The New Evolution of Cognitive Enhancement: Jeopardy and Maladaptation in Biotechnology

 If you were offered technology to improve YOU, somehow, but you had to decide for one aspect of human functioning only, what would you choose?

I presume it depends on what your motivation in life is. A scientist might choose to enhance cognition, an athlete to improve body function, an artist to heighten sensitivity, a stay-home parent to extend emotion, and a theologist might enjoy superior consciousness; each person might be motivated to become better at their profession or social role. Maybe you would pick one of your weaknesses and balance out an aspect you feel you need to improve?

I argue technology is changing the motivation of what we strive for and what exactly should 'move' us now and in the future.

Let us take a step back in history and emphasize Wilhelm Wundt's positions on volition and selective attention. The German philosopher Wundt, 'father of psychology', aimed to define the psychological principles that direct how human consciousness is piecing together reality ("Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)", 2021). He theorized that the representation of reality is merely a complex combination of our perceptions and intuitions. Only through our attention to worldly objects we can perceive them, and this introspective attention further adds intuitive qualities to those representations. We can direct our attention wilfully, which gives us control over what we experience – however culture, biology, conditioning, and language restrict how we can freely turn our attention outwards and inwards. If you have never attended to a particular something, it does not exist; you cannot desire it.

If someone you know has access to specific enhancements, would you desire the same? From a biological evolution perspective, humans have evolved miraculously. We developed terrific cognitive abilities; our bodies are ingeniously designed by nature to grow, heal, feel, and move. This natural development, however, took a very long time. Thanks to our ingenious competencies, we want to speed this process up. Three enterprises are developing technology for their own goals: The military to create superior soldiers, medicine to mend and repair body and brain, and people who merely want to self-enhance their capabilities (Barfield, 2019).

So, what is on the horizon?

For example: The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the U.S. is researching and developing (Barfield, 2019):

·       Devices the size of nerve fibres to promote self-healing (ElectRx)

·       Implantable RAM to restore memory for patients who have lost formation and retrieval of memory due to brain injury or neurological illness (Restoring Active Memory, RAM)

·       Training programs to precisely activate nerves to promote neuroplasticity (Targeted Neuroplasticity Training, TNT)

·       Implantable interfaces to transfer data between the brain and digital devices (Neural Engineering System Design, NESD)

·       Interfaces to control complex machines and prosthetics (Reliable Neural-Interface Technology, RE-NET)

·       Microsystems to enhance or enable haptic sensations (Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces, HAPTIX)

·       An artificial hippocampus to convert short-term memory into long-term memory using mathematical code (Theodore Berger's Artificial Hippocampus).

Check out their website for additional research programs.

In 2005, Bernard et al. proposed a new evolutionary theory of human motivation stating that nonconscious as well as conscious processes influence motives. Motivation is an emotional and a purposeful process; and so, it depends on volitional attention towards the world and our yearnings. The theory incorporates the individual in its larger context of society and culture; motivation is not only driven by individual survival and reproduction – yet relationship maintenance and universal problem-solving fitness in a socially adaptive manner.

As social systems have become increasingly extensive and complex, so have the problems we need to solve for humanity to prosper. Global warming, social media misinformation, toxic environments and writhing with an anxious, complex world is challenging. Developments in technology try to assist us with this adaptation. Noteworthy, technologies intensely focus on enhancing human cognition to comprehend the complexity out of grasp. Therefore, the new universal human motivation is to speed up our evolution since biology is too slow to catch up and help solve our problems.

Regrettably, it seems that the programs mentioned earlier do not aim to enhance emotional awareness, nor human consciousness. Could it be that our desire to expand cognitive and physical abilities, guided by a culture of economic growth (and neoliberalism) which places a high value on these capabilities, is a terrible maladaptation? Consider: our emotional brain systems and human consciousness are older than the neo-cortex. If we have reached our cognitive limits, then maybe the key to human social fitness is to turn our consideration to those older systems. Emotions can drive the incentives for a universal social purpose to prevent us from "getting lost in endless explorations of potentially infinite search spaces" (Evans 2002, p. 503). Cognition with no emotional context and information processing without awareness has 'jeopardy' written all over it.

So, be mindful what you wish for – be clear what motivates you, as this 'willing' reflects our attention – and such is all our perception can consciously attend to.

References

Barfield, W. (2019). The Process of Evolution, Human Enhancement Technology, and Cyborgs. Philosophies, 4(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies4010010

Evans, D. (2002). The Search Hypothesis of Emotion. British Journal of the Philosophy of

Science, 53, 497–509.

Bernard, L., Mills, M., Swenson, L. & Walsh, P. (2005) An Evolutionary Theory of Human Motivation, Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 131:2, 129-184. https://doi.org/10.3200/mono.131.2.129-184

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Plato.stanford.edu. (2021). Retrieved 30 March 2021, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-wundt/#Obje.

Bibliography

Berridge, K. (2018). Evolving Concepts of Emotion and Motivation. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01647

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Darpa.mil. (2021). Retrieved 30 March 2021, from https://www.darpa.mil/.

MacLean, E. (2016). Unraveling the Evolution of Uniquely Human Cognition. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 113(23), 6348-6354. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1521270113


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