ABSTRACT

Most aspects of Human Performance Optimization involve readily controllable or at least reversible changes, while most of the Human Performance Enhancement strategies currently under consideration are long lived or permanent effects. For military use, the behavioral changes that occur with use of anabolic steroids make this an unsuitable drug for performance enhancement, and it would not be ethical or sensible to administer to women to create masculinized women. The lessons in nature suggest the strategy of optimization and balance over superspecialization and supraphysiological capability. Significant shifts in physiological balance to produce special advantages appear to be accompanied by health risks and other compensatory deficits. More serious diseases have resulted in the development of riskier manipulation of physiological systems, such as gene therapy. Myostatin regulates the utilization of satellite cells to create new muscle cells and the myostatin gene presents a target for improvement on nature through genetic selection or engineering.