New you by 2018: healthier, stronger, younger looking

By Dick Pelletier

      In just ten short years, you may be looking into the mirror and wondering, "Who is that gorgeous creature?" Your reflection would reveal a much younger and healthier you; with natural hair color, youthful skin, perfect vision, real teeth, a spring in your step, and an incredibly sharp mind and memory.

      Welcome to tomorrow's futuristic world of biotech enhancements, which forward thinkers believe will be widely available and affordable by 2018. According to venture capitalists, the next ten years will be driven by lightening-fast complex medical breakthroughs that promise to improve health, extend lives; even redefine what it means to be human.

      The Institute for Global Future's Dr. James Canton believes a trillion dollar health enhancement market will evolve in the next decade. And 100 million baby boomers and senior citizens are anxiously awaiting its products; which one day will include biotech and nanotech miracles to replace aging organs, muscles, bones and skin.

      Some health enhancements are already available today. Fertility science, prosthetic limbs, wonder drugs like Prozac and Viagra; even steroid use, are all designed to improve human performance. Last year, 12 million opted for plastic surgery in their quest to look and feel better, giving the cosmetics industry its largest success ever.

      But over the next ten years, stem cell and gene therapies, initially developed to cure sicknesses, will dwarf what can be accomplished with the knife. These new therapies promise far less intrusive means to achieve that "younger body" look. And 'boomers and seniors can't wait to take advantage of these breakthrough technologies.

      Enhancements fall into three categories: Therapeutic, Augmentation, and Designed Evolution.

      Therapeutic refers to restoring normal capabilities to disabled or dysfunctional patients. Cloning for tissue replacement is already happening, as stem cells have successfully grown new heart tissues in patients. Researchers believe replacing muscle, bone, skin; even neurons, teeth, eyes, and other organs could be in beginning stages by 2018.

      Augmentation means enhancing performance levels beyond the norm. Procedures expected to be in place by as early as 2015 include improved memory recall, simultaneous language translation, long range and microscopic vision on demand, wide spectrum hearing, distinctive voice projection, and stronger muscles. And by mid-to-late-2020s, "nanobots" monitoring each of our cells could keep us ageless and forever healthy.

      Designed Evolution refers to modifying our children prior to conception and after birth. These could include memory, intelligence, speed, agility, and other behavioral and physical attributes. Eliminating undesired genes that might pre-dispose a child to cancer, heart disease or alcoholism could be possible by about 2015.

      However, thoughts of improving humans beyond what some consider "natural" will evoke controversy. Ideology, politics and religion could collide with science as many of these experiments, driven by overwhelming public demand, begin to take place. Sparks will surely fly as we endow our offspring and ourselves with bodies that resist degeneration, bones that replenish through self-assembly, minds that think like geniuses, and a lifespan approaching immortality.

      But regardless of these controversies, demand from 'boomers and seniors who believe that they deserve improved health, more happiness, and longer lives, will drive this "magical future" forward – and it could become reality in time to benefit most people alive today.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.