Philosophically Speaking: Annals of the International Philosophy Grou Philosophical-Annals-II-2017 | Page 9

Of Mind and Money: Post-Scarcity Economics and Human Nature
found in our closest hominid relatives 2 ), only recently have science and technology given us
discoveries and tools with the potential to change our evolutionary heritage and architect a
very different possible future.
To this end, neuroscience, synthetic biology (a branch of biology integrating evolutionary,
molecular, and computational biology with biophysics and nanobiotechnology – the melding
of nanotech and biology) and other fields of established and emerging science are beginning
to provide us with an understanding of our neurobiology at neural, molecular and genetic
levels. These advances will then be instantiated in technologies that enable us to
physiologically modify our dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors. The resulting shift in
perspective will form the cognitive foundation of designing and implementing a technology-
enabled post-scarcity economy by abandoning the belief that our human nature has not
allowed, and therefore never could allow, such an environment to emerge and thrive on a
large – much less global or exoplanetary – scale.
In addition to neuroscience and synthetic biology, the other areas key to designing and
effecting human neuroaugmentation include synthetic genomics (a field within synthetic
biology); optogenetics (a neuromodulation technique using light to control neurons
genetically light-sensitized); neural prostheses; artificially accelerated evolution (already
achieved in laboratories with fruit flies); and biorecalibration (biophysical optimization and
health/life extension).
One of the main focal points in this effort might be to fine-tune the effects of the human-
specific gene ARHGAP11B,
3
which appeared when the ancestral gene ARHGAP11A made
an incomplete copy of itself and subsequently may have contributed to evolutionary
expansion of human neocortex. (When ARHGAP11B was introduced into developing mice,
the number of cortex stem cells nearly doubled and their brains sometimes developed folds –
are found in primates but not mice.) The goal could be to use synthetic genomics to