Limitless?

In this edition, we contemplate the rapidly evolving landscape of cognitive enhancement and augmented performance, inspired by an emerging market for smart supplements, news of Neuralink's first human test, the impact of drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy on health clubs, and the announcement of the first Enhanced Games.

What happened

The past few weeks we’ve been thinking about the emerging landscape of cognitive enhancement and augmented performance. First we learned of the Enhanced Games, a new international sporting competition where the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and advanced performance technologies is allowed, with the first games planned for mid-2025. Then, Neuralink reported that the first human to receive its implant was doing well and able to “move a mouse around the screen just by thinking.”

A few days later, we ran across an advertisement for Thesis, one of many companies to offer nootropic regimens tailored to your brain chemistry. Nootropics are substances that enhance cognitive abilities like thinking and memory. They're becoming increasingly popular, not just for those with impairments, but also among healthy individuals, including students, and the market for these smart supplements is poised to grow to $4 billion by 2033.

Finally, last week, we learned that luxury gyms are customizing fitness programs in response to the increased use of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, which some researchers estimate will be taken by 30 million people in 2030, or around 9% of the US population. People taking GLP-1s are “going to want the right professional facilities and professional personal trainers and nutritionists to help them,” said Bahram Akradi, the CEO of Life Time gyms.

So What

These signals reflect two important dynamics. The first, one we’ve highlighted often in Learning Futures, is the increasing demand for personalization revealed in the fitness industry’s response to GLP-1 medications and nootropic services like Thesis. The second suggests a society growing more comfortable with, and even eager to embrace the full potential of science and technology to enhance performance. The Enhanced Games and Neuralink may be harbingers of widespread societal acceptance of biohacking and technological augmentation. These dynamics anticipate a future where cognitive and physical enhancement is ingrained in personal health routines, reshaping healthcare, workplace productivity, and education.

Imagine a future where human potential is magnified through such enhancements, offering unprecedented advantages. Cognitive breakthroughs have the potential to level the educational playing field, allowing students with learning disabilities to excel, while innovations in physical augmentation could offer mobility to quadriplegics and restore vitality to the aging population. These advancements could dissolve longstanding barriers, democratize access to health and intellect, and foster a society marked by heightened creativity and resilience. The prospect of a world where each individual can realize their utmost potential is not merely inspirational; it could steer us toward a more inclusive, forward-thinking, and compassionate world.

However, the pursuit of peak performance and well-being can have unintended consequences. The pressure to meet certain aesthetic and performance standards could escalate, creating a reality where enhancement is a necessity, not a choice. Furthermore, the potential for exacerbating socioeconomic disparities looms large as access to enhancement technologies becomes yet another arena of inequity. As we navigate the integration of these advancements into the fabric of daily life, we will face new questions about what it means to be human and how to ensure that these transformative capabilities not only coexist with but actively promote a society where justice and equity are expanded.

Artifacts from the future

Let's imagine how these emerging trends might become a part of our daily lives, reshaping the landscape in which future generations will learn, work, and interact. To do this, we present 'Artifacts from the Future,' speculative objects or experiences that not only illustrate but also provoke us to consider the potential reality of cognitive and physical enhancement.

EnhanceMe Home Hub – A smart home device and personal health assistant that integrates with various enhancement technologies to manage and optimize a user's daily enhancement routine. The Hub would track the user's physical and cognitive performance metrics, syncing with implanted or wearable enhancement devices to adjust dosages of nootropics or modulate neural stimulation patterns. It would also offer personalized recommendations for new enhancements based on the user's goals, lifestyle, and health data. Through an intuitive interface, users can order enhancement supplies, schedule maintenance or updates for their implants, and access a marketplace for the latest enhancement products and services.

Enhancement Passport – A biometrically secured digital document that records an individual's enhancement history and current enhancement status. This passport would detail the cognitive and physical enhancements a person has undergone, including gene editing, neural implants, and nootropic regimens. It would be required for job applications, insurance policies, and education enrollment, serving as a personal ledger of one's enhancement journey and a tool to navigate the complexities of a society stratified by levels of enhancement.

Bio-Tune Earbuds – These advanced earbuds go beyond playing music or taking calls; they are integrated with biometric sensors and AI to enhance cognitive functions through auditory stimuli. The earbuds can modulate brainwave frequencies to promote focus, relaxation, or creativity, and they adapt in real-time to the user's current task and mental state. Users can subscribe to personalized cognitive enhancement programs, and the earbuds also monitor mental fatigue, suggesting breaks or changes in tasks to optimize mental well-being.

Food for thought

We hope the questions below enable educators at the elementary and secondary levels have usefully provocative conversations about teaching and learning in a future where cognitive and physical enhancements are mainstream.

• How might we cultivate an educational environment that supports equity and inclusivity in the context of students potentially using cognitive enhancements?

• What pedagogical adjustments may be necessary to accommodate the learning needs of students who are cognitively enhanced, while still supporting those who are not?

• How might we ensure that students with varying levels of enhancement receive a personalized learning experience that maximizes their individual potential and well-being?

• How should curricula evolve to include discussions about ethics and the social implications of human enhancement technologies?

• In what ways might we prepare students for a job market that may favor enhanced individuals, and what skills will be essential to remain competitive?

Generative AI Disclosure and Reflections

For this issue we worked with our signal analzyer bot to explore each signal, associated trends, and possible future artifacts. We also played with our new What-So What bot, to explore possible implications of these signals.  As always, this process was very much a dialogue. We continue to find this bot a helpful collaborator. We then worked with our editor bot to refine some of the language and transitions. We are still working on getting that bot to be a more helpful writing coach. We generated the images of the future artifacts  playing in a park with the help of  Dallee-3 and PromptGenius. We accessed all the AI bots through the AI aggregator, Poe.,