''Some think the rapid rise of genetic modification could be just such a circumstance. Others believe we could blend ourselves with machines in unprecedented ways — turning natural-born humans into an endangered species.''
Wow, two kinds of idiot! The best known fruit fly gene, one which has been manipulated for decades, is the gene for eye color. It's a simple phenotype: red or white. In the past, it has been manipulated through breeding. When scientists manipulated it through the genes earlier this year, the eyes did change. But so did something else -- courtship. Males starting courting males in long chains. So we have no fucking idea how to effectively manipulate the genes of living organisms, and likely won't even understand fruit fly genes for years. Humans, you'd agree, are far more complicated. Good luck effectively testing these kinds of manipulations as well.
And combining with machines? Retarded. Machines are only as good as we make them, and they can't replace millions of years of evolution of the human body. We can't build a better human, and we can't build a machine that does much of anything better than a human.
More than likely, we'll evolve in such subtle ways at first that no one will notice. I know it makes for some really rad infotainment to say shit like we'll make these huge jumps to integrated mechanical wings on our backs, but we'll probably lose most of our body hair first. I guess that's not very exciting, though.
