Manero Albert, Rivera Viviana, Fu Qiushi, Schwartzman Jonathan D, Prock-Gibbs Hannah, Shah Neel, Gandhi Deep, White Evan, Crawford Kaitlyn E, Coathup Melanie J
Limbitless Solutions, University of Central Florida, 12703 Research Parkway, Suite 100, Orlando, FL 32826, USA.
Biionix Cluster, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32827, USA.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2024 Jul 9;11(7):695. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering11070695.
As both the proportion of older people and the length of life increases globally, a rise in age-related degenerative diseases, disability, and prolonged dependency is projected. However, more sophisticated biomedical materials, as well as an improved understanding of human disease, is forecast to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of conditions ranging from osteoarthritis to Alzheimer's disease as well as impact disease prevention. Another, albeit quieter, revolution is also taking place within society: human augmentation. In this context, humans seek to improve themselves, metamorphosing through self-discipline or more recently, through use of emerging medical technologies, with the goal of transcending aging and mortality. In this review, and in the pursuit of improved medical care following aging, disease, disability, or injury, we first highlight cutting-edge and emerging materials-based neuroprosthetic technologies designed to restore limb or organ function. We highlight the potential for these technologies to be utilized to augment human performance beyond the range of natural performance. We discuss and explore the growing social movement of human augmentation and the idea that it is possible and desirable to use emerging technologies to push the boundaries of what it means to be a healthy human into the realm of superhuman performance and intelligence. This potential future capability is contrasted with limitations in the right-to-repair legislation, which may create challenges for patients. Now is the time for continued discussion of the ethical strategies for research, implementation, and long-term device sustainability or repair.
随着全球老年人比例和寿命的增加，预计与年龄相关的退行性疾病、残疾和长期依赖情况将会增多。然而，预计更先进的生物医学材料以及对人类疾病更深入的了解，将彻底改变从骨关节炎到阿尔茨海默病等疾病的诊断和治疗，并影响疾病预防。另一场变革，尽管较为悄无声息，也正在社会中发生：人类增强。在这种背景下，人类试图通过自律，或者最近通过使用新兴医疗技术来提升自己，以超越衰老和死亡。在本综述中，为了追求在衰老、疾病、残疾或受伤后改善医疗护理，我们首先重点介绍旨在恢复肢体或器官功能的前沿和新兴的基于材料的神经假体技术。我们强调这些技术有可能被用于提升人类表现，使其超越自然表现的范围。我们讨论并探讨人类增强这一日益壮大的社会运动，以及利用新兴技术将健康人类的定义边界拓展到超人表现和智能领域的可能性和可取性。这种未来可能具备的能力与维修权立法的局限性形成对比，后者可能给患者带来挑战。现在是时候继续讨论研究、实施以及设备长期可持续性或维修方面的伦理策略了。
