Could we get significant biological intelligence enhancements long before AGI?
-
Probably not (if AGI is doable within a few generations). It is surprisingly difficult to make the brain much more powerful than it currently is
-
The brain is designed to be very energy efficient
-
We are limited in the overclocking we can do without creating excessive heat
-
Evolution doesn’t want your neurology to be easy to mess with (to make parasites have a harder time hacking your cognition), so you have a complex web of interactions which are hard to hack
-
Check whether neuro transmitters are actually toxic (yes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4288432/#:~:text=Some%20non%2Dpeptide%20chemicals%20that,of%20these%20neurotransmitters%205%E2%80%93%207.)
-
Enhancing biology e.g. putting a propeller on a bird and make it better that way is harder than building a flying machine from scratch with technology, similar to why we’ll likely get AGI before WBE
-
Outside the overton window and at least one full generation later is Iterated Embryo Selection, but this won’t happen and probably would not be quick enough for AI timelines.
-
Evolution is a hacky mess, where it’s hard to make large changes without breaking a lot of other things. A mud ball of spaghetti code in programming terms.
Whilst this is possible, AI technologies seem to be progressing much faster than cognitive enhancement.