My wife wondered if we are reaching the limit of human ability in athletics; I think we’re only reaching the limit of people who actually take part in those sports.

  • SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
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    1 day ago

    Would that be a human with ostrich legs, or an ostrich with a human body? Indeed, there are a lot of philosophical questions, but if we’re allowing technological augmentation, then Todd Reichert is indisputably human and managed 144 kph.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Right, Todd Reichert raises another question: do we consider removable devices to be part of our body or not?

      I think the ostrich question you raised has a bit of a simpler answer: does it have the mind of a human or the mind of an ostrich? That’s only a temporary reprieve though. Once we get into brain augmentation we have a whole other set of issues.

      But even if we disallowed any augmentation whatsoever, there’d still be the issue of reproduction, selective breeding, and genetic engineering. Maybe you disallow gene editing and CRISPR, but how do you disallow selective breeding? It’s as basic as having the freedom to decide who to form a relationship with.