In my last Biopunk post I covered the risks aspect of
bio-hacking loosely, and I was not very concerned about the possible positive
repercussions of bio-hacking. So I will cover that in this post. What good is
bio-hacking anyway?
Well, first you have to look at the problems that they are
attempting to confront. People are flawed organisms. We have diseases, and
eventually we all die. This isn’t a novel concept, but it is important to the
mission of bio-hackers. They want to help eliminate diseases that we have no
cure for, and as a result help us avoid an early death. Aging is effectively
the decay of DNA, so stopping aging would require the ability to stop the
decay. I don’t want to be immortal, but I would like to live longer than a
century or two. Perhaps a slowing of the decay could be presented through
bio-hacking.
That’s not the most important or relevant aspect of bio-hacking
though. They are much more likely to find a method that would help cure a
disease. If we understand where the genetic material is that controls certain
diseases we could fix them. This would be introduced slowly and carefully, and
perhaps could prevent the problems that are locked within our genetic code.
Tackling issues like cancer is a bit different. Right now there is no absolute
cure for cancer, only treatments that have been successfully implemented.
Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are two common methods. They are taxing on
the body and mind. People lose their hair. Often they have to have surgery
removing large sections of tissue. It’s a gruesome affair that plays havoc on
the body. If a person were able to receive a series of injections or treatments
that would attack cancer at the genetic level, these sad realities could be avoided.
We are currently wary of having average people able to play
around with genetics. It’s indeed scary. I don’t want somebody introducing an
organism by accident that destroys or partially destroys an ecosystem. If
properly looked after though, having more people involved could make treatments
and cures for diseases much more elegant and successful than the methods of the
past.
Hmm, your point about slowing down the decay that kills us is quite interesting. I am not sure that is the goal of all bio hackers, but many are at least concerned with curing disease, as you pointed out. I thought one of the most interesting chapters of Biopunk was that on cancer, and how as you said, there are no cures but only ways to treat it. I cannot remember his name right now from the book but I know he was talking about how it should be important that we recognize the millions of dollars spent every year on cancer in the last few decades should of at least provided more than just a few ways of dealing with cancer. Each type of cancer should have treatment tailored to it. Maybe this is where bio hackers come in? Anyway, bio hacking is a scary thought but I also think sometimes necessary if the person knows what they are doing!
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