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That there is the world record progression for the men's 100 meter sprint, from 1912 to the present day, from Wikipedia. As you can see, humans got faster by nearly a full second over the course of the century. In almost any measurable athletic test, humans perform better now than we did a hundred years ago.
To what can we attribute this? Better diet? Smarter training? Better timepieces? And more importantly, where's the performance ceiling?
According to a French study in the Daily Telegraph, humans will hit their performance limits around 2060. "We are reaching the limit in terms of physiological capacities of the human race," says French researcher Jean-Francois Toussaint. After that it will be goodbye steroids, hell-o cybernetics! But with any luck The Bionic Woman, both the old and the new one, will be forgotten well before then.
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Comments
Wow... that brings up a really interesting paradigm shift and im not trying to be funny here, but in sports the only place where biotics or mechanical additions is allowed is in the disable olympics. The question I raise is does this mean we could potentially see an increase in prostethics which allows these athelets to perform faster then our able body athletes, after 2060 could the disabled olympics change into the super human olympics maybe? Thats a scary thought though because how would robotic and synthetic extentions to the human body be governed and furthor more how do you control a technology war so to speak between companies trying to push there technology rather then the abilities of the atheletes?
i think it will take longer than that, probably another millennium
What the hugg!
Are these the same experts that told us running a mile under 4 minutes is impossible?
What is going to be their next announcement walking and chewing gum while f'n with your ipod is beyond all human physical limitation?
f'n = fiddlin'
Hmm - not so sure that I believe that the human body is going to be "maxed out' any time soon. The whole concept of sports is that athletes are challenged to be excellent with what they have. Before cybernetics becomes all the rage in Olympic-caliber sports, I bet that most likely we'll see cases of genetic engineering, along with the type of attendant ethical debates that are nothing new in other areas such as disease prevention.
I think that it's important to look back at the origin of sports as a culture that emerged from popular games and "gentleman's leagues" in the 19th century, as well as the concept of mass entertainment that formed in places like Coney Island and Atlantic City. The current trend in sports toward strict guidelines for performance enhancing drugs is a reaction against the change in sport culture that technology is starting to bring about. I believe its really all about the ideal dignity of the individual in a meritocratic society. Many people remain inspired by this idea, and I don't think that they'll give it up anytime soon, technology be damned.
My guess is that alternative ("Cyber eXtreme!!!") sports leagues will spring up on the periphery to catch the interest of those who aren't sports purists. But they will remain on the fringe a la Ultimate Fighting, etc.
MAX OUT NEVVEERRRR.
Seriously, the human race will keep developing weeding out the weak and reproducing the strong. I can't forsee any period where humans are not going to be stronger, faster and live longer.