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Regulatory and moral issues in a posthuman future

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Regulatory and moral issues in a posthuman future

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In Ted Chiang’s ‘Understand’,  readers are offered a glimpse into what a posthuman future may look like via the introduction of two ultra-intelligent posthumans Leon and Reynolds, each with contrasting worldviews and goals. While Leon sees intelligence as an end in itself and constantly desires to push the boundaries of his posthuman abilities for his own self fulfillment, Reynolds on the other hand sees intelligence not as an end in itself but as a means to protect the biosphere for the betterment of humanity. Although we are introduced to only two possible outcomes of enhanced intelligence on an individual, we are left to wonder about the sheer number of different outcomes possible if such an experiment is carried out on a wider scale, and how each outcome could impact society.

Given the multitude of ways one could utilise his/her enhancements, this begs the question: How sure can we be that an enhanced individual will not misuse his enhancements or harbour malicious intentions? How then do we decide on the candidates for enhancement? Although in the story the ‘Hormone K’ is only administered to those who have suffered brain injury like the protagonist Leon, enhancement of intelligence may be applicable to anyone regardless of their health status in the future. In order to determine whether one is suitable for enhancement, we would then have to thoroughly assess the individual’s moral compass. Even after we ascertain that one is good-natured, we cannot predict whether that good predisposition will change after enhancement. The only way would be to make a dangerous gamble that one’s propensity for good outweighs the propensity for evil and hope that “good” posthumans like Reynolds are able to keep the others in check.

Another question raised from the story is how sustainable it is to enhance one’s intelligence, given the difficulty in regulation. In the story, we see that Leon’s intelligence has already far surpassed the CIA’s ability to monitor and control him to the point where he even has them at his mercy. Clearly, it is impossible for unenhanced humans to regulate the behaviour of posthumans seeing how easy it is for posthumans to manipulate others. To  level the playing field, we would likely have to rely on a regulatory system or committee comprising a mix of humans and posthumans to keep posthumans in check, raising further debates about who has the right to exercise moral superiority over the posthumans and dictate what is morally right or wrong and subsequently what punishment should be given, if at all. In view of the regulatory and moral issues involved in creating posthumans, perhaps a posthuman future may not be as viable as we think.

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In Leon's experience, his posthuman qualities causes him to feel isolated from humanity. He talks about the Confucian concept of ren and describes it as a quality that is "quintessentially human", however he finds himself in solitude. He has no one to share his newfound knowledge with or interact with on these more complex levels. Somehow this touched me and made me wonder if it is really all that good to experience heightened levels of consciousness when this comes at the expense of human connection. In many of the articles we've read, the ability to better comprehend/appreciate the arts/sciences/world is always presented as one of the major gains of posthumanism, yet the downside to these benefits is now clear. His emotions become "equations" after the fourth dose of the hormone. He sees other humans as puppets and children - beings of lower ability. Another thing that stood out was how with his increased capacities for knowledge and comprehension, Leon became increasingly dissatisfied with the systems in his life/the world which led to a never-ending pursuit to break through the limits. This is seen in how he wants to design a new language, and how he can't seem to stop thinking about getting a fourth ampule of the hormone. I think such dissatisfaction distracts from the true joys of living life and in his posthuman state, he gives up some of the most valuable human qualities, like contentment. It is almost as if his mind dissociates, or transcends, his self. Reading this short story made me think deeper about how it is in the imperfection of the human condition that we can experience joys, as opposed to the 'perfection' of the posthuman condition where yes, there is perhaps some enhanced perception of beauty, but it leads to self-destruction.

Even for Reynolds, we are not completely aware of the true intentions behind his altruistic pursuits. His idea of saving the world may be different from what humans actually desire or need. What he deems as best for humanity could be based on warped perceptions developed in the absence of relation to humanity.

I don't think Chiang really gives any definite answers by the end of the story about whether the posthuman or human condition is better. But it got me thinking about my own stance towards the topic. I personally would prefer to retain my humanity even if it means I am somehow "limited".

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Who will be able to control transhumans?

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Who will be able to control transhumans?

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The story talks about how Leon was given hormone K after a near-death experience that resulted him to fall into a coma. After he was treated, he sparked the interest of the CIA and became a subject of their experiments. However, he got tired and annoyed by the tests and decides to withdraw from them. This causes the CIA to attempt to recruit him back, but to no avail as he outsmarts them. This leads me to wonder if we were to enter a transhuman society, who will regulate the transhumans, or rather, who will be able to regulate them.

As we see from the story, Leon was able to outsmart the CIA with his enhanced cognitive abilities. It would be very possible for future transhumans to outsmart governmental organisations and laws as well. Who is to say that one's moral compass will be "improved" after a transhuman transformation? It seems to me that the ethical part of humans (at least in the story) cannot be altered unlike our cognitive abilities. This is most likely because our ethics are largely influenced by our upbringing, our culture, our religion, out life experiences etc, all of which are impossible to change with a hormone. Our different life experiences leads us to have different morals and values in life. The volatility in life causes humans and transhumans alike to be unpredictable.

We then meet the antagonist, fellow transhuman Reynolds, who shares a different outlook from Leon. While Leon starts to become greedy for more knowledge and power, Reynolds aspires to use his powers for the good of the 'naturals', and as a result, believes that he has to kill Leon for the better of the 'naturals' and society. It is highly likely that Reynolds thought he was doing the right thing, which leads to the question again: who will be able to regulate and control transhumans? With abilities that transcend the average human (and the CIA), it is extremely challenging to enforce laws and regulations onto transhumans. Reynolds was also able to easily kill Leon, despite wanting to be someone who uses his power for good causes. Can anyone be certain that he wont use his abilities to kill others? If he were to kill people, can anyone hold Reynold accountable for his crimes? Will Reynold be able to outsmart his way to escape the legal system?

I concur that these problems cannot be addressed easily. Just like how some "normal" criminals are able to escape legal consequences with the help of corruption, it is also possible for transhumans to escape legal action via their powers. This problem is very similar to what we see in today's world, except transhumans are more capable of escaping legal actions than normal humans are. Ultimately, I think it would be impossible to tackle this problem and that it requires a lot more research and understanding of the infinite possibilities transhumanism would bring about

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After reading the story, the main question that comes to my mind is what is the most beneficial and feasible method to give people access to posthuman traits?

The story illustrates two extreme cases in Leon and Reynolds, where one uses his powers for personal gains while the other uses his powers to "benefit society". At first glance, it seems like both characters are the "bad guys". Leon is portrayed as selfish while Reynolds become more questionable as he makes decisions "for the greater good", which may not be the case.

However, upon reflection, I feel that it is very difficult to judge them just based on their actions. For example, if a millionaire today decided to use his wealth to buy a new house for himself, would he be considered selfish because he chose not to donate that amount of money to charity to help the less fortunate? Probably not, because he owns the money and so, he has the right to spend it on himself. Similarly, current world leaders are in the position where they have to make difficult decisions everyday. Those decisions will definitely not please everybody. For example, if the government decides to remove a historical landmark for development of new infrastructure, does that mean the government is wrong and "ruthless"?

Coming back to the topic of transhumanism, it begs the question: How should transhumanism be distributed among humans, in order to maximise equity and benefits?

Since those who have superpowers are in positions of great authority because they wield the influence and power to make drastic changes to society, I feel that it should be granted to only a special few who are most likely to use it for the greater good, even though it may seem as unfair.
I also believe that it is imperative that we develop a system or framework to decide who should be given access to posthuman traits, even before technology permits. And we should also have a backup plan in case the "posthuman" decides to use his powers to terrorize society.

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The de-humanising effect, unpredictability of and inability to control outcomes of enhanced intelligence

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The de-humanising effect, unpredictability of and inability to control outcomes of enhanced intelligence

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In Ted Chiang's "Understand", the potential that intellectually-enhanced individuals would see themselves as greater than humans is a theme that is raised. This can be seen from Leon's  superiority complex after being treated with hormone K, whereby he is ashamed that he was once human, and of the associated human behaviors. He also compares humans to 'children in a playground'. This implies that he sees humans as lesser beings he would be embarrassed to be associated with. This made Leon an extremely dangerous figure, especially given his ability to outsmart the CIA in their manhunt for him.

Parallels can be drawn to issues in relation to creating posthumans, in that the values of posthumans may not align with achieving a harmonious and cohesive existence between themselves and humans. Given their enhanced capabilities and intelligence, humans will not be able to counter any form of harm posthumans wish to inflict on them. This can also be seen from Reynold's experimentation of his psychic abilities, which resulted in the deaths of various human test subjects, even though he strived for a purpose greater than himself: the prosperity of humanity, which is in contrast with Leon.

The stark contrast in values between Leon, who was more interested in his own interests and Reynold, who strived for world prosperity, highlights the issue that similar use of enhancement technology could create posthumans of different ethical systems and goals. This leads to different courses of actions by these posthumans, all of which can lead to significant impact on others, or even humanity as a whole. Therefore, enhancement technology brings about unpredictability of outcomes.

Regardless of the values posthumans may adopt, it will not be possible to hold their actions accountable, as seen from Leon and Reynold's ability to evade authorities, which makes it difficult to control any negative impacts creating posthumans may bring about on humanity.

The fictional account of Leon and Reynold brought up various natures of particularly intellectual enhancement technology: the de-humanising effect (seeing themselves as above humans), unpredictability of the values of posthumans and inability to control their actions even if they affect innocent lives or the whole of humanity. Chiang's account of this possible dystopia from creating super-intelligent beings should prompt us to be wary of whether or not to pursue such technology.

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How are we going to balance superhumans presence in a world where most humans still remain unenhanced?

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How are we going to balance superhumans presence in a world where most humans still remain unenhanced?

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In the short story, Leon and Reynolds are two superhumans in a society where most human beings are still unenhanced. They seem to the omnipotent Gods at a certain stage of human development trying to usher in two new eras —— which I found the author to have shown quite convincingly in the story.

For a superhuman, it’s likely that you would start by being either self-centric and focus on improving yourself just as Leon does, to explore a whole new word of possibilities; or be selfless as Reynolds, using superintelligence as a means rather an end to improve your surroundings. Yet as superintelligence growth is exponential, superhumans may be frustrated soon to find modern civilisations unable to match their standards or pace, hence they may easily slip into an extreme end: to destroy the current society.

In Leon’s pursuit of his own benefits, he reflects that he “needs human interaction to realise his potentials, yet he finds people around him are like a web of “tragic marionettes”. This loneliness may lead him to self-destruction, or more likely a desire to quickly construct his own civilisations: he may take up resources at an astoundingly faster rate as humans currently do, and go against authority to create more superhuman as fellowmen of him, in the process obliterating anyone that stands in his way. As meaningful interaction, survival and power are beneficial to him, he will continue expanding his civilization, at the cost of destroying the current society. Reynolds, despite appearing nobler in his cause, can be even more catastrophic for the current society. Reynolds assumes the role of God and makes decision for his people; in the way of bettering the society, he will shed off old ideas and their believers, as demonstrated by his killing of Leon in the end. Not only will he purge the current society, he will glorify it.

Hence, this begets the question of how are we going to manage the stage where most humans still remain unenhanced. Since superhumans surpass us in all ways and they definitely do not want to be used as tools, whatever values they uphold they will definitely carry it through at a cost bearable to them but not the general public. I think at what technology stage, under what conditions should we create superhumans is a subject that really worth pondering.  In my opinion, I don't anticipate any critical moment in the forseeable decades that occasions or necessitates the launch of a superhuman.

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Relationship between normal humans and posthumans 

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Relationship between normal humans and posthumans 

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In ‘Understand’, the Hormone K caused unexpected enhancement in intelligence when used in humans. This reflects the uncertainty of biological experiments. It makes me wonder that how researchers would deal with potential failure in reengineering experiments on humans in real-life if such experiments will be approved in future.

The protagonist Leon becomes more and more greedy gradually and begins to manipulate others. Although Leon has not done anything too destructive to humans, he is indeed a selfish posthuman. The intelligence of such a posthuman is greatly enhanced hence it is very difficult for normal humans to control him.  If a group of posthumans are misanthrope and would like to eliminate mankind, the outcome would be disastrous.

This leads to the questions: whether the laws and social rules humans have will be effective in regulating posthumans, or whether posthumans should be regulated by those who are unenhanced and could not understand their needs. I think the relationship between normal humans and posthumans is another important issue transhumanists and governments should take seriously.

In my opinion, if posthumans are created, governments across the world should work together to come up with additional regulations as soon as possible to prevent posthumans from threatening the safety and violating the rights of normal humans. As it will be more difficult to solve the social problem arisen from creating posthumans than the one we have now, people would have to devote enormous effort to planning a transhumanist future.

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In Ted Chiang's "Understand", he writes a fictional account of the protagonist Leon who attains superhuman abilities in his cognition and sensory/motor faculties after receiving an injection of hormone K to repair his brain damage. With his newfound abilities, he seeks to develop them further by attempting to break every observable limit for his personal gain. On the other hand, Reynolds lies on the opposite end of the spectrum and serves as a foil to Leon, electing to utilise his abilities for the betterment of humankind.

Although this is a fictional text, Chiang's juxtaposition of the two main characters prompts consideration of whether we would react any differently if we were endowed with the same posthuman faculties, and whether posthumanism is even something desirable to have. Given the sheer variance in morality humans currently possess and the turbulent effects it can have on our world sometimes, it is not difficult to imagine that this is further amplified in a future where humans and posthumans coexist. This is a frightening prospect.

Ultimately, I believe posthumanism is very much portrayed as a double-edged sword in the text, and it is best observed in the shortcomings of both characters. While Leon did not cause extensive external harm, he arguably wasted his abilities in failing to be of aid to others and was only fixated on being self-serving. And while Reynolds had noble intentions of being somewhat of a "saviour" to humankind, his unscrupulous methods force him to abandon his morality and this arguably negates the saint-like qualities he was perceived to have. Although wanting to surpass our human limits is understandable and somewhat justifiable, it appears that we will never be able to truly agree on where to draw the line and say "this is enough" when pursuing enhancement.

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Posthuman enhancements could fuel man's greed and corrupt morality, creating threats to humanity

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Posthuman enhancements could fuel man's greed and corrupt morality, creating threats to humanity

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Chiang's narrative was intriguing in the sense that he portrayed how two person, Leon and Reynold, reacted towards the obtainment of posthuman abilities, and how the two characters ended up on completely separated paths.

Leon was lucky to receive the treatment of "Hormone K", which helped to improve his intelligence and capabilities. However, Leon's excessive desire for intelligence lead to harm done on not only himself, but society and those around. He was able to escape the authority using his higher intelligence, and to even manipulate the stock market. He perceives people as a web of ‘tragic marionettes’ , and he was able to manipulate others through control of his pheromones and muscle tension and subsequently produce self-sustaining reactions in them. By demonstrating Leon's developing greed, Chiang allows reader to understand that superintelligence can be dangerous if in the wrong hands. Leon's selfishness was being well illustrated, and this helps reader understand the risks that comes with heightened intelligence while questioning the philosophical views of superintelligence.

The introduction of Reynolds in the later part of the story is interesting in a sense that he engages in a confrontation with Leon and introduces tension into the story, creating another possible outcome of posthuman. Leon has been selfish in utilising his abilities to benefit himself. Reynolds, on the other hand, aims to make use of his capabilities for betterment of the world at large. Hence both characters are pitted against each other in fight for ultimate survival. Yet, Reynolds claims seems to run contrary to his actions, as he did not even hesitate while killing Leon. Though Reynolds thought of himself as a saviour, his acts of designing the murder invalidates his own stance. He survives the battle, but at the cost of sacrificing his morality. This does make readers wonder : what if one day, Reynolds no longer believe that he should be helping the humans, but to eradicate humans, would he even give a second thought before he kills? Should posthumans, after obtaining enhancements, believe that normal humans are inferior and should be cleansed such that limited resources can be preserved for the advanced species, would this not lead to the end of human civilization?

Chiang did not made much suggestions about how we can address this issue in his story. The best solution to resolve this, in my humble opinion, is to make psychological and moral evaluations on the selected few that are involved in posthuman projects. This would at least ensure that the potential of these posthumans misusing their abilities would be kept to the minimum, therefore reducing possible threats to humanity.

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In Chiang's narrative understand, the writer imagined the story of a ordinary human being attaining super-intelligence after an accident. The story begins with typical promises of super-intelligence, with Grecos's initial ability to remember numerical combinations easily, to multitask and to quickly derive solutions to complex problems. However, as the story progresses we begin to see some of the adverse effects that super-intelligence can have. Greco was initially satisfied with his intelligence having dropped out of school. However, just one ampule of hormone K was enough to motivate him to keep becoming smarter. Its an interesting question as to whether the bounds of intelligence are infinite. And if they are, is it worth it to continue all the way?

Furthermore, it shows how the effects of super-intelligence are unpredictable. Greco and Reynolds have very similar levels of intelligence, but they have wildly different opinions on the best ways to make use of their intelligence. Some might consider super intelligence to be a gift, a gift best wielded by certain people. However, deciding on who these people are is quite impossible as shown. The initial Greco was noted to be satisfied with his own intelligence, and dropped out of school simply due to disagreements with his professors. But as the story progresses he is more greedy and wants to get more of hormone K. He enjoys learning, something that readers would not expect as a side effect of super intelligence. I would expect one would be lazier to learn and use his intelligence to get ahead in life. It is also noted that the hospital or CIA unexpectedly lost control of Greco which does add to the unpredictability of a super mind.

In a way the story offers hope, with Reynolds, the lover of humanity working towards a better world. It offers a promise that super-intelligence as a gift has so much potential to solve problems. Super-intelligence could help humans in really unthinkable ways (although this is merely fiction). However, it also looks at it as a weapon, a tool to manipulate others and to attain selfish goals. Perhaps it is a sign that super-intelligence should be used cautiously. Might the story have ended up different had they treated Greco like a high security prisoner, due to how unknown the side effects of the hormone was? Perhaps it is a sign of its potential, but also its possible dangers.

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In Chiang's narrative "Understand", it illustrates the gradual change of Leon's mindset and perception of the world around him from when he first got administered with hormone k and gained enhanced cognitive abilities to after multiple doses of the drug and has reached a state where no normal person can comprehend. The only other person who could understand him was Reynold who took hormone k as well.

Despite the two taking the same drug however, the way they perceive the world is vastly different, to the point where they both understood that there was no way to convince the other, and that the only resolution was for one of them to die. This reveals the danger of recklessly creating posthumans. Who is to say that they will not think that their views are right and just and not use their enhanced abilities to enforce their ideals? In a world where everyone will become posthuman, who is to say that they will not turn against one another and bring about destruction rather than saving humanity like what Walker said in his text "Ship of fools: Why transhumanism is the best bet to prevent the extinction of civilization"? The narrative also reveals how the ego of Leon has increased even since his first dose, seeing how he finds the repetitive tests from the doctors useless and even manipulated the results so that he can avoid the government, and later on when he "simply" changed the way he walks to bypass the undercover agents stationed around the area where his friend lives.

While hormone k was initially used as a drug to cure those with brain damage, it ended up having the unforseen side effect of creating posthumans. This shows how even after multiple tests with animals, the outcome of such new technology can still bring about unpredictable and sometimes undesirable effects on humans or humanity as a whole.

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The nature of the development of Posthumans is one where it's outcome is highly unpredictable and possibly uncontrollable.

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The nature of the development of Posthumans is one where it's outcome is highly unpredictable and possibly uncontrollable.

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In Chiang's narrative,"Understand", the observation of the impact "Hormone K" had on patients was initially done in a very controlled environment where they evaluated the increase in their intelligence and human capabilities.

However , as can be seen in the case of Leon, his intelligence grew to the point where he had increased perception regarding the intentions behind those conducting studies on him, and he was able to conceal his abilities to some extent out of his own self-preservation. He was later able to make use of computer hacking abilities and his increased intelligence to escape those seeking custody of him. As his capabilities increased further with more doses of Hormone K, he became capable of perceiving things beyond the human capability and was able to manipulate the stock markets. All this shows how the nature of the increase in intelligence and capabilities of the posthuman is highly unpredictable, and the observers were unable to deal with Leon's improved capabilities. The ease with which Leon could manipulate the stock market and his hacking abilities also show the posthuman potential to impact the society on a large scale.

And yet the introduction of another posthuman, Reynolds, portrayed as having completely different goals also shows how the development of posthumans can move in a completely different direction as well. And this makes one wonder just how many other possibilities for the development of posthumans there are. The nature of posthumans is truly unpredictable and it is very likely that we would be unable to deal with such a scenario as the humans in "Understand" were unable to deal with the posthumans.

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Why Posthuman's abilities such as enhanced intelligence may be detrimental to Humankind when used for the wrong reasons

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Why Posthuman's abilities such as enhanced intelligence may be detrimental to Humankind when used for the wrong reasons

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Chiang's narrative, "Understand", was effective in conveying the possible benefits of enhanced intelligence and the issue of how the differing goals of posthumans with enhanced intelligence may lead to ethical problems.

Leon was selfish with his superintelligence and planned to use it for his own benefits, not for anyone else's. Hence, it could be said that posthumans with selfish goals would have little to no positive impact on humankind's advancement, and might even have negative impacts since posthumans with extremely selfish goals might sacrifice anything for their own benefits.

On the other hand, Reynolds believed himself to be selfless with the use of his superintelligence and wished to contribute to humankind's advancement. However, he had no qualms with killing another being, even Leon, for the benefit of humankind. Hence, while Reynolds claimed that he aimed to use his superintelligence for the betterment of humankind, his methods might be questionable and unethical to the point that the future of humankind might still be unpredictable: whether humankind would become more enlightened but at the cost of adopting less ethical views, or more costs would be incurred than benefits that humankind's progress would be hindered by the unethical actions of posthumans.

In my opinion, I believe this issue could be solved simply by giving a select few access to posthumanism: to specify, those who have in their own right done a great deal of work for the betterment of humankind without creating highly controversial issues, as human beings themselves. These are most likely the group of people most qualified to lead humanity in the face of an unpredictable and dangerous future. While this solution may give rise to debates on equality and commercial use, these issues may be worsened when access to posthumanism is available to the general public. If access to posthumanism can be bought, there will be no doubt a greater divide between the rich and the poor, and a possible unhealthy divide between posthumans and humans. Furthermore, if access to posthumanism is given to everyone, as implied in Chiang's narrative, "Understand", differing goals among groups of posthumans leading to conflicts may impose negative impacts on humankind as a whole, which may either hinder or not help humanity's advancement.