Take, for example, the British Medical Journal's assessment of the greatest medical advancements since 1840. They listed 10 different breakthroughs, most of which have a definite 'enhancement' quality. Listed below are the advancements along with my commentary:
Sanitation: cleaner, safer environments create stronger immune systems and healthier humans Antibiotics: giving people the capacity to better fight bacterial infections Anesthesia: allows surgeons do to more intense and invasive work on their patients while the patients themselves are spared intense physcial pain and psychological anguish The double-stranded structure of DNA: human genomics for the purpose of eliminating genetic diseases and for eventual work on genetic modification Oral contraceptive pill: to bypass our reproductive processes and convert the sex act into a recreational activity Germ theory (the idea that micro-organisms cause disease): knowing how disease spreads changes human habits and therapeutic approaches Vaccines: creating superhuman immune systems Development of imaging techniques: human have x-ray vision to peer inside the human body; with fMRIs, humans can see the active parts of the brain Immunology: the study of diseases for the purpose of treating and tracking them, and to eventually eradicate them Computers: to disseminate knowledge and expertise, to link experts together, inform patients, run simulations, crunch numbers, archive deep databases -- all to further the medical sciences
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