When human eyesight isn't good enough

Image via Wikipedia

My sponsor for this post, Stahl Eye Center Garden City NY, informs me that LASIK (laser vision correction) is now the most common surgery in the United States. This factoid may seem rather mundane, but consider the implications for transhumanism.

Wikipedia cites studies in peer-reviewed journals that say 1 in 4 people in the United States have myopia (nearsightedness). WrongDiagnosis.com estimates that almost another 1 in 4 have hyperopia (farsightedness).

Needing corrective lenses, then, is almost part of being human. By undergoing vision correction, consumers are deciding that, at least when it comes to eyesight, being human isn't good enough.

Both marketers and public policy analysts should take note of what this presages. Just as consumers are tired of needing glasses or contacts, one can guess that we'll get tired of all the other limitations of human nature, seeing them not as part of who we are but as problems to be solved. Once biotechnology and cybernetics deliver more ways to be better-than-human, many if not most consumers will jump at the chance. Any marketing campaign that appeals to this desire will succeed, and any legislation that interferes too much with it will be unpopular.

When human eyesight isn't good enough