Much like we humans have reached the limit of the brain case size which
can safely be passed through the birth canal. I think that we may need
to induce a mutant gene which turns the hip bone to cartelage during
late pregnancy in order to jump start evolution in this area at least.
Possibly a gene for a larger birth canal and bigger hips.
> In human beings there could be a similar developmental barrier to
> developing some nootropic chemicals. Remember, everything has to evolve by
> step by step improvements.
The important development I think though is not in intelligence, but in
longevity of that intelligence. With senility/alzheimers being
relatively guarranteed for all senior citizens at one level or another,
and considering that we are seeing that the body's own production of
nutrients like DHEA, seratonin, melatonin, etc. all fall off with age, I
think that developing a mutation that can be spliced into living beings
via viruses that will prevent this fall off phenomenon will be the
biggest enhancement to human ability. No matter what our abolute IQ, we
seem to be constantly getting "smarter" as we learn more through life.
If we can extend the lifespan of this ability to learn we can reach new
peaks of insight at much later points in life.
>
> Dan Hook
> guldann@ix.netcom.com
> ----------
> > From: Carl Feynman <carlf@atg.com>
> > To: extropians@extropy.org
> > Subject: Re: Filtered Extropians
> > Date: Thursday, May 08, 1997 12:16 PM
> >
> > Anders Sandberg wrote:
> > >In general, the idea of nootropics only
> > >having positive cognitive effects and no side-effects is *very*
> unlikely,
> >
> > In fact it is forbidden by Algernon's Law: All simple major enhancements
> of
> > human intelligence are net evolutionary disadvantages.
> >
> > To find out why this is a law, look in
> >
> > http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
> >
> > --CarlF
> >
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@tpk.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/Mikey's Animatronic Factory My Own Nuclear Espionage Agency (MONEA) MIKEYMAS(tm): The New Internet Holiday Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH) ------------------------------------------------------------ #!/usr/local/bin/perl-0777---export-a-crypto-system-sig-RC4-3-lines-PERL @k=unpack('C*',pack('H*',shift));for(@t=@s=0..255){$y=($k[$_%@k]+$s[$x=$_ ]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256; &S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}