If one is unfamiliar with the current state of genomic science, a brief
extraction by Elizabeth Pennisi would be:
Pennisi, E., "The Human Genome", Science 291(5507):1177-80
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5507/1177
Browsing either Science 291(5507) (16 Feb 2001) [here] or Nature 409 (15 Feb 2001) [here] would be useful, though not essential, if one is not informed with respect to the genome projects. The majority of both journals is devoted to "The Human Genome Project". They document in detail the efforts and preliminary conclusions of the private and public human genome sequencing efforts. An awareness of the details of genomic science is useful in discussing the ethical aspects of where humans currently are what they might become. Updated information regarding the completion of the HGP may be found at the NHGRI here.
If one is unfamiliar with the current state of aging research, then
a useful article is:
Martin, G. M., LaMarco, K., Strauss, E., Kelner, K. L., "Research
on Aging: The End of the Beginning",
Science 299:1339-1341 (28 Feb 2003).
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/299/5611/1339
Articles cited by this article and much of the issue are of use in understanding progress in aging research.
If one is unfamiliar with the evolution and limits of intelligence,
then the following may be useful:
Bradbury, R. J.,
"Life at the Limits of Physical Laws", SPIE 4273-32 OSETI III (Jan 2001).
http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/MatrioshkaBrains/OSETI3/4273-32.html
These topics can be explored in much greater detail in the collection of Matrioshka Brain related papers:
http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/MatrioshkaBrains/
and specifically the work by Anders Sandberg in this area:
Sandberg, Anders, "The Physics of Information Processing Superobjects: Daily Life Among the Jupiter Brains",
Journal of Transhumanism (now Journal of Evolution and Technology) 5 (1999).
http://www.jetpress.org/volume5/Brains2.pdf
If one is unfamiliar with the methods of mental state preservation
and or resurrection, then the following is useful:
Merkle, R., "The Molecular
Repair of the Brain", Cryonics 15(1/2) (1994)
http://www.merkle.com/cryo/techFeas.html
If one is unfamiliar with nanotechnology and nanoscale devices, a brief
summary is provided
by the National Cancer Institute:
Michalowski, J., Kerrigan, D., Kelly, J., "Understanding
Nanodevices".
http://press2.nci.nih.gov/sciencebehind/nanotech/nano01.htm
To explore the general concepts of nanotechnology a useful book is:An understanding of nanotechnology is essential for a robust discussion of the evolution of the human species.
Drexler, K. E., Engines of Creation, Doubleday (1986)
Online: http://www.foresight.org/EOC/index.htmlAlternatively, a selected list of writings by Dr. Drexler can be found at:
http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/Authors/Engineering/Drexler-KE/index.html
A simple discussion of nanotechnology applied to human health, i.e.
Nanomedicine, can be found
in the Nanomedicine FAQ:
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/NanoMedFAQ.html
A more complete set of related papers and information on nanorobots can be found at:
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/