The report called Global Strategic Trends: The Future Starts Today is published by the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre of United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence think-tank warns that the breeding of genetically-modified troops could be a reality within a generation.
By the creation of bionic soldiers countries will be able to increase their military capability and enhance the performance of fighting forces.
Within 30 years, mutant soldiers could be able to lift huge weights and run at high speeds over extreme distances, moreover they could have infra-red night vision and be capable of transmitting their thoughts through electronically-aided telepathy. But there are concerns that states which are willing to exploit emerging human enhancement technologies in defiance of the international community would have an upper hand on the battlefield.
Gene-editing, bionic limbs, brain-boosting adaptations and performance-enhancing drugs will ‘offer profound expansion of the boundaries of human performance’, the report states.
The report warns laws must be introduced and moral and ethical considerations taken into account before mutant armies are created.
It looks at global threats and identifies issues which need to be addressed. One such issue is the prospect of violent protests by people whose jobs are taken by robots.
The late Professor Stephen Hawking suggested that genetic engineering is likely to lead to the destruction of the rest of humanity.
The theoretical physicist, who died in March, said: ‘Once superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who won’t be able to compete. Presumably, they will die out, or become unimportant.’
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