by Joel Garreau
“The current doping agony is a kind of very confused referendum on the future of human enhancement”: Michael Sokolove, “In Pursuit of Doped Excellence; The Lab Animal,” New York Times Magazine, January 18, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/magazine/18SPORTS.html
Competitive bodybuilding is already divided: See, for example, Krista Scott-Dixon, “The Biggest Lies in the Gym,” Bodybuilding.com. http://bodybuilding.about.com/cs/ women/a/aa041003a.htm
“If someone said, ‘Here’s $10 million’ . . . you could get pretty imaginative”: For a detailed report on his work, see H. Lee Sweeney, “Gene Doping: Gene therapy for restoring muscle lost to age or disease is poised to enter the clinic, but elite athletes are eyeing it to enhance performance. Can it be long before gene doping changes the nature of sport?,” Scientific American, July 2004, page 63. http://www.sciamdigital.com/
a functioning prototype exoskeleton: Interview, Homayoon “Hami” Kazerooni, professor of mechanical engineering, University of California at Berkeley, March 20, 2003, and other dates. See also Duncan Graham-Rowe, “Artificial Exoskeleton Takes the Strain,” NewScientist.com news service, March 5, 2004. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994750
allow soldiers to leap tall buildings with a single bound: Interview, Jean-Louis “Dutch” DeGay, Equipment Specialist, Objective Force Warrior Technology Program Office, U.S. Army SBCCOM, Natick Soldier Center, June 25, 2003.
“Just five years from now the boundary will be breached”: Rodney A. Brooks, Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us (New York: Pantheon Books, 2002). ISBN: 0-375-42079-7, page 5.
“The next frontier is our own selves”: At a conference on “The Adaptable Human Body: Transhumanism and Bioethics in the 21st Century,” Yale University, June 27, 2003.
stop making any more fraudulent claims: Jack Uldrich, “‘Exponential’ Thinking for the Future,” Tech Central Station, January 21, 2004. http://www2.techcentralstation.com/1051/printer.jsp?CID=1051-012104D
the challenging stuff of One L fame: Scott Turow, One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School (New York: Warner Books, 1997). ISBN: 0446673781
They have amazing thinking abilities: This is part of what DARPA originally referred to as the Brain-Machine Interface program, later called the Human Assisted Neural Devices program. See Brett Giroir, “Beyond the Bio-Revolution, Maintaining Soldier Performance,” presentation prepared for DARPATech 2004, March 9–11, 2004, Anaheim, CA. http://www.darpa.mil/DARPAtech2004/pdf/scripts/GiroirScript.pdf See also “Biological Sciences” under the heading “Technology Thrusts” in the DSO section of the DARPA Web site. http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrust/biosci/biosci.htm For further information on the repositioning of various DARPA programs, see Chapter Eight: Epilogue. For more on neurological brain augmentation, see Laura Beil, “Brain-Boosting ‘Cosmetic Neurology’ On The Horizon,” Dallas Morning News, November 6, 2004. http://www.parkinsons-information-exchange-network-online.com/parkmail1/2004d/msg00452.html
They have photographic memories: Ibid. See also: Lakshmi Sandhana, “Chips Coming to a Brain Near You,” Wired News, October 22, 2004. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,65422,00.html
They’re beautiful, physically: See, for example, Jon Entine, “The Coming of the Über-Athlete,” Salon.com, March 21, 2002. http://www.salon.com/news/sports/2002/03/21/genes/index_np.html See also Christen Brownlee, “Gene Doping: Will Athletes Go for the Ultimate High?,” Science News, October 30, 2004, page 280. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041030/bob9.asp See also “GM ‘Marathon’ Mice Break Distance Records,” NewScientist.com News Service, August 23, 2004. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6310
They talk casually about living a very long time, perhaps being immortal: See, for example, Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines (New York: Penguin, 1999). ISBN: 0-670-88217-8, page 280 and elsewhere.
Within minutes it simply stopped bleeding: The program originally referred to by DARPA as part of Persistence in Combat, later subsumed as part of Peak Soldier Performance.
vaccinated against pain: The program originally referred to by DARPA as part of Persistence in Combat, later subsumed as part of Soldier Self-Care.
They call it “silent messaging”: See, for example, Vernor Vinge, “Synthetic Serendipity,” IEEE Spectrum Online, July 8, 2004. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/jul04/0704/far.html
It almost seems like telepathy: Originally referred to by DARPA as part of the Brain-Machine Interface Program. Later work that was described as a step toward detecting and transmitting signals from the language areas of the brain was reported in Science, volume 305, page 258, and referred to in Duncan Graham-Rowe, “Brain Implants ‘Read’ Monkey Minds,” NewScientist.com news service, July 8, 2004. http://www.newscientist.com/news/print.jsp?id=ns99996127
They have this odd habit: Ibid.
For a week or more at a time, they don’t sleep: The program originally referred to by DARPA as part of the Continuous Assisted Performance program, later largely subsumed under the Preventing Sleep Deprivation program.
“Forget fiction, read the newspaper”: Damien Cave, “Killjoy,” Salon.com, April 10, 2000. http://dir.salon.com/tech/view/2000/04/10/joy/index.html?pn=2
more computers than she has lightbulbs: As of 2001, there were 24 processors in a Ford Taurus and 60 in a high-end Mercedes.
“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us”: Regarding how the House of Commons chamber should be rebuilt after it was bombed in 1941. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/lj/churchlj/stephen_09.shtml
“The Organization Man”: William Hollingsworth Whyte, The Organization Man (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, reprint edition, 2002). ISBN: 0812218191.
“The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit”: Sloane Wilson, Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 4th edition, 2002). ISBN: 1568582463.
ways to increase their child’s SAT scores: See, for example, “Supercharging the brain: Biotechnology: New drugs promise to improve memory and sharpen mental response. Who should be allowed to take them?,” The Economist, September 16, 2004. http://www.economist.com/science/tq/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=3171454 See also Mary Carmichael, “Medicine’s Next Level: With insight into the mechanisms that help keep your brain sharp, neurological researchers move closer to improving your recall with a ‘memory pill,’” Newsweek, December 6, 2004, page 46. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6595798/site/newsweek/
memory enhancers: The Economist, “Supercharging the Brain” and Newsweek, “Medicine’s Next Level.” Keep an especially close eye on the clinical trial results of companies such as Memory Pharmaceuticals, Sention, Helicon Therapeutics, Saegis Pharmaceuticals, and Cortex Pharmaceuticals.
medical robots traveling the human bloodstream: Rick Weiss, “For Science, Nanotech Poses Big Unknowns,” Washington Post, February 1, 2004, page A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1487-2004Jan31?language=printer
two gay males . . . to make a baby: Rick Weiss, “In Laboratory, Ordinary Cells Are Turned into Eggs,” Washington Post, May 2, 2003, page A1.
the last fifty years . . . a guide to the next fifty years: Interview, Ray Kurzweil, April 14, 2003.
90-percent-male alpha-geek population: I am indebted to Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine, for this insight into the demographics of the digerati.
Chapter Two BE ALL YOU CAN BE
“The future is already here”: William Gibson, the author of Neuromancer—wherein he coined the word cyberspace—for the life of him cannot remember where or precisely when he first used this line, although he knows it was in the late eighties. Personal communication, June 7, 2003.
This particular January: Interviewed January 3, 2003.
The first telekinetic monkey: Miguel A. L. Nicolelis and John K. Chapin, “Controlling Robots with the Mind,” Scientific American, October 2002, pages 47–53. For how this works in humans see, for example, Robert Lee Hotz, “Device for the Paralyz
ed Turns Thinking to Doing,” Los Angeles Times, December 7, 2004, page A1. http://news.orb6.com/stories/latimests/20041207/devicefortheparalyzedturnsthinkingtodoing.php See also Rick Weiss, “Mind Over Matter: Brain Waves Guide a Cursor’s Path: Biomedical Engineers Create Devices That Turn Thoughts Into Action and Could Help the Paralyzed Move Their Limbs,” Washington Post, December 13, 2004, page A8. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59791-2004Dec12?language= printer
thinner than the finest sewing thread: 25–50 microns. Alan Rudolph, DARPA.
In the 1930s and 1940s . . . transcend the mortal bounds of everyday humanity: See, for example, Joel Garreau, “The Next Generation: Biotechnology May Make Superhero Fantasy a Reality,” Washington Post, April 26, 2002, page C1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A50958-2002Apr25¬Found=true
He was a Depression-era orphan: Jeff Rovin, The Encyclopedia of Superheroes (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985). ISBN: 0-8160-1168-0, pages 57–58.
think of it as a wearable robot suit: See, for example, Gregory T. Huang, “Wearable Robots: Robotics Inventor Stephen Jacobsen Demonstrates an Exoskeleton That Provides Superhuman Strength,” Technology Review, July/August 2004. http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/print_version/demo0704.asp
now in development as part of a $50 million program: Interview, Jean-Louis “Dutch” De Gay, Equipment Specialist, Objective Force Warrior Technology Program Office, U.S. Army SBCCOM, Natick Soldier Center, June 25, 2003.
The weakling was reborn: Rovin, The Encyclopedia of Superheroes, pages 46–47.
what evil lurks in the hearts of men: See, for example, Mark Peplow, “Brain imaging could spot liars: Tests reveals patches in the brain that light up during a lie,” [email protected], November 29, 2004. http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041129/full/041129-1.html Also, “Lie Detection: Making Windows in Men’s Souls: The Science of Lie Detection Has a Chequered Past. But It Is Becoming More Reliable,” The Economist, July 8, 2004. http://www.economist.com/printedition/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story–ID=2897134
X-ray vision: An Israeli company, Camero, says it has devised an ultra-wide-band radar system that can produce three-dimensional pictures of what lies behind a wall from a distance of up to 20 meters. The pictures resemble those produced by ultrasound. “Camero develops radar system to see thru walls,” Business Line, Internet edition, July 2, 2004. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/14021106.htm
There were no computer science departments: Technology Transition, DARPA, 2003, page 40. http://darpa.mil/body/pdf/transition.pdf
“the main and essential medium of informational interaction for governments, institutions, corporations, and individuals”: J. C. R. Licklider, memo to “the members and affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network,” April 25, 1963. Cited in: M. Mitchell Waldrop, The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal (New York: Viking Penguin, 2001). ISBN: 0 14 20.0135 X (paperback), pages 6-7.
“Soldiers having no physical, physiological, or cognitive limitations”: Final draft of Goldblatt’s DARPATech 2002 presentation as of June 25, 2002, pages 6–7.
“science action, not science fiction”: Ibid., pages 1–2.
“bio-revolution” program represents only a fraction of DARPA’s overall agenda: Strategic Plan, DARPA, 2003, page 17. http://www.darp.mil/body/strategic.html
“only charter is radical innovation”: Ibid., page 3.
DSO’s deputy director: This was Wax’s title as of 2003. He later became director of DSO.
“We try not to violate any of the laws of physics”: Goldblatt and Wax interview, December 6, 2002.
DARPA has a track record: Technology Transition, various pages. See note in the “Suggested Readings” chapter.
It was a key player: Goldblatt, interview, April 1, 2003.
the first robot known to incinerate a human being: There is debate about what level of autonomy characterizes a true robot. Should you count guided and cruise missiles as robots? For that matter, since a human remotely guided the unmanned Predator and told it to fire the missile, can it be said that we actually have murderous robots yet? Reasonable people differ. The fellows in the SUV, of course, might find these distinctions overly fine.
“accelerate the future into being”: Strategic Plan, pages 3–4.
DARPA invests 90 percent: Ibid., pages 7–8.
Academic centers . . . coalesced because of DARPA: Technology Transition, page 42.
If it feels companies need to exist: Ibid., pages 42–43.
If standards need to exist, DARPA sometimes steps in: Ibid., page 43.
President Eisenhower created DARPA: Goldblatt interview, April 1, 2003.
“the ultimate high ground”: DARPA, Strategic Plan, page 11.
But most of all it wanted never again to be surprised: Technology Transition, page 12.
enhancing human performance, the program managers of DSO see a “golden age”: Strategic Plan, page 17.
the old Army slogan “‘Be All You Can Be’ takes on a new dimension”: Final draft of Goldblatt’s DARPATech presentation as of June 25, 2002, pages 3–4.
Tales have been told about them now for 3,300 years: The tale dates to the 13th century B.C. Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Complete Edition (London: Penguin Books, 1992), page 585.
They included: Ibid., pages 579–80.
Jason yoked two fire-breathing bulls: Ibid., pages 599–601.
“We do not fear the unknown”: Final draft of Goldblatt’s DARPATech 2002 presentation as of June 25, 2002, page 3.
The hope is that it will also mend wounds to skin: Persistence in Combat original program description, later subsumed into Soldier Self Care Program. www.darpa.mil/dso
spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and brain tumors: Jonathan Sidener, “LED Therapy Shows Promise in Studies,” San Diego Union, June 23, 2003, page A1.
“physiostimulator”: “Federation Facts.” http://www.nexus1.net/FederationFactsPage.html
stop bleeding can be triggered by signals from the brain: Bielitzki’s DARPATech 2002 presentation, slide 9.
Then they switch brains: Ibid., slide 6.
Think what this will do for college students and medical residents: Ibid., slide 6.
“how not to sleep”: Carney interview, December 17, 2002.
CAP’s major [sleep] research efforts: DARPATech presentation, 2002, slide 5.
the essential part of life: Goldblatt in Goldblatt and Wax interview, December 6, 2002.
Nothing in the cell gets through: Ibid.
Will these approaches throw out some side effects: I am indebted to Lawrence Osborne for raising this interesting question in a different context in New York Times Magazine, December 15, 2002, “The Year in Ideas: Genetically Modified Saliva.” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60812FD3C5E0C768DDDAB0994DA404482
140 decision makers united by a common travel department: Robert Mullan Cook-Deegan, “Does NIH Need a DARPA?” Issues in Science and Technology Online, winter 1996. http://www.nap.edu/issues/13.2/cookde.htm
Hunger, exhaustion and despondency: Bielitzki interview, December 19, 2002.
“Be all that you can be and a lot more”: Bielitzki presentation, DARPATech 2002, slide 12.
