There is no reason why humans should have survived the food chain, other than to be toothpicks for a bear or a lion. We don't have claws, particularily sharp teeth, or any sort of protective body armor. We are, quite wholly, soft and squishy bags of breakableness. And yet, humans have proliferized to such an extent that our population has begun, and in some cases has, outgrown the available resources. My three couch-dwelling dogs are better equipped to survive than I am, but somehow, they look to me to feed them and open doors. I believe that the survival of humans is a product of our sentient nature and our applied capacity for intelligence. This capacity that obviously exceeds any other life form is not of our doing and is not something to take pride in. But still, humans have developed technologies that allow them to change the very basis of life. That's an accomplishment all of its own.
But if you ask most people, they could come up with something they'd like to change about themselves. Taller. Blonde hair. Straight teeth. The ability to shoot lasers out of your palms. Some people go and have plastic surgery and other just simply wish. There are two main ways that human enhancement is possible in today. The first is physical alteration that affects that individual, not their offspring. The second is the genetic engineering of embryos. Of the physical alteration, there are three main areas that enhancement focuses on\\
1) Therapeutic enhancement- Therapeutic enhancement focuses on curing diseases, the prevention of diseases, and the repair of the body from an accident or a disease. This is most likely the least debatable of the three types, simply because every human should have the right to lead a normal , relatively healthy life. Enhancements in this category include vaccinations and specific medical procedures that go beyond Nature but are necessary to maintain that person's quality of life.
2) Physical Performance Enhancement- Every person in America is most likely aware of the usage of steroids in athletics. Steroids increase muscle mass and help an athlete run harder, faster, and longer. Unfortunately, the side effects of such drugs can effect the sexual reproduction and health of the person who takes them, male or female. Physical performance enhancement can also be seen in the attatchment of prostetic limbs, although this specific instance is more therapeutic than it is strictly enhancing. Enhancement should probably be defined in the sense of the change of a perfectly normal or acceptable person with no reason related to medicine or health, sometimes in direct contrast to good health. Many other "futuristic" technologies can be lumped into this category. Physical performance is the broadest, and possibly the most debated of the three categories.
3) Mental Enhancement- It's common in college for students who pursue the highest grades to take a drug called Ritalin, which allows the person to be able to focus easily. Scientists rank drugs that cause hallucogins and changed perception (illegal drugs and alcohol) in this category. Although I can't see their inherent enhancement ability, my school paper ran a hallucogin story where a person (who surprisingly chose to remain unnamed) said that using these kinds of drugs allows him to relax and explore. He also seemed to imply that these drugs helped him reach some higher level of creativeness or thinking without leaving any bad effects. There is a reason why scientists around the country are unanimously against usage of these drugs, and it isn't because the Man is trying to crush the free spirit of the younger generation.
Should we be changing ourselves to this degree? Every time I get a flu shot, I change my immune system, and every time another teenager gets braces, they change their natural structure. The debate isn't about these things, however; the arguments center around hypothesized advancements and current technologies that seem altogether frightening and exhilarating at the same time.
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