Mixed reality of dystopias
Anton Gopka, "The Snob"
I am glad to present to your attention my debut article here, which summarizes my thoughts over the past few years on the topic of bioethics. This article is about how unexpectedly our generation found itself in the mixed reality of all the dystopias of the XX century. I hope that the article will receive your benevolent attention, and possibly discussion.
The dystopias of the past look retrofuturistic today: they have become layers of our mixed reality, combining new manifestations of eugenics, biohacking, growing dependence on drugs and active interference in our consciousness. What are these new realities: what is possible today, what will appear in the near future – and how to prevent risks?
"A paradigm shift in medicine is beginning when we can ensure the regeneration of body parts, when cells and tissues can be synthesized to form healthy functional organs to replace failed ones; new genes can be delivered to humans to fight diseases; stem cells can be grown and replace tissues lost as a result of injury or illness". This is how a novel in the genre of "biopunk" could begin, but this is a quote from Scott Gottlieb, head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), from the official press release on the directive on the regulation of regenerative medicine. These provisions will speed up the approval process for therapies being developed by many small development companies in the United States using stem cells, genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
At the same time, issues of biological safety of citizens began to be widely discussed in Russia with the light hand of Vladimir Putin. Among the threats directly identified by the president is the abuse of genetic engineering in order to create a "military man." In February, at a meeting of the Council for Science and Education in Novosibirsk, the president instructed to develop a state program for "large-scale genomic research" in a short time, and last week it became known about the potential allocation of the budget to Russian scientists led by the SIC
Kurchatov Institute in more than 200 billion rubles (approx.$3 billion) to "reduce the critical dependence of Russian science on foreign databases of genetic and biological data, foreign specialized software and devices."
How justified is such attention to genetics? Indeed, are there technologies to create "universal soldiers" and how to respond to such threats?
Genetics of the spirit
This year was a breakthrough year for genetic engineering in the global life sciences industry. At the beginning of the year, the first 2 gene therapies in the USA (Novartis, Gilead/Kite) entered the market, which allow in some cases to cure terminal stages of blood cancer, primarily in children. Gene therapies, including potentially curative hemophilia A (BioMarin) and HIV (Sangamo Therapeutics), are in the late phases of clinical trials. The account of the development companies that are in the earlier phases of research goes to many dozens. In addition, the direction of gene modifications in crop production and animal husbandry is actively developing, which allows countries to occupy leading positions in this exceptionally promising direction around the world.
In his last address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin also noted the prospects of the field of genomic research, "a cardinal breakthrough" in which "will open the way to the creation of new methods of diagnosis, prevention and control of many diseases, expand opportunities in breeding, in agriculture." Unfortunately, since 2016, genetic modifications in the field of agriculture have been prohibited in Russia at the legislative level, which has effectively closed the opportunities for innovative development in this area. Any questions of genetic changes applied to humans, including for medical purposes, are still particularly suspicious. How did you speak on this issue Patriarch Kirill: "Since [man's] nature is created in the image and likeness of the Divine, to change it in any direction means to change God himself. Today, the struggle for the future is a struggle for anthropology, it is a struggle to define what a person is."
One of the popular ideas in the mass consciousness in Russia has become the idea that the "spirit" and beliefs of a person are predetermined by genes and that new biotechnologies will allow to "reprogram" the personality. Despite such widespread ethical skepticism, Russia is also conducting its own research in this area. For example, in the recent film "Blockade blood. Genetics", which was shown mainly at closed screenings for the country's leadership, it is assumed that the "children of winners" born in St. Petersburg (the President of Russia and Patriarch Kirill are directly mentioned, among others), "are connected by a single manner of behavior, high responsibility for what is happening in the country" in connection with their genes and the "blockade phenotype".
UM-people
Let's return to Vladimir Putin's own statement about the new possibilities of genetic engineering and the risks of abuse: "A person can create a person with given characteristics – it can be a brilliant mathematician or a brilliant musician, but also a military man; a man who can fight without fear, without compassion, regret and without pain." The problem with this statement is not an actual error – after all, the personality and "spirit" of a person, of course, are not determined only by his genetics. Probably unintentionally, this statement expressed approval of the "production" of brilliant people for "peaceful" purposes.
These ideas are not new. Research on the creation of a "superman" was actively carried out 100 years ago, in the 20s in Soviet Russia, when they tried to breed a hybrid species of man and monkey. But those experiments were not successful. It is believed that this formed the basis of the story "The Heart of a Dog" by Mikhail Bulgakov in 1925, as well as the unfinished opera "Orango" by Dmitry Shostakovich based on a libretto by Alexei Tolstoy and Alexander Starchakov in 1932. In the same year, Aldous Huxley's dystopia was published, which formulates one of the most common fears today that thanks to new genetic technologies, a radical stratification of society in the spirit of a "brave new world" will occur. Patriarch Kirill, in particular, spoke about this in his "word" at the XXI World Russian People's Council at the end of last year. "The rapid development of medical and genetic technologies is seen as a serious challenge, futurologists are already predicting the imminent stratification of humanity into two races: one predicts the greatness of superhumans, the other predicts the fate of subordinates." Recent discoveries seem to confirm such possibilities.
Earlier this year, the journal Nature published an article "New Genetics of Intelligence", where the author claims that the intellectual abilities of people are determined by genes by 4-10%. Based on this, the author proposes the concept of "precision education", by analogy with personalized medicine, depending on individual genetically determined predispositions. Apparently anticipating the questions, in the last section of the article "ethical considerations", the scientist takes most of the questions out of the brackets of his text, claims that he does not offer any political recommendations, and reminds readers that "scientists should not be blamed when their discoveries are maliciously used."
The well-known American company 23andMe, engaged in genetic tests, in 2013 received confirmation of the issuance of the first patent for "methods of design of children" in the spirit of the dystopian thriller "Gattaca" by Andrew Niccol in 1997. According to their patent, a person can choose a sperm or egg donor to produce their offspring, taking into account the risk of a number of diseases, as well as the expected sex, height, weight, eye color, skin tone, life expectancy, etc. In the future, it is assumed that there is a possibility of choosing both by predisposition to athleticism and potential level of intelligence. Although the accuracy of forecasting these indicators is not yet high, for example, growth can be predicted with an error of 3-4 centimeters. However, in the coming years, technologies can significantly improve due to incoming data.
From the patent of the company 23andMe
Eugenic practices ("eugenics" from Greek. "well-born") discredited themselves in the XX century, primarily in Nazi Germany. During the Nuremberg trials, many documents were collected that testified to experiments on people accompanied by the death of subjects: experiments on infection with malaria, typhus, etc., on bone transplantation, methods of sterilization of women, studies of the effect on the human body of low temperatures, low atmospheric pressure, various poisons and antidotes. All this formed the basis of the Nuremberg Code, which established the limits of permissible medical research concerning people.
However, eugenics was practiced not only in Nazi Germany. Thus, the first law in the world on forced sterilization based on eugenics was adopted in the USA in Indiana in 1907. Then similar laws were adopted in 30 other states. During the period of eugenic legislation until the early 1970s, tens of thousands of American citizens were subjected to forced sterilization. Among other things, it was believed that African-American women could not control their sex life, and the state subjected them to forced sterilization in order to reduce the amount of social benefits. Apparently, society recognized the lower value of the lives of these people: the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, African Americans, etc. – and acted accordingly. Most of the sterilization procedures were performed in California.
Now, in connection with the practices of the 20th century, when some people or even entire nations were declared "second-rate", even the ethics of curing a genetic disease by correcting "undesirable" genes is called into question. In the case of such a healing, do we not thereby inform society that there are genetically defective people in whom the corresponding "mistakes" have not been eliminated? And in the absence of universal state or insurance coverage for such expensive procedures, will it not turn out that only the economic and political elite will be able to use these therapies? In connection with these and other unresolved ethical and technological problems, making changes to the genome of embryos, in fact, "correcting people", is legally prohibited almost all over the world.
Cyborgs
However, there are more promising technologies for creating "universal soldiers". At the end of November, the scientific journal Nature published the results of preliminary studies on the introduction of artificial intelligence-based implants into people's brains to control their mood. These implants learn to recognize a person's emotional reactions in a personalized way and automatically correct them with the help of electrical discharges. This technique is called "deep brain stimulation" ("deep-brain stimulation", DBS). These developments are funded by the Office of Advanced Research Projects of the US Department of Defense (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA). The aim of the development is the therapy of depression and post–traumatic stress disorder in soldiers and veterans.
The results of preliminary studies have shown that the supply of electrical discharges in the brain areas associated with decision-making and emotions significantly improved the indicators of brain activity of people in the framework of the study on concentration of attention and solving image recognition tasks.
Famous entrepreneur Elon Musk is also engaged in brain implants. In 2016, he founded the company Neuralink. In his recent famous interview, Elon Musk talked a lot about the threats of artificial intelligence and promised to show the first impressive results of Neuralink in the coming months. According to Musk, the best scenario for the fight against artificial intelligence will be the fusion of human and cybernetic capabilities with the help of appropriate interfaces that he intends to develop.
These projects are practical and will show the first results on the horizon of 5-10 years, perhaps soon we will be able to remain cheerful, productive and happy, despite any injuries and life difficulties. However, these developments are extremely hampered by a limited understanding of the structure of the human brain. In addition, it is difficult to find volunteers who would be willing to insert electronics directly into their heads. Or is it not so difficult anymore?
Biohackers
Currently, the movement of "biohackers" is gaining momentum around the world, who are testing the latest biotechnologies on their own bodies. The most high-profile were the performances of Josiah Zayner, where he took out a syringe right in public and gave himself injections that "should change the genes in the muscles to build muscle mass." To applause, he claimed that he was the first person in the world who decided to use CRISPR gene editing technology on himself and change his own "code". Zainer himself admits that the effect is not noticeable yet, but the main thing for him is to show that the latest genetic tools should be available to all people for use at their discretion, and not controlled by universities and pharmaceutical companies.
Thus, the decentralization of bio-power is taking place, and states are forced to respond to this. At the end of last year, the FDA issued a message that the use of genetic technologies in the DIY format ("do it yourself") is illegal. However, the FDA's warning was ignored by "startups" that supply "packages of biohackers", because, according to them, they "just, like many others, sell DNA kits" and do not recommend anyone to form injections from these kits, much less inject them into themselves.
As we can see from recent publications, Russia adheres to traditions in these matters as well. While Josiah is injecting himself with CRISPR and hoping for muscle growth, the "synthol man" from Pyatigorsk has conquered the public space in Russia and abroad with his "bazooka hands" (synthol was developed in Germany in the 1990s).
And as a doping in Russia, meldonium, developed in the 1970s, and the "Olympic" cocktail "Duchess" of 3 long-known steroids with vermouth Martini, are still used, according to media publications. Thus, technologies are still secondary, and by methods known for more than half a century, it is possible to achieve the same effects as the latest developments. Nevertheless, the goals and values of society are primary.
"Prozac Nation" and "consumables"
In any case, there is no threat of mass gene editing, since neither knowledge nor financial resources are sufficient for this. Today, the phenomenon of "biohacking" seems far from everyday life. But if you look more broadly, then many people have been using the opportunities for changing consciousness for a long time. Quite often, correcting reality is much more difficult and expensive than "correcting" our perception or otherwise compensating for the "trauma" of an unresolved problem. Thus, we are massively falling into a downward spiral of increasing stress and our "stress tolerance". The more reality departs from our expectations, the more dose we need to compensate for this gap and the more difficult it is to correct reality.
To single biohackers should be added millions of people, healthy volunteers who are engaged in improving their perception of the world in a variety of ways. For example, neuropharmacology allows you to regulate behavior and mood disorders. In his 1993 bestseller Listening to Prozac, psychiatrist Peter Kramer talks about the miraculous power of the antidepressant Prozac (Eli Lilly's drug), which literally transformed the personality of patients. In the book, Kramer discussed the ethical boundaries of, in his words, "cosmetic pharmacology," for example, whether it is possible for healthy people to take drugs for career purposes. Today, 1 in 6 Americans take psychotropic pills for depression or other mental disorders. The United States is the absolute leader among the countries of the world in this indicator. However, these statistics do not include visits to psychotherapists, which are also widespread in the United States.
In the field of influencing mass consciousness, Russia acts strictly according to George Orwell's formula: "Whoever controls the past controls the future. Whoever controls the present controls the past." I had a chance to talk with the American conductor and composer Lorin Maazel, and we, in particular, discussed his opera "1984" based on the novel of the same name. In his opinion, the state does not finance high culture, because it is a relatively "expensive" policy with unpredictable results, and state propaganda is more effective for creating "convenient" citizens. He spoke about this problem in Western societies, but it seems that this practice is also well understood in Russia and is applied openly with the broad approval of both civil servants and some cultural figures.
Thus, State Duma deputy Irina Yarovaya, known for her burdensome initiatives in the field of state security, at a meeting with the president said that "education is the duty of the state" and stated the need to introduce a compulsory school subject "The Civilizational heritage of Russia" with "the greatest feats and examples of military labor." The famous Russian theater producer and director Eduard Boyakov, a confidant of Vladimir Putin, echoes her in his February manifesto: "we need a national fund for the development of culture," one of the main tasks of which would be "to work with children, to lay in them the matrix of the country's future," because it is "much more effective (and cheaper) than to convince adults, to protect them from the influence of globalist ideology." As we can see, some public opinion leaders do not see ethical problems and already intend to "lay the matrix of the country's future" in our children – there would be appropriate technologies.
It is difficult to say what will be more effective in training soldiers "without fear, without a sense of compassion, regret and without pain" – genetic modifications, brain implants, neuropharmacology or old-fashioned state propaganda of patriotic necrophilia. Perhaps, in the "military labor" of the future, robotics, space drones, artificial intelligence or "inconspicuous cruise missiles with an unpredictable flight path" will become "consumables". However, these complex and expensive developments will not be necessary as long as the value of life is low and there are alternative cheap "consumables".
In the words of the president from his message to the Federal Assembly: "Equipment, weapons, even the most modern, will sooner or later appear in other armies of the world. We don't care about it at all, we already have it and it will be even better. The main thing is something else. They will never have such people, such officers as our Guard pilot Major Roman Filipov!" Let me remind you, Roman Filipov, born in 1984, was shot down in February this year in Syria, his remains are buried at home in Voronezh. Video footage has been preserved where he, having descended to the ground with a parachute, shoots back from the military with the legendary Stechkin pistol, developed back in the late 1940s, and blows himself up with a grenade shouting "this is for you guys!" The deceased was awarded the title of Hero of Russia posthumously.
Technology, in fact, does not change anything. All the risks associated with them have already been effectively realized in the XX century in the USSR, Nazi Germany and many other countries, including democratic ones. Wherever societies agree with the reduction of the "price" of human life, instead of new genetic therapies, they receive "cheap" eugenics in the form of forced sterilization or simply refusal to treat groups of patients, and instead of the latest weapons, they receive "effective" propaganda of death as a success story and "universal soldiers". Technologies themselves do not pose new threats, the real danger is the lack of awareness and awareness of society on bioethics, extremely reduced "immunity" to violations of rights and freedoms in this area, despite the "vaccination" received in the XX century. Russia has an exceptionally rich "civilizational heritage" in these issues and can rightfully lead the global discourse on these issues.
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