Rage against the machines?

Nearly half (46.5%) of European adults believe that people should be free to enhance their own body with human augmentation technology, but many harbour concerns about the longer-term societal impacts of such tech. This is according to a new pan-European study from global cybersecurity expert, Kaspersky.

Human augmentation comes in two forms: it can either required due to health grounds – such as the use of bionic limb – or people can choose to augment themselves, for example, by inserting radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips.        

Kaspersky’s wide-reaching study of 6,500 adults across seven European nations finds that just 12% of Europeans would be opposed to working with an augmented person because they feel they have an unfair advantage in the workplace. However, nearly two in every five (39%) European adults has concerns that human augmentation could lead to either future social inequality or conflict. Overall, nearly half (49%) of Europeans are either “excited” or “optimistic” about a future society that includes both augmented and non-augmented people.

According to Kaspersky’s study, more than half (51%) of Europeans say that they have met someone with an augmentation. When it comes to personal life, nearly half (45%) of Europeans would have no issue dating someone with an augmentation, and 5.5% of Europeans say that they have already dated an augmented person.

More than a third say they have “always been accepting” of augmented people and 17% say that they are more accepting now than they were ten years ago. Half of European men (50%) say that they are either “excited” or “optimistic” about the future shared by both augmented and non-augmented people, compared to 40% of women.

If a family member required augmentation technology on health grounds, people would be most comfortable if a family member had a bionic arm (38%) or leg (37%), with the UK most accepting.  When it came to voluntary augmentation, adults in Portugal (56%) and Spain (51%) are the most likely to say that people should do as they choose with their body, with the UK least likely to agree at 36%. Nearly three in ten (29.5%) Europeans would support a family member who decided to augment themselves, regardless of their choice, with the Portuguese most supportive at 46% and French least supportive at 19%.

Just 16.5% of Europeans view choosing to augment oneself as “weird”, ranging from just eight percent in Portugal to 30% in the UK, while nearly a quarter (24%) view self-augmentation as “brave”.

Just over a quarter (27%) believe that augmented people should have special representation at a governmental level, compared to 41% who oppose the idea.