Steve Gullans: To Be Human Is To Adapt

Nov 13, 2015 by Steve Gullans, Managing Director, Excel Venture Management

The pace of innovation may be accelerating, but our ability to adapt to the latest
technologies remains undeterred.
Technology is not an obstacle to humanity. Humans evolve — behaviorally, physically, morally,
biologically.

Over many millennia, humans migrated around the globe adapting to changing climates,
predators, foods, pathogens, rival tribes and countless obstacles and opportunities. To be human
is to adapt.

Life today bears little resemblance to that of just a couple of centuries ago when life was short,
often violent, harsh during long winters, treacherous for pregnant mothers, often light on
calories, subject to unexpected plagues, filled with little leisure activity, and miserable in so
many ways that most people today do not envy those times.

Thankfully, technology evolves, too. Innovative technologies, created by humans to benefit

themselves, are among the principal drivers of changes in the human condition. The Darwinian
drive to survive and reproduce has expressed itself in unexpected ways through the human mind,
which is always seeking to create, invent, develop, improve and advance. We all know the story:
stone tools led to writing, aqueducts, printing, farm implements, heating, electricity, medicines,
computers, satellites, gene therapy and more. Today, surviving to adulthood and reproducing
occurs with greater certainty than ever, thanks to manmade technologies — antibiotics, nutritious
and abundant foods, fertility treatments, C-sections. Manmade technologies have changed our
lives, generally for the better.

Consider biotechnology, a young discipline that is beginning to transform disease treatments.

When Richard Nixon declared the “War on Cancer” in 1971, little did we realize that it would
require the invention of whole new fields before the prospect of long-term cures could seem
within reach. With the development of genetic engineering, molecular imaging, genomics,
biomarkers, biomanufacturing and myriad other technologies, we are now seeing major
advances. Cancer therapies are now more targeted, less toxic, and able to prolong life. In the case
of rare inborn genetic mutations, personalized gene therapy is now curing children in the EU and
China. After a 30-year plateau in FDA drug approvals, 2014 witnessed a jump in new drugs.

The human mind is finally able to grasp the complexities of our own biology and design
solutions. Optimism reigns for treating human diseases.

Lest we get over exuberant, recall that humans have a penchant for pushing innovations another
step further — often seeking enhancements to performance or beauty — once something is
relatively safe and affordable. Human growth hormone, Epo, Botox, and Lasik were all borne
from medical applications.

Fortunately, while excesses and mistakes can and do occur, humans historically find a way to co-
evolve with new technologies — though it can take time, new legal and moral codes and even
contentious debates and struggles. Remember, Socrates rued the rise of writing, as he believed
that the art of memory would be lost to future generations. Some towns initially refused electric
lighting; 19th century Luddites destroyed early textile machinery; and today many educated
people consider Golden Rice to be evil, though it can prevent blindness in children.

The debates we see today about how modern technology harms our children, ourselves, society
and our environment are not new. Somehow humans have found ways to adjust and adapt.

So today, what — if anything — is different? Pace and scale. The pace of innovation is
accelerating, as Ray Kurzweil and others note. Technologies arrive at an exponential rate
because they build cumulatively upon each other, across disciplines. Moreover, with 7 billion
people on earth, new technologies can affect nearly everyone in some way, not to mention the
entire planet — global warming, constant electronic engagement, living “too long.”

I believe the human spirit and mind can handle the coming waves of technology. The greatest
challenges will require multi-generational, multi-cultural solutions. However, what is most
uncomfortable for us today is that humans will need to change — our minds, our bodies, our
behaviors, our priorities, our wishes for ourselves and our children.

As in the past, thanks to human imagination and perseverance, we will adopt new ways of
modifying ourselves and our world for the better. And since being human means being able to
adapt, change course and evolve, we will learn to embrace the change we create — in large part
because we will ethically and logically steer the course of our own evolution in ways that are
fundamentally human.

The interface between technology and the brain will be also explored in the third episode of
the Breakthrough documentary series, “Decoding the Brain,” directed by Brett Ratner. The six-
part series, developed by GE and the National Geographic Channel, airs Sundays at 9pm ET on
the NatGeo Channel.