Sometimes I step back from the research and think about what the implications would be if we did succeed in the research. When I think about how maybe 2 decades ahead and we manage to pass through the scrutiny that would definitely develop after we start claiming that we have found a way or an alternative, as well as have researchers in some major universities test the proposed technique with consistent positive results, I am left wondering how the world would react to it.
I would view our research through the eyes of other people as something that can be described by the phrase….
“Half Of The World Is Hoping We Succeed And The Other Half Of The World Is Hoping We Fail”
We look at height as an anthropomorphic measurement of humans. Since height is a measurement of length, it is very easy to quantify and analyze. there will always be people who are below average in height and people who are taller than average.
[Note: I am assuming that the majority of people in the world would rather be taller than shorter.]
The things is that there will be some people who will definitely feel threatened by this technology. They are the group of people who is hoping that we ultimately fail. – Those people will obviously be the people who from having blessed genetics ended up tall. Being tall has been part of who they are, their identity for so long. They derive at least part of their self esteem in being “tall” and feeling good that they are “tall”. What happens when a technology comes out to take away from one of the main things they thought they can claim to be.
Height has been for most of human history something that is supposed to be unchangeable, immutable. It is something that was supposed to be define an individual for the rest of their lives once they become physically mature. You can’t change it. The tall people could always at the back of their mind realize that no matter how much they screw up in life, they would always be tall. Their large stature will automatically cause other humans to develop a visceral reaction of developing respect, admiration, and presence. That is a great psychological cushion to fall back on.
They can be slightly less motivated, smart, or talented to reach the same level of succes because they have the big body, people in society will continue to give them breaks and chances to succeed. Being bigger means people feel a stronger level of presence and power, resulting in better human inter-relational dynamics.
Then in the 1980s Ilizarov came along from the former USSR and showed orthopaedic surgeons how it is possible to lengthen bones. This caught the attention of thousands of people around the world who wanted to be taller. While the original aim of distraction osteogenesis was to help children lengthen their legs due to bone growth problems, people immediately saw the cosmetic surgery application of this. When the surgery was finally allowed in China, thousands of Chinese people flocked to the few surgeons and hospitals which did this to change themselves. This resulted in limb lengthening surgery being banned in 2006 in China.
Some people in the world don’t want this to come to pass. this would in some way take away from them something which they thought would never change. Humans are always comparing themselves to other people to judge how much better or worse off they are. What happens when a person who used to be considered tall finds out that shorter people are now using a new technology to make themselves taller? I would think that those people would feel threatened and want to use the technology as well or want to keep the technology from ever being created.
Then there will be people who feel extreme hope and excitement that this technology will arrive soon, at some point in their lifetime. They are secretly hoping that we succeed and rooting for us every step of the way – They would be following closely with the news, the updates, and the research waiting years maybe for when the technique becomes commercial available for the masses.
These people have felt the psychological distress over having a body which they are not satisfied with, and there is nothing that they have any control over. They’ve tried all the stretching and done a lot of yoga but gained less than 1 cm of extra height, and that was just temporarily. They stand next to a taller person in a crowed room or in the work place and immediately feel an uncomfortable feeling of anxiety and distress. They can’t seem to be able to let go of the idea that they are so much smaller than other people and there is nothing they can do for the rest of their life about this thing. Life would seem too unfair. Some people due to the genetic lottery had the genes to become tall. They didn’t get it.
At some level they know that no matter how much they achieve in their professional life, the amount of effort, work, and pain they have to go through will be more than the taller person. Humans as a species have almost universally looked to taller people as better.
If the technology is created the shorter half of the world will be extremely happy. They would want this thing immediately to change their bodies, to make them just as tall as the taller people, or even taller. When that time comes, we will see a radical change in human society.