‘Are we the final product of primate evolution, or will there be another branch that will perhaps end up viewing contemporary humans as we now view the chimpanzee?’ (Hood, L., 1992, p. 52)
Just four years before the publication of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Leroy Hood, author of Speculations About Future Humans, obtained his PhD in biochemistry. He went on to research immunology, an area of biomedicine that uses scientific understanding to further aid human existence (Daintith,
J., 2008 p.365). Hood goes on to establish the Human Genome Project in 1985, some seventeen years after the publication of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; an echo of Haraway’s conviction that fiction becomes reality. Through his research he has identified three influences that could potentially be the catalyst for human physiology and behavioural changes (p. 50). The first is medicine. The project identifies genes that are responsible for human qualities such as schizophrenia and heart disease; it recreates somatic cells to substitute ‘good genes’ for ‘bad genes’ with the aim of pruning unwanted human traits (p. 52). Hood discusses how we can ‘exploit’ the untouched potential of the human brain; how we can imprint permanent knowledge, extending life expectancy and improving quality of life. In short we will be able to recreate cells that are an exact replica of human body cells. With this knowledge modern human could potentially alter and manipulate human anatomy and physiology. We could directly impact our own evolution. Here Hood’s theory demonstrates the second influence on human physiology and behaviour; evolution be that natural or engineered. Through a well-reasoned argument Hood posits natural evolution highly unlikely; human beings he reasons inhabit a world in which natural selection is now impossible (p. 52). In this view engineered evolution is the only possible facilitator to advance the human. By altering the complex sex cells Hood predicts that it will be possible to change hereditary genetics; to create a ‘post-human’ (p. 52). The great changes that Hood’s research could impose on medicine and our evolutionary future will certainly have an impact on culture; the third influence on human physiology and behaviour. Although Hood does not explicitly suggest any cultural changes he warns that the scientific community must be transparent with their findings as ‘In the not-too-distant future the genetic engineers will be able to engineer themselves’ (p. 52)
J., 2008 p.365). Hood goes on to establish the Human Genome Project in 1985, some seventeen years after the publication of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; an echo of Haraway’s conviction that fiction becomes reality. Through his research he has identified three influences that could potentially be the catalyst for human physiology and behavioural changes (p. 50). The first is medicine. The project identifies genes that are responsible for human qualities such as schizophrenia and heart disease; it recreates somatic cells to substitute ‘good genes’ for ‘bad genes’ with the aim of pruning unwanted human traits (p. 52). Hood discusses how we can ‘exploit’ the untouched potential of the human brain; how we can imprint permanent knowledge, extending life expectancy and improving quality of life. In short we will be able to recreate cells that are an exact replica of human body cells. With this knowledge modern human could potentially alter and manipulate human anatomy and physiology. We could directly impact our own evolution. Here Hood’s theory demonstrates the second influence on human physiology and behaviour; evolution be that natural or engineered. Through a well-reasoned argument Hood posits natural evolution highly unlikely; human beings he reasons inhabit a world in which natural selection is now impossible (p. 52). In this view engineered evolution is the only possible facilitator to advance the human. By altering the complex sex cells Hood predicts that it will be possible to change hereditary genetics; to create a ‘post-human’ (p. 52). The great changes that Hood’s research could impose on medicine and our evolutionary future will certainly have an impact on culture; the third influence on human physiology and behaviour. Although Hood does not explicitly suggest any cultural changes he warns that the scientific community must be transparent with their findings as ‘In the not-too-distant future the genetic engineers will be able to engineer themselves’ (p. 52)
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