The general-purpose morphological engineering tech stack: The transformer moment for morphological freedom
Table of contents
- Assumed technological capability
- Morphological engineering today and tomorrow
- How to replace the body with artificial parts
- Adoption
Assumed technological capability
To properly contextualize the capabilities discussed below, assume a future in which micromachines, such as those demonstrated by Miskin et al., have been further miniaturized and equipped with a growing library of accessories, allowing them to perform a wide range of cellular and biochemical engineering tasks. These might include adhering cells to one another, monitoring cellular dynamics at nanometer-scale resolution, physically or chemically influencing those dynamics, manipulating extracellular structures, locally delivering molecules, and many other tasks.
Morphological engineering today and tomorrow
Today, morphological engineering is mostly limited to changing a relatively small set of body structures. These include limbs and their digits, skin, soft-tissue body contours (such as those of the breasts, buttocks, lips, arms, legs and the tongue), genitalia, and bone structures.
Most of these modifications involve reshaping, transplanting or reconstructing existing biological tissue. But if we want to move toward much more general-purpose morphological engineering, we need to realise that this is just scratching the surface and that a much more promising technique would be one where we discard biological body parts entirely and replace them with synthetic ones that can be 1) designed, 2) manufactured and 3) integrated almost arbitrarily.
How to replace the body with artificial parts
Depending on the part one intends to replace, it would require different combinations of capabilities.i.e:
- Artificial limbs and digits would need to be motorised, "nervified"(explanation further in read) and physically grafted into surrounding biology.
- Artificial skin would need to be nervified and grafted into the tissue beneath and around it.
- Soft-tissue structures, including breasts, buttocks, lips, arms, legs and tongues, would similarly require nervification and integration with surrounding tissue. Artificial genitalia would require much the same.
- Bone structures would mainly require extremely strong and biologically compatible grafting to surrounding bone and connective tissue.
This points toward a relatively small set of core technologies that could form a general-purpose morphological engineering stack.
nervifying. This means creating stimulus-sensitive nano and micro-scale cables or interfaces capable of detecting things such as pressure, touch, heat and other physical stimuli, then propagating corresponding signals into existing surrounding nerves. For an artificial body part to feel like part of the body rather than an attached object, it needs to participate in the nervous system.
nanografting to surrounding biology. Artificial structures need to attach securely to existing cells and tissues. One possible approach would be the use of nano or microgrippers, biocompatible adhesives, or combinations of both to create extremely dense physical interfaces between the artificial structure and the surrounding biology.
motorising. For structures that need to move, artificial actuation would need to reproduce or surpass the capabilities of biological muscle. This could involve artificial muscle fibres, piezoelectric motors, electrostatic motors or other very small actuators distributed throughout the structure.
real-time immunomodulation. An implanted structure cannot simply be mechanically attached and left alone. It has to coexist with a living immune system. Live chemical and cellular sensors could continuously monitor immune activity around the implant, while other systems physically or chemically intervene when necessary to control inflammation, fibrosis, rejection or other unwanted responses.
Put together, these technologies begin to look less like a collection of specialised prosthetic techniques and more like a general platform for engineering morphology.
Adoption
The adoption of this technology would probably follow the fidelity of the artificial body parts themselves.
At first, artificial parts with only partial functionality might be adopted mainly for medical purposes. A structure that reproduces the shape of a missing body part and provides even minimal sensory or motor function could already be useful for reconstruction, injury treatment or congenital conditions.
The situation changes once artificial parts approach the capabilities of their biological equivalents. At that point, replacing or redesigning a healthy body part becomes much more reasonable. Morphological engineering could begin expanding beyond medicine into specialised enhancement, personal preference and vanity.
Eventually, if engineered parts become substantially more capable than biological ones, the balance changes again. Stronger limbs, more sensitive skin, configurable soft tissue, improved sensory structures or completely novel anatomies would no longer necessarily be viewed as replacements for damaged biology. They would become upgrades.
That is the transformer moment for morphological freedom!