By Tobi Loba
The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has recently stated that he finds genetic enhancement of humans much more palatable than brain implants.
In the tweet, Buterin was curious to know people’s opinions regarding his assertion. The tweet soon became a thread, after attracting hundreds of reactions and mixed opinions from his teeming followers.
“Am I the only one who finds genetic enhancement of humans *much more palatable* than brain implants? Genes are hard to target; there’s no “gene for obedience to the communist party”. But mixing brains and centralized digital tech risks eroding our strongest domain of privacy.”
Am I the only one who finds genetic enhancement of humans *much more palatable* than brain implants? Genes are hard to target; there's no "gene for obedience to the communist party". But mixing brains and centralized digital tech risks eroding our strongest domain of privacy.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 26, 2020
Responses from the Community
As aforementioned, Vitalik Buterin’s opinion attracted reactions from the crypto community and beyond.
Kevin Drum, a political blogger, and writer for Mother Jones magazine, who was amazed, wrote, “Wait. There’s a brain implant for obedience to the communist party?”
In response, Buterin said, “No but I’m sure the brain implants that people will come up with by default could be easily backdoored to surveil people’s moods even about specific topics and so forth.”
No but I'm sure the brain implants that people will come up with by default could be easily backdoored to surveil people's moods even about specific topics and so forth.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 26, 2020
In a contrary opinion, another user wrote:
“I think humans are naturally fearful that the fairness inherent to genetic randomness will be replaced by genetically optimized children for those that can afford it. Losing privacy is small compared to a fixed genetic lottery.”
“Right, but implants are also going to be highly skewed in terms of who can afford them!” Vitalik Buterin responded.
Another user also opined that genetic enhancement could lead to a notable extension of human life span:
“Genetic enhancements have a more likely possibility of leading to significant life extension, which at some point should be applied to total population…of course people could also argue of overpopulation I guess…still, plenty of open land around.”
In agreement with the assertion of Ethereum’s co-founder, a responder wrote:
“There is tho. There are genes that make it much more likely to result in “obedience to the communist party”
“I’m sure there’s genes for obedience generally, but people with such genes are just as vulnerable to becoming obedient to cults that the government hates. Even *culture* seems to work that way a lot of the time. So not at all clear that it’s a good bargain for the communist party,” Buterin responded.
Vitalik Buterin’s Interest in Biotech
Obviously, Vitalik Buterin is majorly focusing on blockchain technology, but aside from the nascent innovation, he’s also interested in biotech, considering his recent tweets and comments.
Sometimes in June 2020, Buterin predicted a time when attention will be shifted towards biotech, which will result in a massive increase in healthy life-span and entirely end aging.
However, this prediction attracted questions regarding the aftermath of such advanced technology on the human race.
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