Today people pimp their rides; their homes; and their bodies. Although nascent, some are using cosmetic neurology to pimp their brains. Sound far fetched It’s not.

Cosmetic neurology: the use of drugs by healthy people to manipulate mood, memory, concentration, libido, capacity to learn, and general ability to cope is diffusing through society much the same way cosmetic surgery has; only faster. Within 20 years cosmetic neurology could be as common as cosmetic procedures are today. The difference is, unlike enhancing our bodies, pimping our brains could change what it means to be human.

It wasn’t that long ago that getting a nip here or a tuck there was a carefully guarded secret. Then electing to go under the knife for purely cosmetic reasons was stigmatized; and deemed a frivolous vain indulgence available for the most part, to the rich and famous.

Societal attitudes have changed. Americans are increasingly opting for cosmetic enhancements. As they become safer, cheaper and less invasive. Going in for a nip tuck has morphed from a best kept secret to an acceptable practice; in some circles it is something to brag about and share with friends. Today people host Botox parties in much the same way that their mother’s hosted Tupperware parties. More and more professionals, both men and women, go the cosmetic route to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the workplace. Between 1992 and 2005 there’s been a 775% increase in total cosmetic procedures. In 2005, 10.2 million Americans had a cosmetic procedure. That’s equal to the entire population of Belarus! The cost for those procedures exceeded 9 billion dollars.

I was jetting through the mall, scanning the myriad kiosks that now clog the middle of the mall when I noticed something that surprised me. Sandwiched between the T-Mobile kiosk and the Great American Cookie Kiosk was a medical spa offering services such as Botox and Restalyne injections. Wow! If cosmetic enhancement can go from a best kept secret to just another thing to do at the mall in the span of 50 years, what does that mean for the future of cosmetic neurology?

Today millions of Americans from school age through adults are using drugs intended to treat neurological and psychiatric illnesses to enhance their brain power. A 2006 National Institute of Drug Addiction study shows that the more competitive the college, the more incidents of smart drug abuse, and a 2002 University of Wisconsin study found that as many as one in five college students have illegally used prescription drugs such as Adderall. Joel Garreau, staff writer for the Washington Post, noted in a recent article that total sales of smart drugs such as Adderrall and Provigil have increased by more than 300 percent in only four years. Additionally, a recent study published in the Journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence revealed that an estimated 7 million Americans used drugs intended to treat attention deficit - hyperactivity disorder illegally; of almost 2 million of the users were school age.

Just as cosmetic surgery has its roots in reconstructive surgery which was made necessary by the need to restore form and function to injured soldiers in World Wars I and II, it has since evolved into a distinct branch of surgery with its own procedures and techniques. Cosmetic neurology is rooted in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, depression and hyperactivity - attention deficit disorder. Discovering that some drugs developed to treat neurological illnesses also sharpen intellect and improve performance has been due more to serendipity and trial and error than to a deliberate push to develop neuro-enhancing drugs. However, this is changing and we are witnessing the dawn of the age of cosmetic neurology.

Implications for your future

It is not a question as to whether or not cosmetic neurology will diffuse through society. It will. Market demand and breakthroughs in biotechnology and neuroscience will move the emerging field of cosmetic neurology from one of serendipity and trial and error to one of rational drug design.

Imagine this scenario. Steve, an investment banker, has been forgetting things lately. A missed lunch date with friends last Saturday, a forgotten haircut appoint just yesterday. He’s also noticed that he’s having difficulty recalling details. This can’t continue, his forgetfulness threatens his career. He makes an appointment for a Brain Brush Up treatment at Mentality, neurospa near the office. The brain brush up exfoliates all the plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease, ending that dazed and confused feeling. He might just spend the day at Mentality; he could get his brain brushed, have the memory of his ex-girlfriend erased and get a brain glo to help him get over the winter blues.

Cosmetic neurology raises significant issues about what is safe, fair and ethical. For instance, should you have to enhance yourself to retain your job or enhance your child so that they can get in specific schools Should those that are enhanced be compelled to disclose this information Should preference be given to the natural or the enhanced How will this technology be distributed in society?

We’re reaching a tipping point in regards to a policy that will guide the implementation of cosmetic neurology. If we don’t decide how we want the neuro-enhancers used in our society then by default we will decide that anything goes. Unlike pimping our bodies, pimping our brains could change what it means to be human.

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These two images, separated by nearly half a century, represent the dreams of human exploration of space. Together they tell a story of lost opportunity and future promises.?

Forty five years ago today Astronaut John Glenn completed an epochal space mission which made him the first American to orbit the Earth. The Port Arthur News reported: “Glancing at the Earth at altitudes ranging from 100 to 160 miles, Glenn had a breathtaking panoramic view stretching 1,800 miles from horizon to horizon. He described the view as ‘tremendous’ and a ‘beautiful sight.’”

Just a few weeks ago the Cassini spacecraft snapped the above picture of Titan, the biggest of the 56 known moons orbiting Saturn and the second largest moon in our solar system. The Cassini spacecraft is the first to explore the Saturn system of rings and moons from orbit.

As planetary scientist Carolyn Porco writes in a fabulous New York Times Op-Ed piece published today, in the 1960’s the possibilities for human space travel were intoxicating: plans were laid for the establishment of a 50-person lunar base, a 100-person Earth orbiting space station and human landfall on Mars by the 1980s.

Instead, by abandoning the Apollo space program the country lost a capital investment of close to $160 billion and the collective knowledge of the tens of thousands of space engineers and scientists.

Yet she also paints an amazing vision: one of a revitalized NASA with plans to return to the Moon with a party of humans by 2020, a solar-powered human-tended research outpost by 2025 and preparations for a Mars trip soon after.

As she says: Humanity’s future need not be confined to mere survival on our home planet. Other worlds beckon, we know how to reach them and we will once more be outward bound.

Porco offersan ambitious and inspiring vision for the future - and one that maybe this time around, we can get right.

I attended LIFT 07 last week in Geneva. I expected to my brain to be treated to a healthy feast of high quality food and I was not disappointed. From start to finish, I was immersed in a luminous bath of ideas. Thanks to Ben Cerverny for my new favorite term ?Luminous Bath?.

Now for some random thoughts about LIFT 07, only half digested??

Florence Devouard, Chair of the board of Wikipedia asked if Wikipedia was an innovation or a utopia; my thought, it’s neither; it’s a ?Noostopia?.

Jan-Christoph Zoels? posed interesting questions in his presentation Jumping Jack Flash. Do you crave immediate attentionWhat is the mobile equivalent of someone grabbing your armWould you like to take over your friend’s phoneNokia is asking these and other questions because they want to find out how best to connect kids to their parents via mobile phones. WhyBecause the fastest growing market segment for mobile phone is kids ages 6-8. This made me think??

Revenge of the Blackberry Orphans I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about a new phenomenon, Blackberry Orphans. These Blackberry Orphans resent the intrusion of the device into their home life and some are beginning to fight back. One child became so resentful and frustrated that she tried to flush her mother’s Blackberry down the toilet. What will happen when kids can hijack their parentsmobile devices and delete all the contacts, or appointments or the presentation they’re giving in the afternoon?

Julian Bleecker’s First Life Meets Second Life presentation made me think about the ecological impact of our 2^nd lives on our 1^st life and world. How do you account for your 2^nd lifeDo you realize that every bit of digital data has real world dataDo you know that our 1^st life supports our 2^nd life?

In the Oct. 16, 06 FringeHog podcast I questioned whether or not virtual worlds were sustainable in the segment Grey Goo & Griefers. I must admit I had not considered whether or not our 2^nd lives were ecologically sustainable. Julian quoted some thought provoking statistics from Nicholas Carr’s blog. For example: An avatar on average consumes 1,752 kWh per year while the ?average humanconsumes 2,436 kWh; a little bit more than an avatar. The average Second Life avatar consumes as much electricity as an average Brazilian.

Beth Krasna of ThinkStudio shifted my thinking about emerging business models. I?m still ruminating about the implications of her Direct Everything economy. And more than, that I?m thinking about the simple 2 -axis matrix she shared with us ?LIFTers?. She demonstrated how to use the matrix to resolve issues of transferring production from the producer to the consumer. Not only that, it can be used for historical analysis, market analysis, strategic analysis and positioning analysis. I?d like to see how it could work as a foresight tool. For an incisive summary of the Direct Economy check out Bruno Giussani’s blog Lunch over IP

I don’t know what to say about Brian Cox other than that he is a rock star particle physicist who works at CERN who made muons, electrons, Higgs Particles, quarks, and the ATLAS project under construction at CERN understandable to the non-scientist.

Requotables:

?Design predicts the future when it anticipates experience?Augusto Morello

?Better to solve root causes of problems rather than work around it?Jan Chipchase

?All science is either physics or stamp collectingErnest Rutherford

That’s all for now… I’ll post more about my LIFT 07 experience as I digest it.