Editing Superintelligence (section)

==Feasibility of biological superintelligence==
[[Carl Sagan]] suggested that the advent of [[Caesarean section]]s and [[in vitro fertilisation|''in vitro'' fertilization]] may permit humans to evolve larger heads, resulting in improvements via [[natural selection]] in the [[adaptive evolution in the human genome|heritable]] component of [[human intelligence]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sagan |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Sagan |date=1977 |title=The Dragons of Eden |publisher=Random House |title-link=The Dragons of Eden }}</ref> By contrast, [[Gerald Crabtree]] has argued that decreased selection pressure is resulting in a slow, centuries-long [[Fertility and intelligence|reduction in human intelligence]] and that this process instead is likely to continue. There is no scientific consensus concerning either possibility and in both cases, the biological change would be slow, especially relative to rates of cultural change.

[[Selective breeding]], [[nootropics]], [[Epigenetics|epigenetic modulation]], and [[genetic engineering]] could improve human intelligence more rapidly. Bostrom writes that if we come to understand the genetic component of intelligence, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis could be used to select for embryos with as much as 4 points of IQ gain (if one embryo is selected out of two), or with larger gains (e.g., up to 24.3 IQ points gained if one embryo is selected out of 1000). If this process is iterated over many generations, the gains could be an order of magnitude improvement. Bostrom suggests that deriving new gametes from embryonic stem cells could be used to iterate the selection process rapidly.{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|pp=37–39}} A well-organized society of high-intelligence humans of this sort could potentially achieve [[collective intelligence|collective]] superintelligence.{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|p=39}}

Alternatively, collective intelligence might be constructional by better organizing humans at present levels of individual intelligence. Several writers have suggested that human civilization, or some aspect of it (e.g., the Internet, or the economy), is coming to function like a [[global brain]] with capacities far exceeding its component agents. If this systemic superintelligence relies heavily on artificial components, however, it may qualify as an AI rather than as a biology-based [[superorganism]].{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|pp=48–49}} A [[prediction market]] is sometimes considered as an example of a working collective intelligence system, consisting of humans only (assuming algorithms are not used to inform decisions).<ref>{{citation|title=Prediction Markets as an Aggregation Mechanism for Collective Intelligence|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8mg0p0zc|year=2007|last=Watkins|first=Jennifer H.}}</ref>

A final method of intelligence amplification would be to directly [[Neuroenhancement|enhance]] individual humans, as opposed to enhancing their social or reproductive dynamics. This could be achieved using [[nootropics]], somatic [[gene therapy]], or [[brain–computer interface|brain−computer interface]]s. However, Bostrom expresses skepticism about the scalability of the first two approaches and argues that designing a superintelligent [[cyborg]] interface is an [[AI-complete]] problem.{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|pp=36–37, 42, 47}}