Other Choices/ Other Realities/ More Questions

Way back in 2015 I was feeling swept along by a rapid river of changes. So many new ways of communicating, learning, moving, building and exploring were all coming at me at once. I was concerned that the changes were so pervasive and affected so many aspects of our lives that we have been unable to keep track of them. Most of us were just trying our best to act as if we know what we’re doing. All the while we were in the midst of realizing that in order to survive we would need to develop new skills. How we relate to each other is also changing, as cultures from all over the world merge and new lifestyles emerge. In many ways, we are changing our bodies, brains and minds, both directly and indirectly.

As my interest in all of these innovations grew I became excited, and wanted to be a part of the whatever the future would bring. I began to read books and articles (see below), attend conferences and trade shows, and learn about new companies.  All of the people I met were extolling how we would soon have our lives transformed at the touch of a screen or just by uttering a command or asking a question. I began to believe that these changes would have more of an impact on our lives than just the thrill of capturing animated warriors, who were posing virtually, in the park across the street.

Fantastic!

I was eagerly anticipating driverless cars, a cure for Alzheimer’s, genetically modified tofu that tasted like Boston cream pie, enriching relationships with new people from all over the world; new, cheap, sustainable sources of energy, and more time with my grandchildren.

But in the Spring and Summer of 2016 the clouds began to form as the political landscape began to dominate the forecasts and darken the future . There seemed to be a resentment growing and an anger brewing in many people. These people began to feel overwhelmed. The changes that I found so exciting, they felt were ruining their lives. People began to express how uncomfortable they felt with new people and the new lifestyles. They were unclear if it was the Chinese, Mexicans or robots taking their jobs. They were not happy that it often took pushing buttons on three remotes to find the TV show that used to be there if you pushed one “on” button. And where has Bill O’Reilly gone?

People seemed to want to stop, or at least slow down, the flow of these changes and reestablish the sense of security that came with living with what felt familiar, even if that feeling only came from nostalgia and nothing that really ever was.

But the pace of change has not stopped. New things quickly began to get old and newer new things were arriving. Every next thing seemed more complex and different, and whatever it did, it did it faster than before. New books kept coming, and so did web sites, articles, studies and ideas. But now, the tone began to change. There were questions raised about whether these new things were really bringing insight, knowledge, ease, comfort or joy. People began to focus on the downside of all of these changes. Who were these new people? Is Artificial Intelligence smarter than I am? How did so many people know I needed a hub cap? How do they know what kind of medicine I’m taking? Who else knows so much about me? Can I trust the new information I am being given? Can I trust my employer? Can I trust my government?

We are learning, once again, that every new technology that humans develop brings many changes, and they all come with mixed results. This has been true for fire, axes, wheels, agriculture, gun powder, internal combustion engines, plastics, nuclear energy, Twinkies, digital computers, the Internet, and now CRISPR, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning.

Like all of those innovations, there has never much discussion about how and when to use these new tools. There have been very few times in the history of human civilization when any planning or preparation of this kind has been done. What usually happens is that a group of creative folks come up with something new. Sometimes, if they’re in the right spot at the right time, it either fills a need or creates it’s own need. Then other people figure out different ways to use it. Some of those ways work and sometimes it blows up. Clear examples of this are the internal combustion engine and the iPhone.

But soon after every innovation, the same kinds of societal difficulties begin to appear

Who gets to own it and control it?

Governments, Corporations? Individuals?

How much power does it bring to whoever controls it?

Who gets to use it?

How much does it cost, and who gets the money?

Who else is necessary? Who gets included? Who gets excluded?

Usually, the ones who develop whatever is new get to profit and to control it’s distribution and use, at least for a while.

Then, if it becomes a very powerful tool, it gets taken over by a government or corporation. If the developer is powerful and well managed, such as Apple or Ford, then they keep their advantage for a while. They get to make the market and attempt to ward off competition. The public has to pay for it, or not have it.

Problems almost always arise because the distribution and use of whatever is new and powerful is never equal across any society. The new advantages almost always go to those who had the old advantages; those with the power, access and money. This creates anger and resentment in those who are left with old tools to deal with new problems. If you are left with your horse and buggy or a land-line, you suffer.

What adds to today’s confusion, is that many of the new tools and machines that have been designed to bring us a marvelous new future of happiness, creativity and freedom, are also being used to distract, manipulate and control us. Tools are just tools, whether they are axes or Deep Learning. They can be used to cut up firewood, or chop off your hand. They can be used to treat your medical problems or change your political beliefs. It depends upon who can get them, who knows how to use them, and what their goals are.

There has never been a successful way to limit or plan the usage and distribution on any new technology. Occasionally, a government will decide that it must be the one to control something. That is usually true for any major military item, from a tank to a nuclear weapon. But we are seeing that even those can fall into the hands of non-governmental fringe groups, as so many “independent” military suppliers exist around the world. Thankfully, so far, it has not happened for nuclear weapons.

Another factor is that the confusion creates more confusion. One of the major new creations has been instant world-wide communications. Everything changes so quickly, and everybody knows about it immediately. An idea can spread so fast that is difficult to sort out all of the interpretations of what is happening. Everyone has an opinion that is usually based on partial facts. Communications run through many channels at once. Often what comes out is distorted or incomprehensible. Eventually, the truth becomes clear: “Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss.” (trite but true)

The ideal, the “mission statements” behind many of these new developments, is to make the world a safer, healthier, smarter, and more harmonious place for everyone. But that requires a complex set of skills that our species has talked about for a few thousand years, but is yet to show that it is capable of performing. This includes caring about people we don’t know, sharing with those who don’t have as much, and the other ideas from the enlightenment, such as freedom, justice and equality for all. Those are my values, revised to really include everyone. I’m not ready to give up on them.

I’ve seen those things written down in a few places, but it seems as soon as there are a few dollars left unguarded on the table, the ideals seem to vanish.

But perhaps, maybe, this time, we can devise the right algorithm that can lead enough people in the right direction, and convince both the rich and greedy, AND the angry and confused, that if things are better for all of us, then things are better for all of us. And if you need a yacht that badly, you can still have it.

We are at a tipping point. The future still looks cloudy. We all will have an influence, either active or passive.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Some of the Books that are relevant:

Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, 2011

The Gene Machine, by Donnie Richmond, 2017

The Body Builders, by Adamd Piere 2017

To Be a Machine, by Mark O’Connell, 2017

Our Grandchildren ReDesigned, by Michael Bess, 2016

Homo Deus, by Yuval Harari, 2017

Thinking Machines, by Luke Dormehl, 2017

Heart of the Machine by Richard Yonck, 2017

From Bacteria to Bach and Back, by Daniel Dennett, 2017

The Inevitable, by Kevin Kelly, 2016

From the Web:

Oliver Cameron’s transmission about the technologies of self-driving cars

Backchannel, on Medium

Future Tense, ASU and Slate

Mate Labs

The Who

Many, many others

Fear Pushes Back:

“We have Nothing to Fear, but Fear Itself “— FDR

For the price of a cup of coffee I have garnered a table on the ground floor of the Koch Institute for Cancer Research at MIT. I spent part of the morning listening to papers being delivered at Neurotech 2016 which describe the new and fascinating ways that many neuro-labs are probing into brains to help solve neurological mysteries. There are now technologies that have allowed people to seek answers to questions we didn’t even know to ask ten years ago.

There is irony of course, sitting here at this Koch Institute, which is funded by the same family that also funds some of the most conservative political issues in our country. They did not fund Trump, but their money did help spread exaggerated fear about what is happening in America. It is this fear that is pushing back against the adoption of many of the new technological and scientific advances that are being developed right here on this campus, and at other places all around the country and the world. It is the fear of change.

Trump, the Republican right, the Alt-right, the rightwing reactionary parties that are growing all over the world, and even ISIS, have aimed their messages at that fear. They are appealing to people to hold on to the traditional ways that have worked for centuries. In most cases these are the extreme form of the traditional ways. In many cases the arguments are based upon the unprovable and unfounded beliefs that were the guiding principles of the world before the scientific method of thought began to take hold. In other cases the arguments are put forth by those who have run the traditional power structure, as they struggle to stay in power. They have been feeling that their influence is being eroded by forces that they don’t quite understand and they can’t control. Their response is to clamp down more controls. They justify doing this by raising fears about the usual scapegoats; people who are different, ideas that are different, and any redistribution of power.

There is enough truth in this fear of change to attract almost half the world into being willing to give up much of their freedoms to feel safe. I know, from being a therapist for so many years, how difficult and frightening change can be. Even when the change is obviously for the better, most people resist.

I have spent decades working with people who struggle to stop eating at McDonald’s, stop hitting their kids, stop spending more money than they have. They understand that they need to study to pass a test and exercise to stay healthy. It would help if they could tell people what they want instead of being angry all the time. They haven’t learned that if you promised someone you would do something, do it.

When I talk about these things in therapy people agree that those are the things they want to do. They are almost all capable of change, but it takes months and years for it to happen. The biggest obstacle is fear. Feeling bad has become familiar. How does anyone know what the change will fee like?

If we move away from the being lead by old, White men, who will replace them? Will it be better? For whom? What’s the guarantee?

If I have been told all my life that there is one true god, and these people have a different god, or no god at all, how can I trust them? They are blasphemers. They are infidels.

Many wmen realize that they are as smart, capable and creative as any man. They see that they can prove themselves in the world, and be proud of their accomplishments. But many of them wonder if that freedom is worth giving up their male protectors and the financial support that often goes with it. They feel safer being supportive and nurturing. Why take on challenges when dependency is easier?

All these changes are frightening. I feel much safer if I carry a gun. Everyone on TV carries a gun and shoots the bad-guys. I want to be a hero, protect my family, and shoot bad guys too. Good guy Americans have always shot bad guys (and Indians, [and Black people, but we never talk about that]).

Changes are coming from all over. Almost all jobs have changed, or have been lost. Marriage is between anyone. People from so many countries are moving to other countries. Some are running away from being killed by militias or bombs from their own government. Some come here to start a business and make money. Some come here to pick fruit or cut your lawn. How can I tell which ones are terrorists?

There are so many new ways to communicated and get information. How do I know whom to believe? Facebook? The New York Times? Fox News, My friend Leslie? My doctor? The ads on TV? A priest? A neurobiologist?

When the changes get scary people want to hide. They want a big strong Daddy to protect them and make the decisions. They want a father, who knows best, just like in 1959, when nice White families lived in small towns with quirky neighbors and the same newspapers were delivered to everyone’s door. But we now know that comforting Cliff Huxtable turned out to be Bill Cosby, the rapist. We already know that our new leader-to-be is an overly sensitive narcissist, who retaliates against any criticism. But many are willing to give up some freedoms to feel safe, even when the danger is really slight.

As i sit here in this coffee shop, and go across the street to the conference, I see who it is who is making all of these changes. It is people from all over the world working together, sharing knowledge, trying to correct mistakes, trying to solve the mysteries of life. They are men and women who are all different colors, sizes, styles and backgrounds. Most of them are doing it because it is fascinating, helpful and exciting. Money is hardly a consideration. They want knowledge. They want to make the world better. They are amazed that given what we know today, so many people can still get so angry at each other over such irrelevant things.

What are these diverse groups of people doing? Here in this building they are developing new ways to fight cancer. Some of the treatments are already in use. They were not available five years ago. In the building a cross the street, where the conference is being held, a woman named Canan Dagneviren is describing how she is building “a mechanically-adaptive, mirco-fabricated device for chronic treatment of neurological disorders.”

Dr. Dagneviren was born and educated in Turkey, and then she came to do her graduate work in the U.S. She may or may not be a Muslim. I am sure that many people in the U.S. would yell at her to go back to where she came from. I am sure that the in-flow of people like her, who would love to come here to study, explore and create, will be diminished because of the unwelcoming atmosphere that has been created by this election.

The funding for this research comes from a combination of foundation money and a lot of government grants. But the flow of the government money has been cut by a conservative Congress. It will be worse under Trump, a man who doesn’t understand science, doesn’t want change and seems frightened of innovation.

But even he, with all of his Presidential powers can’t stop the changes from coming. They are pouring in over the fibre-optic network. They are moving in next door. They are the electric, self-driving cars that will be on the highway. They are keeping us healthy. They are warming our planet. They are taking away our jobs. They are making some new people very rich.

These new technologies could be saving the lives of many more people. They could be feeding many hungry people all around the world. They could be controlling greenhouse gases. They could be helping us all live longer, healthier, more prosperous and creative lives. But obstacles get thrown in their path because people are afraid of change. Unfortunately, the backlash seems to always be a part of the process. Change, even when it is clearly beneficial, never comes easily. Adaptation and evolution can take a long time, and many species don’t survive.

Stem Cells

It’s HubWeek in Boston.

What’s that?

That is Boston’s festival of science, medicine, art and technology.  They call it a Festival of the Future.  It is sponsored by Harvard, MIT, Mass General Hospital and the Boston Globe.  It lasts a week and has a few hundred events, ranging from breathing exercises to groups of scientists explaining their work to the general public.  

The “general public” in Boston and Cambridge is not very representative of what is usually considered the “general public.”  The group at these meetings are generally very informed, very intellectual, very scientifically involved. The people in the audience are either quite young and academic, or older and successful. The presenters and the audience at these meeting is also very diverse.  People from literally all over the world.  These are people who not only represent every continent and race, but often several continents and races are combined in one person (not very diverse politically, however).

The first event I went to was a discussion by a panel of doctors and scientists who are developing a cure, not just a treatment but a cure, for Type-1 diabetes.  They already have learned how to take stem cells and get them to evolve into the beta cells that make insulin.  In Type-1 diabetes these beta cells have been destroyed by the patient’s own auto-immune system. The presenters had formed a team from Harvard, The Joslin Clinic, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a bio-tech laboratory that will do the manufacturing.  

They were working on a method to take a persons’ blood and from that produce stem cells with that person’s own DNA.  Then they then use the proper enzymes and RNA procedures to turn those stem cells into the kind of beta cells that make insulin.  These cells had been destroyed by the person’s own immune system, and thus created the Type-1 diabetes. The beta cells would then be injected into the person so they could again be able to naturally monitor their own glucose level and produce their own insulin to convert glucose into the kind of molecules the body needs for energy.  They have already done this for mice, and now they are beginning to see if it can work in humans.

Obviously, this is very complex.  The panel members were all excited about their progress and felt that they will be able to overcome the many obstacles they still face. They also made it clear that the availability of this treatment is still years away.

To me, this is one of the many examples of how we are entering into a new world.  We are on the brink of really understanding how we are constructed, and how we can get into the most basic structures and fix some of the flaws.  This is radically different from how medicine has worked until now, which has been to do our best to treat the symptoms. I have a close family member who has Type-1 diabetes and I see every day how she has to treat her symptoms.  It also feels as if the companies that have worked on the medicines she uses see her as much as a revenue stream as they do as a patient.  The treatments of so many diseases these days are designed to have a patient take medicine regularly to stay healthy, thereby keeping a life-long revenue stream going for the company.  There are very few actual “cures” for chronic diseases so far.  

I realize, in part, that is because finding the underlying, causal mechanism for any such disease is very complex, as these people made clear.  Still, the profit motive does play a role in what kind of medicine is developed.  The presenters on this panel are not paid by any drug company.  They work for universities and hospitals.  They had to fund their own company to make the supplies they will need, and that company will lose money for a long time.

Unfortunately, another factor that has delayed the progress of this group has been politics.  Again, it was objections from the right-wing, anti-scientific community.  As I said, these people feel that their methods are still five to ten years away from application.  But for the eight years of the Bush administration they were prevented from using any government money to develop stem cells.  Somehow Vice-President Cheney decided that developing stem-cells encouraged abortion and had to be stopped. Therefore people who were alive would have to continue to suffer and possibly die, due to the misconception that this was protecting some unborn zygotes.

Of course, it seems nuts and foolish.  But as a psychologist I know better than most people that logic and reason is not how any of us make decisions.  So much depends upon the people we hang around with, the information we get, the lens through which we view the world, and how comfortable we are with change.

A lot is changing now. We all feel it.  This is one, very positive example. But, as I said, we are beginning to deal with the basic building structures of humanity.  It is very complex.  That makes it all a bit unpredictable, exciting, yet also frightening.

I'm back.

I'm starting to write about new things.  The past was prologue.  

I'm putting some test drafts here for the 20 of your to read.  I have not done anything to broaden the readership of this blog, but that may happen.  We'll see.

Something’s Happening Here

1. Realization

Way back In the Spring of 2012 I was sitting across across from  Carrie, an attractive, articulate, sixteen year-old young woman.  She had come to me because she was having panic attacks. These attacks often came when she was studying for exams at school.  She said sometimes she felt as if her head was going to explode, and at other times that she couldn’t breathe.  Carrie spoke in a very animated fashion about how difficult it was for her to maintain her excellent grades and still keep up with the constant influx from her social connections.  As she spoke her voice cracked a little and her dark hair fell in front of her dark eyes that would fill, but not overflow with tears.  Her parents, Sandra and Joyce, were sitting in my waiting room, while her friends, many of them, were wondering where she was and why she was not answering their text messages that were making her phone ping every thirty seconds.

I have been a psychotherapist for over forty years and have been closely involved in thousands of people’s lives, yet that was the memorable moment when it became undeniably obvious to me that I was living in a new world; a world that is not only creating changes in how we all live, it is creating changes in who we all are. Changes that will alter the basic make-up of our species,.

The changes are technological, environmental, genetic, and societal.  The most powerful changes are the result of how all of those factors interact.  This new world will increasingly require  people to learn different skills in order to adapt and succeed.  Many of the ways of thinking and acting that were adaptive and helpful two or three generations ago, are no longer useful; others are now counter-productive. The time and effort that our ancestors needed to learn how to hunt or to grow for food has been replaced by knowing how to talk to Siri or an Amazon Echo.

Our grandparents lived in a world that was very different from the one that their grandparents lived in.  The early twentieth century was a time of change, especially compared to the early nineteenth century. It was a time of significant industrial and mechanical advances. The pace of that change has continued to increase so that now, in the early twenty-first century, we live with constant change.  We expect it to continue. But as we are changing the world, the world is changing us. 

For thousands of years the personalities, beliefs, and behaviors of all people have been shaped by the same basic forces: our genetics, then our families, then our communities, and we are all also limited or enhanced by our general health.

Who we all are, as individuals, begins with our own genetic structure, 99.9% of which we share with every other member of our homo sapiens family. We are all the product of millions of years of evolution. All human babies are born with the genetic scripts that have been passed from generation to generation, with occasional mutations, for two-hundred thousand years. 

Next, we are all plunked into a family grouping, whatever shape  takes:  two parents, a tribe, a refugee camp, a single parent, a mother and a sperm donor, whatever.  This “family” immediately begins to teach us their version of how the world works.  We all quickly begin to understand how we are expected to behave in order to get what we need.. We have to adapt to that specific environment to survive.  Babies are very dependent so we all had to learn fast.

The third powerful influence on our behavior is the community, the subculture in which we find ourselves as we emerge into the world.  This consists of our friends, our school, our church, our neighborhood, our diet, the climate,  and all of the experiences that we find outside of our family, which now, of course, includes all of the Internet and social media.

These three factors interact with each other to shape us all. To this mix of influences we have to add our health.  If we are strong and robust we can partake in much of what we wish.  If we have a major illness or deformity, our lives will be different, not worse necessarily, but different. If we are obviously different in some way it will cause many people to react to us differently. Most people will be kind and helpful, but others will be mean, many will just look away.  We, in turn, will react to their reactions to us. Everything interacts.

Combined, these influences shape what we  believe, and how we think, feel and act.  It has been this way since our ancestors first walked upright and formed groups.

To me, Carrie is the symbol of how these basic, long-standing forces are beginning to change. The pace of these changes will only increase.  Carrie was conceived in a petri dish.  An egg was taken from one of her mothers and fertilized with sperm from an anonymous man who was selected from a profile in a data base.  Her parents were not allowed to be married at the time, but they were living together. As soon as the law was changed they got married. Carrie has a little brother now, and they all live in a happy, caring family.  The community in which Carrie lives accepts her family without question. These are circumstances that her grandparents would not have believed possible.

The visit with Carrie happened in 2012, and already so much from that time seems out of date. This is mainly due to new technologies, and to the new scientific knowledge that these technologies have helped us acquire.  The aspects of Carrie’s life that seemed unusual then are commonplace and well accepted now. In just the past few years there  have been changes in all of the basic powerful forces.  There has been constant scientific advances in our understanding our own genetics., many new variations in the definition of a family; major shifts in demographics and composition of societies around the world, and significant advances in medicine.

All of these changes have affected the expectations of how Carrie will live her life. The skills she is learning, and how she learns them, are changing.   Her life will be vastly different than the life I lived, growing up in the middle of the twentieth century.  All of these things are not only changing how people behave, they are changing our DNA, our bodies and our minds.  Some of it is intentional; most of it is not.  The more we all are aware of what is happening to us, the better prepared we will be to make good use of the changes we feel are beneficial.  We also need to stay vigilant,so that we can avoid the ones we don’t wish to have thrust upon us.

Questions:

1. Do you know anyone who has two mothers or two fathers?

What do think of it?  How old are you?

Are there some kinds of family combinations that would make you uncomfortable?

Polygamy?  Three fathers with six children?

2, Take a look at yourself in a mirror.

Are you White?  Do you realize how that has affected your life?

Are you tall?  Well endowed? Have a symmetrical face?

3, How close are you to the members of your family?

Do you feel you have absorbed their values, or have you explicitly rejected them?

4.  What is your favorite piece of digital equipment?

How long have you had it?

When will you need to replace it?

Did you think you needed it before you learned there was one?

ReDesigning People -- 1

Hey, where have you been.  I've been working on some new stuff.  It's taken a while but now I'm pretty far along.  Maybe I'll keep posting stuff here.  But I've said that before.

Anyway, here's an

Introduction:

In the Spring of 2012 I was  sitting with Carrie, an attractive, articulate sixteen year-old young woman.  She had come to me because she was having panic attacks.  She said sometimes she thought her head was going to explode, and at times that she couldn’t breathe.  These attacks often came when she was studying for exams at school  Carrie spoke in a very animated fashion about how difficult it was for her to maintain her excellent grades and still keep up with the constant influx from her social connections.  As she spoke her voice cracked a little and her dark hair fell in front of her dark eyes that would fill, but not overflow with tears.  Her parents, Sandra and Carol, were sitting in my waiting room, while her friends, many of them, were wondering where she was and why she was not answering their text messages that were making her phone ping every thirty seconds.

I have been a psychotherapist for over forty years and have been closely involved in thousands of people’s lives, yet that was the moment it became undeniably obvious to me that I was living in a new world; a world that is not only creating changes in how we all live, it is creating changes in who we all are. Changes that will alter the basic make-up of our species,.

The changes are technological, environmental, scientific and societal.  The most powerful changes are the result of how all of those factors interact.  This new world requires  different skills in order to adapt and succeed.  Many of the ways of thinking and acting that were adaptive and helpful two or three generations ago, are no longer useful; others have become counter-productive.

Our grandparents and great grandparents lived in a world that was very different from the one that their great-grandparents lived in.  The early twentieth century was a time of change, especially compared to the early nineteenth century. It was a time of significant industrial and mechanical advances. The pace of that change has continued to increase so that now, in the early twenty-first century, we live with constant change.  We expect it to continue. But as we are changing the world, the world is changing us. 

Until the mid-Twentieth Century our species has been Designing People in basically the same way for a few millennia. There have always been three basic interacting forces that designed who we become.  First there is evolution. The genetic scripts of who we are pass from generation to generation, with occasional mutations, some of which survive. Second, the family grouping, whatever shape that has taken, exerts its influence.  The third powerful designer of our behavior is the community, the subculture in which we find ourselves as we emerge into the world.  Combined, these influences shape what we  believe, and how we think, feel and act.  It has been this way since our ancestors walked upright. 

To me, Carrie is the symbol of how these basic designing influences are changing.  Carrie was conceived in a petri dish.  An egg was taken from one of her mothers and fertilized with sperm from an anonymous man who was selected from a profile in a book.  Her parents were not allowed to be married at the time, but they were living together and as soon as the law was change d they got married. Carrie has a little brother now, and they all live in a happy, caring family.  The community in which Carrie lives accepts her family without question. These are circumstances that her grandparents would not have believed possible.

The visit with Carrie happened in 2012, and since then things have continued to change rapidly in our society. This is mainly due to new technologies, and to the new scientific knowledge that these technologies have helped us acquire.  The aspects of Carrie’s life that seemed unusual then are commonplace and well accepted now. In just the past few years there are even newer methods of creating children, more diverse blending of families, and different variations of societies that are all having a strong influence on everyone’s life. The expectations of how Carrie should behave, the skills she will need to learn, and how she will learn them, are also different.   All of these things are vastly different than what was expected of me, growing up in the middle of the twentieth century.  All of these things are not only changing how people behave, they are changing their bodies and minds.  They are ReDesigning People.

New information about who we are, what we want, how we behave, and how we communicate, comes pouring in in huge waves, every moment of the day. It affects us whether we realize it or not. Many people spend hours a day sitting in front of a screen gathering and dispensing information while things beep and pop up, pictures and videos appear and disappear, quickly replaced by others, with very little time for reflection.

We have devised new ways of mixing stands of DNA in a petri dish to create new people, and now newer, faster, more direct ways of splicing and reconnecting those genes in order to alter who that person will be.  

The evolution of machines  has progressed much faster than the evolution of people.  Many of the daily tasks that for centuries required manual labor are now done by machines, even the task of building those machines.  We also use machines to calculate, and then to find patterns, make predictions, and develop protocols about what we should eat, what medicines we should take, what we will buy, and who we will marry.  These machine generate algorithms which influence many of the decisions we make, mostly without our realizing that it is happening.

The climate we live in, including the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, all contain chemicals, viruses, bacteria, and proteins that have either been locked away in environments that never had contact with people until recently, or have been created in laboratories to either help us stay healthy or make us buy food that will make us fat.

These are changes that will affect the way Carrie lives her life, and they will have a more profound effect on her children. Her generation will also experience a continued growth in how medicine is developed, designed and delivered.  The hope is that people will be able to live longer and healthier lives. However, it may just be that as diseases are treated, other aspects of our lives fall apart. Will our brains last as long as our healthy bodies?  Will earth be covered with centenarians who need their diapers changed?  Will our air become too warm or too polluted for people to breathe easily?

Societies are changing also. To the horror of some and the delight of others, people from every part of the world are moving to every other part of the world. Marriages are occurring, babies are being born and cultures are mixing in ways that has never happened before.  Many of the old institutions that helped people define their values and guided them towards certain behaviors are being questioned or ignored.  This is a disrupting transition that is creating a great deal of conflict between those who feel the old ways are still the best, and those who feel that old traditions and rituals are antiquated and irrelevant.  While it is presently unclear how those arguments will be settled, it is clear that societies are changing dramatically, and people will think and believe differently than they do now.

The effect of all of these changes is that we are ReDesigning People, in part by design, in part due to unintended consequences.   As a psychotherapist I have spent years helping people to redesign their lives.  In many cases I felt successful, but in many others I felt there were too many factors  over which I had no control that were more powerful than anything I could do in my office. I could do little about the person’s genetic make-up, their economic resources, the extent to which they were subjected to racial prejudice or the toxic environments had shaped their lives. 

In many ways Carrie is a very fortunate young woman.  From her background we can assume that her genetic structure is close to flawless.  The egg and the sperm that were used to create her were specifically selected because they came from people who were strong, healthy, smart and attractive.  While she was in utero her DNA was tested and screened for many possible genetic defects. She is being raised by a happy couple, who have financial resources, in an accepting neighborhood with a good school system and a diverse population. Given all of this her prospects for a good life are high.

Sadly, she is suffering for the overarching malady of this new world, anxiety.  Anxiety often is the result of having feelings of little or no control of what will happen.  The feeling of living with constant change, and the uncertainty of what that change will produce has instilled a feeling of anxiety into almost everyone who has electricity, a computer, a cell phone and wi-fi.  There is too much information, too much traffic, too many demands, too little time, and not enough stability.  It is impossible to name any company, any city, any government , any medicine or any institution that won’t be radically different in fifty years.

This creates anxiety.  Anxiety creates stress on our bodies, brains and minds.  It changes our functioning down at the cellular level.  All of these forces, some of them very favorable, but many of them very unpredictable, are changing the nature of who we are.  We are ReDesigning People.

In this series of essay I will describe this process and some of its possible consequences in greater detail.  I certainly welcome any comments.