Nice unintended consequences

My last post on Nick Land's bionic catharsis of reactionary politics was received with a healthy dose of skepticism. After all it there is a very thick moral wall against tampering with human nature. How would it be done? Who would fund it? What would the government do about sucha  project?

But it seems that the gears of history have started moving.

The American director of the World Swimming Coaches Association is insinuating that China might be genetically modifying their athletes to win olympic medals. That's right, people are so pissed at Chinese swimmer girls' performance that Chinese are accused of inventing a whole new dimension of cheating. Most people laughed it off, but think about it.

It is common knowledge that many technological advances are owed to warfare, as nations in war squeeze their brains to seek some advantage over their enemies. Sports are also commonly understood as a form of ritualised warfare, where people can satisfy their desire for competition and combat without shedding blood. And we also know that Chinese are famous for taking ritual very seriously, Confucianism being basically about rituals in all social situations.

Following this line of reasoning, it doesn't seem implausible at all that the new era of human genetic enhancement were to be developed as a byproduct of Chinese cheating practices at world sport competitions.  Next thing you know they'll develop a bionic eye to better cheat at their University entry exams.

2 comments