Beware the march of ideas [General Interview]

E&T talks to Baroness Susan Greenfield about her books, degrees and insights. Your toe nails have turned green, indicating you have high blood pressure. Meanwhile, your heart-rate is being monitored by your t-shirt and the toilet is screening your waste. This is just a small part of Baroness Susan Greenfield´s projected future world, which she outlined in her bookomorrow´s People: How 21st century technology is changing the way we think and feel. A world where our health will be constantly checked, where, among other things, cyberlife flesh-and-blood people may be computer-controlled, where we could have a collective status-free lifestyle, oh and also be able to upgrade our genes. The author quotes geneticist Gregory Stock (adviser on biotechnology to Bill Clinton) on this possible future scenario: ´Her three-gene anti-cancer module pales beside the eight-gene cluster of the new version, 5.9, which better regulates gene expression, targets additional cancers, and has fewer side-effects...´.