The Biosingularity is Near - by Anatoly Karlin
We are on the cusp of a new era in which we acquire the capability to augment our biological intelligence and take over our own evolution. Forget the “ 3-5 years away” timelines previously advanced by Razib Khan and Charles Murray. Embryo selection for IQ will become publicly available in 2025, opening up the possibility of 6-7 IQ point increases with every subsequent generation. And that’s just with the standard IVF cycles of ten embryos. More speculative but scientifically grounded approaches in the pipeline such as embryo genetic editing, adult gene therapy, iterated embryo selection, and synthetic embryos open up the possibility of multiple S.D. increases in polygenic IQ scores by the 2030s, and the appearance of young men and women much smarter than anybody who has ever lived as early as the 2050s.
In this essay, I will briefly outline the basics of intelligence research, and its relationship to individual life success, national wellbeing, and the long-term prospects of our civilization. I will then make make the case for radical human intelligence enhancement across all three of those levels. I will then survey public attitudes towards intelligence enhancement, outline the business case for the noocelerationist space and its synergies with Decentralized Science (DeScI), and conclude with an overview of my own plans for Sophia DAO and how you can get involved.
