The Four Pathways

The first pathway would lead to a cognitive revolution in genetics, which could eventually result in a type of social stratification and organization that could affect the structure of our current human society as a whole.

A second pathway, neural pharmacology, or the use of drugs to affect behavior, could change competitive environments and the social culture. He noted, for example that people might someday use drugs to function effectively on no more than two hours of sleep.

"I don't believe that all drugs are bad, but I do believe certain drugs tend to be over-prescribed and used on individuals as a type of medical short-cut," says Fukuyama. "Rather than provide the traditional rearing and development of social character by parents, people tend to think that kids can be fixed through drugs."

A third pathway, life extension through technological advances in biomedicine, could change the demographic makeup of countries. The fourth and most important pathway that the biotechnology revolution might take would be in the area of genetic engineering, says Fukuyama. By trying to improve the human race through genetics, "people may not realize that a small alteration can have huge implications and devastating results on our society," he warned.

—Monica Amarelo

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