Emerging Technology

Americans’ views about the impact the growing number of immigrants working in the U.S. is having on American workers have softened notably over the past decade.

As the U.S. work environment continues to shift, the public is adapting to the new realities of the workplace and rethinking the skills they need to compete.

Thanks to scientific advancements, brain chip implants are already being tested in individuals to help them cope with an injury or ailment. But when it comes to the potential use of such implants to give an already healthy and capable person abilities that they do not currently have, Americans are more wary than enthusiastic. Some […]

Despite the technological potential to help humans live longer and stronger, many U.S. adults are not ready to embrace these possibilities.

Human enhancement may be just around the corner. How do Americans view these emerging technologies that may one day enhance our human capabilities?

A new gene-editing method called CRISPR exemplifies how the technology is rapidly becoming a present-day reality. Yet, Americans are wary of editing embryos, according to a survey on the broader field of “human enhancement.”

Emerging technologies that draw from biomedical technology, nanotechnology, information technology and other fields may lead to any number of ways people might be able to “upgrade” themselves. But a majority of Americans greet the possibility of these breakthroughs with more wariness and worry than enthusiasm and hope.

Americans are wary of the prospect of implanting a computer chip in their brains to improve their mental abilities or adding synthetic blood to their veins to make them stronger and faster. And this is particularly true of those who are highly religious.

Christian Brugger, a professor of moral theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, believes that people are right to be concerned about the social impact of human enhancement. Anders Sandberg, a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, thinks that, on balance, human enhancement will improve and enrich our lives.

Many in the general public expect scientific and technological innovation to bring helpful change to society. Yet, when Americans are asked about the potential use of emerging technologies that could push the boundaries of human abilities, they are far more cautious about the morality and effects of these advances.