I don’t know if it’s the sheer number of books that I’ve read on human enhancement recently or what, but the contents of this book seem to have blended with every other thing about the subject.

Ramez Naam is an optimist about the future of biological enhancement, but he calls himself a “cautious optimist.” He believes that upcoming scientific breakthroughs will do more harm than good. However, we must account for ethics and social needs first.

As recently as 1999, when a friend told him about future technology, he waved it off as if it was just crazy sci-fiction-nerd talk. A breakthrough came that year when Phil Kennedy implanted an electrode into a paralyzed patient’s brain that allowed the patient to move a cursor on a computer. The patient moved the cursor by thought alone.

This was one of many sci-fi-like phenomena that happened in that year. Suddenly, the world was starting to change.

Naam’s report on advancements and social concerns brings to light what could actually be happening in the decades to come and how we should prepare for it. He writes about designer babies, Methuselah’s genes, and choosing our minds and bodies.

The book is short though. It doesn’t cover as much ground as it needs for the many subjects he brings into the discussion. However, it does offer somewhat of an introductory to biological enhancement.

What the author does offer is good, rational reasoning to seeing this thing through. He makes logical claims as to why we need the science of the future, and backs them up with solid examples. He makes his case socially and ethically, allowing for his optimistic view of the coming years.

Naam writes in an easy, free-flowing prose that will keep you interested from start to finish. Just don’t look for a comprehensive look at the future. It will serve as a good starter book for anyone interested in reading about human enhancement. But, if you’re like me, and have read quite a bit on the subject matter, then you might want something a little more in-depth.

I admit it. I’m a sucker for reading books about upcoming scientific breakthroughs. Yes, that may make me a bit of a nerd, but I like reading them anyway.

Joel Garreau has written one of the easier-to-read books of the variety though. This book was meant for an audience outside the realm of people who haven’t left the science lab since the ’80s.

This is the book for the rest of us.

Garreau even mentions our old pal Ray Kurzweil (from The Singularity is Near) and Bill Joy, Kurzweil’s nemesis (and you can read a 10 page research paper on Joy and Kurzweil by me, just ask if you’re interested). He explains what these guys have been saying for years, only in terms that the Bubbas and Suzies of the world can understand.

The most interesting parts of the book is the three scenarios he sets up to explain where humankind is heading. The Heaven Scenario. The Hell Scenario. The Prevail Scenario.

The Heaven Scenario is Kurzweil’s idea of The Singularity, where humans may become godlike. Technology takes control, and humans are merely spectators in this prediction. However, this technology is driving human advancement past what we consider science fiction today conquering disease, famine, and death itself.

The Hell Scenario is the opposite, which is why Joy argues against scientific advancement. He doesn’t want us to destroy ourselves with our technology (just read his article, Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us, he might convince you). Signs that we are entering the hell scenario: large numbers of people die off, the biosphere is being eaten away, there is no discussion of stopping technology from advancing.

In the Prevail Scenario he states that “Humans have an uncanny history of muddling through” (224). Humans will inevitably forge their own futures against overwhelming odds and come out all right. This is the scenario upheld by Jaron Lanier.

This is an easy read for people who wouldn’t be able to make it through an issue of Popular Science without saying, “Huh.” Garreau breaks down each part, and explains with clarity what the future might lead to.

The discussion on future technology is a discussion in which everyone should take part. However, we must understand what all the fuss is about to do so. This book will give you the key terms and the major players, allowing a new understanding of what the future of our race might be.

This is a long overdue review, especially since it’s been almost two months since I finished reading Ray Kurzweil’s signature piece. Kurzweil has been bashed, laughed at, and called a lunatic many times over, but his book speaks for itself. There are facts, statistics, and scientific laws that provide plentiful proof to his findings.

The Singularity was an assigned book for my Technology, Literacy, & Culture class last semester, and I would have never picked it up otherwise. If by some chance I did pick it up (while browsing at Books-a-Million, I’d imagine) and read through a few lines, I definitely wouldn’t have read it. It’s a heavy read.

Once I got the feel for his scientific language, I started understanding what he was talking about. He was uncovering the truths of scientific progress and the possibilities of the very near future leading to The Singularity. What is the Singularity?

…technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.
~ Ray Kurzweil The Law of Accelerating Returns

Sounds a bit crazy, right? I might not be a hardcore believer in The Singularity, but I am a believer in many of the accomplishments that are inevitable in scientific progress in the coming years. And we are coming to a major biological and technological upheaval of progress in the next half century.

This book is more than just far-fetched science fiction-like claims. It has substance. It has charts and graphs and a notes section that is big enough to be a book itself. Kurzweil has done his homework, and he deserves some credit for laying out the future of mankind.

Bill Gates is even quoted as saying that Kurzweil is “The best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence.” He is right in saying that. Kurzweil has been accurate beyond belief in predicting AI for many years. He may be on to something that the rest of are not.

However on or off Kurzweil is with his predictions, I’m ready to see this thing play out. I’m ready to see society transformed in ways that we never thought possible.