Majority of Europeans would consider human augmentation, study finds
The survey exposed a huge divide between northern and southern Europe
Risks and rewards
The respondents also had major concerns about our cyborg future. Almost seven in ten (69%) of them expect only rich people will be able to enjoy access to human augmentation technology, while 88% fear their augmented bodies could be hacked by cybercriminals. But those risks won’t prevent everyone from embracing the tech.
“As with other technology, we’ll see early adopters who are willing to compromise their security for the perceived benefits of augmentation,” said Kaspersky’s Marco Preuss.
The study also found that people were far more likely to support existing human augmentation, such as pacemakers, than potential future augmentation.
But Professor Julian Savulescu of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University believes that could rapidly change.
“With human augmentation, we’ll need a few pioneers and some success stories,” he said. “Once it’s proven to work, people will vote with their feet.”
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Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.
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