Elon Musk announced that his company Neuralink is ready to implant brain chips in humans. However, bioethicists warn of the possible risks behind this practice.
According to Elon Musk, this device would allow people to communicate with computers through their thoughts.
The owner of Twitter also explained that he has already submitted most of Neuralink’s documentation to the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration).
“We think that in about six months we should be able to have our first Neuralink in a human,” said the technology billionaire.
During the Neuralink presentation, Elon Musk showed a video of monkeys typing with their minds and playing ping-pong thanks to chips implanted in their skulls.
Risks of Transhumanism
About Elon Musk’s announcement to place devices in the human brain, Spanish priest Juan Manuel Góngora said on his Twitter account that “transhumanism will not end well.”
Spanish bioethicist Elena Postigo, member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, points out that transhumanism It is a movement that seeks to improve the physical and cognitive abilities of the human species.
The expert explains that the objective would be to eliminate “undesirable aspects” of the human condition such as suffering, disease, aging, and being mortal.
“It makes no sense to demonize science and technology, which are at the service of humanity”, recalls the bioethics expert, “but reflection is necessary to make good use of both, always at the service of the person and of generations future”.
Postigo recalls that transhumanism is a stage in the search for the “posthuman”.
It would be a person who has been improved to have greater physical, intellectual and psychological capacities than a normal human.
To achieve this goal, scientists will use gene editing, brain nanotechnology, drug moral enhancement, and other means.
The expert also mentioned the bioethical challenge posed by “the nanochip that Elon Musk poses with Neuralink to improve certain cognitive abilities or repair certain brain damage.”
The bioethicist warns that behind transhumanism there is “a reductionist vision of the person, human nature and dignity.”
Postigo raises some questions: “Why do you suppose that it is desirable to live indefinitely? Are physical perfection and happiness directly correlated?
Should we strive to improve human beings and expand their capabilities, or just provide them with the best possible life? Who sets the limits of biotechnology?” says the expert.
Another factor to take into account, according to the bioethicist, is that transhumanism raises eugenics or “procreative charity.”
This method consists of the search for perfect beings from their embryonic stage.
“This seems serious to me from an ethical and legal point of view. Only the perfect would have the right to exist ”, warns Postigo.
Finally, the expert points out that “transhumanism is a current that can be approached from multiple perspectives” and that “there is no doubt that it will be a current that will give a lot to talk about in the coming decades and that we will have to think about it carefully.”