...new advances pose, "The greatest moral challenge we face. We need to decide to what extent we want to design our descendants". (2)

The new technique of germ-line genetic engineering will mean that people will no longer have to make do with the good and bad genes inherited from their parents. According to Robert Taylor, "instead, genetic engineers could eliminate defective genes, change existing ones or even add a few extra. Humanity would, in effect, take control of its own evolution". He continues, "Most experts say they'd be surprised if designer babies are not toddling around within the next 20 years or so". (3) Presumably in the not too distant future, fashions in hair and eye colour, breast shape, long legs and slim waists could be coded for. According to current inclination it might unfortunately end up with all girls looking like Britney Spears!

Not many years from now it is likely that even highly complex genetic sequences like those which code for intelligence and ambition will be understood. Do we then stand by trembling with moral timidity at the thought of making everyone more intelligent? Or do we seize an opportunity that will undoubtedly rid our planet of poverty and deprivation forever?

And what of the advantages of machine intelligence? Moore's Law, propounded by the cofounder of Intel Corp. predicts a doubling of computer power every eighteen months. Since 1965 it has advanced by factors in the billions and is still rising. Some recent computers are capable of handling three trillion calculations per second. Marvin Minsky, a leading figure in the field believes that we will be able to download our consciousness into machines which will represent the next stage in human evolution!

In his book 'Visions', Michio Kaku a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York anticipates that we will be able to communicate with the internet as if it were another human being. We will simply talk to our wall screen and be able to access all of human knowledge. It may even act as our personal advisor, aide and secretary.

I believe that the most dramatic change that is coming and which will radically alter the entire structure of our society in the future will not be achieved by replacement of body parts or increases in machine intelligence, but in science's ability to defeat the ageing process. Already the lifespans of simple organisms like fruit flies have been increased by 500%; the equivalent of a human living for 350 years. Theoretically all human cells are potentially immortal. Given the correct nutrients they can keep dividing indefinitely. They may be able to repair and even reverse the effects of ageing. The argument is that if you can find the genes that trigger cell death, and change them, then humans could live forever. We could choose at what age we wished to stop growing older.

Long before people are living to be a hundred thousand years old we will thankfully have abandoned our present naïve political institutions which evolved to cater for a society in which horseback was the fastest form of communication. The technology for a far more efficient system is already in...(next)