As a child, I wasn't into ballerinas or fairies like most little girls; I wanted to be a superhero. It wasn't such an unreachable dream, all I had to do was get bitten by a spider or fall down a well. Spiderman was my favourite, but I wasn't fussy... Batman would have been equally as cool. My parents however, concerned at the prospect of me being paralysed from jumping off our garden shed, assured me this was an unattainable dream and that I should probably be a teacher, nurse or something normal, for nobody actually existed with powers that exceeded human capabilities...
This however, is no longer the case. The Guardian published today, an article on how close we are to creating our first bionic man. Rex, as he is known, is a 7ft tall, skeleton of prosthetic limbs. He has a fully functioning heart and lung system, spleen and pancreas, he can even hold a conversation. By 2017, he is set to be the stronger and faster than any human...
I am in no way objecting research or the use of prosthetic limbs and organs where necessary; the fact soldiers can come back from war, with no limbs and have some sort of normality due to prosthetics is nothing short of a miracle. However, to make an entire human for no reason? Why?
Where will it stop? If one can be made, who's to stop someone making an entire race?
If you want to be the fastest and the strongest man in the world and it's technologically possible, who's to deny people?
It is without a doubt one of the most mind blowing creations I've heard, but equally one of the scariest and potentially dangerous. To have the power to make a race of people who are more powerful than humans, who are operated by machines and who have no emotions, feelings or conscience ... humans are putting themselves at risk of being over ruled by their own creation.
