare -- Why extreme modifications should be postponed, or, the Singularity can wait -- Humane values in a world of moderate enhancements -- What you and I can do today -- Enhancing humility : some concluding thoughts.