This, from an article I read in International Design magazine about the coming age of “designer humans.” (Reserve your make and model now, folks.):
Behind this lies a desire to transcend the limits of the body, to overcome its perceived flaws and weaknesses, and ultimately, to prolong life itself. The wilder fringes of this world are inhabited by artificial intelligence thinkers, transhumanists, and ‘extropians’ who dream of downloading human intelligence and making themselves immortal. Natasha Vita-More, an artist and bodybuilder, has collaborated with a team that includes A.I. heavyweights such as Marvin Minsky and Hans Moravec to create a prototype of a technologically enhanced future body called Primo.
‘I love fashion,’ Vita-More told Wired. ‘Our bodies will be the next fashion statement; we will design them in all sorts of interesting combinations of texture, colors, tones, and luminosity.’ In interviews and lectures, Vita-More evokes her ‘designer body’ concept in the promotional language of consumer design: ‘What if your body was as sleek, as sexy, and felt as comfortable as your new automobile? Primo’s radical body design is more powerful, better suspended and more flexible … offering extended performance and better modern style.’ Where the 20th-century human body makes mistakes, wears out, usually has a single gender, and is capable of only a limited life span, 21st-century Primo’s post-human, super-body features an error-correction device, can change gender and be upgraded, and is potentially ageless. Our sense of humanity — missing, you might think, from this cyborg fantasy — will be superseded by an ‘enlightened transhumanity” …
Dibs on tall, red chenille with new car smell. Oh, and better suspension. Naturally.