Throughout history, from the invention of tanks in World War I
to the invention of the atomic bomb in World War II,
humans have been developing new technology to wage war.
So how would the future of warfare look like?
Cyber and electronic warfare aside,
many militaries around the world are investing in artificial intelligence and drones.
Within the next decade, about 30% of the U.S military would be comprised of robots.
Whether these robots would one day revolt against humans is out of the scope of this video.
With futuristic technologies like cyborg insects and active camouflage,
humans will eventually become the weakest link within the military.
You see, we humans are emotional beings,
we generally don't perform well under stress,
we get tired,
we are relatively weak,
we make a ton of mistakes,
and we are just not very smart at times.
So how do we make humans into better soldiers?
Chinese scientist He Jian Kui has figured it out.
Similar to genetically modifying food, he created genetically modified babies.
In his experiment, he successfully created a pair of twins who are immune to HIV.
The technique used is known as CRISPR-Cas9.
Okay, to be fair, the CRISPR-Cas9 technique
was first founded by Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.
Human beings now have the ability to rewrite the code of life.
This experiment was highly controversial
and he was subsequently jailed for illegal medical practice.
While making soldiers immune to HIV isn't going to make them super soldiers,
the same technique can be applied to other genetic modifications.
For instance, making them more intelligent,
stronger,
allowing them to run faster,
jump higher,
making them less emotional,
enhancing their reaction time,
making them more resistant to certain climates,
the list goes on.
Such gene editing technology would allow humankind to basically create genetically perfect humans,
in this case, perfect soldiers.
As of now, there are many ethical concerns regarding the gene editing of humans
which is why editing the genome of human embryos is banned in many countries around the world.
However, should governments become increasingly desperate in the future
due to reasons such as low birth rates and recruitment challenges,
changes in legislation may occur.
Some governments are also less ethical than others.
Even with the Geneva Convention and international laws,
countries can simply choose not to follow the rules.
The Chinese government just so happens to be collecting DNA from millions of people.
Whether they are secretly creating their "China Captain", I have no idea.
Meanwhile, France is already starting research on enhancing its soldiers.
Nevertheless, creating super soldiers isn't as simple as it sounds.
For starters, the human genome contains about 3 billion bases
and scientists have only completed about 92%.
Moreover, understanding the human genome requires a lot of time and money,
so we can presume that only relatively wealthier countries are investing in such research.
It goes without saying that these super soldier
programs would remain top secret for national security reasons.
So what do you think?