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'Next, a range of advances in the cognitive sciences, biotechnology, medicine, and nanotechnology appear to be converging toward giving humans heretofore unprecedented capabilities to modify or enhance the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional performance of individuals. Possibilities range from giving combatants pharmaceuticals to resist fatigue or function longer without sleep to accelerating muscle growth or cell strength with temporary or permanent genetic modifications, to improved human-machines interfaces, to better predictive methods for assigning individuals to the combat roles for which they are best suited. By way of illustrating that such things are already here, the drug Ritalin not only improves the academic performance of hyperactive children, it can also do the same for normal children. Ritalin is “commonly thought to boost SAT scores by more than 100 points.”'
(Adam Russell and Bartlett Bulkley, Human Performance Modification Primer (Herndon, VA: Scitor Corporation, January 2007), FOUO (For Official Use Only), pp. 1–5, 9–13.
Michael S. Gazzaniga, “Smarter on Drugs,” Scientific American Mind, September 2005, pp. 33–34.)
Science and technology really seem to have a way of sneaking up on you while you aren't watching.