… outperform the Olympic athletes with superior records in some of the events because medical technology will have progressed sufficiently that pioneering technology today of stem-cell research, nanotechnology and synthetic biology will have become common medical practise. I am unable recall the Paralympics from the early 1980s and the artificial limbs in use then to compare to the bionic like composite materials in common use at the highly globally contested London Paralympics of 2012.
By 2032 the use of performance enhancing drugs may become more tolerated or even a regulated requirement for the Paralympic athletes to ensure that their human physiology can cope with the strain of competing with their superhuman enhancements or specifically designed organs. The crowds could turn up to see the 100m being run in times of 7 seconds and javelins being thrown 100m to the degree that the Paralympics may even precede the Olympics at the premier event. This may well effect global TV audience figures and thus premier advertising revenues which may lead to the less superhuman able bodied athletes to complain or insist that they too should be allow to use approved drugs to boost their performance and therefore the attraction the Olympic games.
I surely tempt fate with my hubris of future events and civilisation may stagnate in a debt-fuelled squabble somewhere from 2025-2035 as other events currently raging provide evidence that humanity seems adept at inventing many technological wonders but remains poor at sorting out its intractable problems such as long term healthcare, pensions, and religious differences. But there remains hope too in as much as medical technical developments would certainly resolve or make obsolete the issue of drugs in sport and provide an opportunity for those with better health to thrive. Within 30 years new organs will replace damaged ones using stem-cell based organ replacement techniques combined with new materials, tissue or bone creation from nanotechnology and synthetic biology inventions of the coming years.
However, people’s inability to resolve their own long term needs and disagreements remain the ultimate challenge. Can world leaders today perform effectively to allow the world beating achievements of tomorrow? This would surely be a result everyone would wish to witness this year and next three decades.
Until such utopia arrives enjoy the games and the present day superhumans of London 2012.
LDC