We're about to become more intelligent
than at any other point in human history:
"Once we learn how hundreds (or more) of individual genetic traits
interact to code for intelligence, we might be able to select for those
traits. Some researchers think we might even be able to use new
genetic editing tools to flip all those switches in an "optimal for
intelligence" direction. If that's the case, even the greatest intellects in
history could potentially be given far more to work with.
"Gauss or von Neumann, they didn't have any huge or debilitating
problems, but they were still carrying many [genetic] variants of the
suboptimal type [for intelligence]," says Hsu. "Surely some of those
variants could be flipped without causing them to get [a genetic
disease]."
If we can do that, we might have individuals that are whole levels of
intelligence above any human that's ever existed, able to figure out
ways to exceed whatever mental limits we once thought humans had."
"Provided the variants for intelligence can be figured out and the
genetic editing tools sufficiently refined (no small matter, in either
case), Hsu thinks there's an incredible potential for improvement. He's
written for the science magazine Nautilus that his calculations from the
work at BGI indicate a potential for "very roughly, about 100 standard
deviations of improvement, corresponding to an IQ of over 1,000.""
See:
http://www.techinsider.io/how-to-gen...ligence-2016-6