HUMAN AUGMENTATION AND ITS MANY CHANGES

By Fiyinfoluwa Sanwo

What does body augmentation mean in the 21st century?

The technology industry has since the 21st century seen a shake-up that has moved it from being docile to being disruptive. Let alone the accounts of the serial expansions it has recorded in the last few years. The body augmentation industry by technology (wearable, virtual reality, augmented reality, exoskeleton, and intelligent virtual assistants), By Device (Body Worn and Non-Worn), By Application (Consumer and Enterprises), and By Industry vertical(Consumers, Medical, Healthcare, Industrial, Aerospace, Defense, Education, etc) has made significant progress in its application, especially in the field of medical care, military, national defense, and manufacturing.

According to Report Ocean, projections are that by 2027 the body augmentation industry will be worth approximately 400 billion dollars. And the same report noted that the body augmentation market was worth almost 90 billion dollars in 2020.

With body augmentation the functions of the human body is improved or supported through the use of technologies, and as such productivity or capacity is enhanced.

A number of innovations and research with regards to technology have paved the way for the discovery of novel devices and implants that can be categorized as human augmentation. One of the many devices within this category is the Cochlear implants relating to sensory or hearing ability.

With the cochlear implant sound is turned into electrical sound and does only make sound louder like the regular hearing aid would do. Then there are orthotics or limb devices that can enhance motion and muscles capability. Other types of human augmentation may function with specific sorts of IT resources, such as big data assets.

While many of the new options for body augmentation seem to be empowering and offering improvements to human health and quality of life, some parts of the scientific community have expressed concerns about body augmentation tools built on powerful tech concepts like biotech and nanotechnology, which must be closely observed for safety and long-term potential ramifications.

Nanotechnology, also known as nanotech is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. In its original sense, nanotechnology refers to the projected ability to construct items from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, high-performance products.

Nanotechnology is already a huge industry with billions of dollars being spent on research and development worldwide. Nevertheless, there is still a great deal to learn about both the potential benefits and risks of the technology. An area of concern is the effect that industrial-scale manufacturing and the use of nanomaterials would have on human health and the environment, as suggested by nanotoxicology research.

There is also the use of nanotechnology in the pharmaceutical industry and areas like medical imaging that could lead to notable new health hazards relating to its particle self-replication ability that could get out of control. The danger of contact with nanoparticles is not just speculation. As more research is undertaken, concerns increase. Some concerns are around; nanoparticles causing lung damage, and other particles have been shown to lead to brain damage. A German study found clear evidence that if discrete nanometer diameter particles were deposited in the nasal region (in rodents in this case), they completely circumvented the blood/brain barrier, and traveled up the olfactory nerves straight into the brain. I would say I would say human augmentation is a welcome development, especially in Africa. It is important to note that the risks and dangers associated with it should not be misinterpreted. They should not be seen as an exercise in despair, or an attempt to stop or oppose the process of human capacitation. Rather, noting these concerns is a way to ensure that necessary measures are taken

to mitigate envisaged risks; that promises and possibilities of this exciting project are harnessed as anticipated for Africa and the rest of theworld.

While Africans must be optimistic about the prospects of human augmentation and other emerging technological programs, there is a need to exercise caution, and temper optimism with realism. The technological differential has created a situation whereby these goods and benefits have largely been elusive, unharnessed, and underutilized. African countries have become a dumping ground of outdated and sometimes harmful technologies. Africans have been unable to access or optimally deployed existing technologies to tackle their everyday needs and challenges. Many Africans travel to Europe, America, India,and the Middle East to access medical care at exorbitant costs. And this trend is not changing for now. If these gaps are not narrowed or closed, Africa could be left further behind in the race for human augmentation and other futurist schemes.

In addition, existing technologies have yielded a situation where African countries are describedas developing, less developed, or underdeveloped. If the gap is not rectified, augmentation could become an identity political issue. Augmentation could become a way of defining and identifying humans. Africans might end up being designated as a continent of unaugmented, under-augmented, or less augmented humans as opposed to augmented humans in the west and the rest of the world.