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There are military applications. Plus 7 million take steroids now for more strength and better appearance.
It is mainly interesting to see what should be achievable with advanced gene therapy.
The main targets with real impact are increased health, immune system, longevity and cognitive enhancement.
So two times faster, ten times stronger then how much longevity and how much cognitive enhancement ?
The strength gain efforts take two different paths I believe. The mentioned myostatin blocker results in increase of muscle mass - the traditional weight lifters bulked-up look. If I'm understanding things at all correctly, the proposed gene therapy option is to increaase muscle (and associated) tissue density without concommitant increase of size for increased strength.
What I keep seeing ignored by all efforts is a mechanism to power these gains. Without an equivalent increase in the body's ability to oxygenate the muscles, any proposed increase in musculature results in more rapid onset of oxygen deprivation during exercise (or any other physically demanding activity) as well.
I don't think being twice as strong/fast for half as long is quite the intended result, but I don't read about any developments in lung capacity/oxygen transferance capabilities being also pursued and without that the strength research is just a carnival side-show entertainment.
Alright, that last probably isn't a fair description, but I think the potential gains (and applications) of increased individual strength are severely limited without an increase in arterial blood oxygenation capability as well.
Even in the military I think strength and endurance will be of lesser interest. It will be far easier to put a soldier in a suit of powered infantry armor than to biologically enhance him. The armor will be subject to far fewer restrictions (like fuel source, upper limits on strength, endurance, etc.) than even a super-human. I think the only soldiers even remotely likely to receive purely biological enhancements will be SpecOps and CIA spooks who must live off the land and blend in with a normal population. Your average army grunt will be Johnnie Rico rather than Steve Rogers.
Certainly, there is a not-negligable component of individual ego stroking to account for, but there is also at least an equal portion of practicality involved in such a desire as well. Ever had the need to clean under the couch, behind the refrigerator or the like? Being able to manipulate such household fixtures as a matter of course must be an at least regular occasional circumstance in most people's lives (if my memories of married life are any example, at least :)). Likewise, those of us who's hobbies or employment involve repetative impact or physical exertion would directly benefit from added physical strength. I'm sure we can each provide alternative examples from our own unique experiences as well. I don't see this as being an unwarrented research effort at all, quite aside from the more generalised health benefits Brian has noted.
That all said, I stand by my earlier comment regarding the increased physiological support needed to make such an upgrade practical.
I have no idea to what extent, or even whether, there has been any progress made on development of the concept of respirocytes for only one example of a possible solution to my objection. I have seen (and now cannot find a link to, of course) a proposal for a mechanism to "dope" red blood cells with added oxygen content for use on demand, as it were. Along these lines, I recall reading about a device that injects pure oxygen into the normal air intake to counteract the effects of oxygen deprivation (I can't recall if it was in relation to an underwater application or not now) (my Google-fu fails me :-( ).
As you see, there are efforts to address this issue, I simply think the current reporting on strength and health enhancement (no fault of Brian's, he passes along what's being reported by others) fails to incorporate what I view as an essential component of the issue, that's all.
Falling back on my strategic hobbyhorse, I think you may be undervaluing a mechanism by which the purely health gains may be better (or at least more quickly) become available to us all by downplaying the importance others place in the appearance and ego-boosting aspects of this development, Brock. Does it really matter if a contribution towards the enhancement development process arises from a narcisistic tendency or not (as long as it's display is kept decently private of course)? Who knows, maybe the increased cognitive enhancement will eventually balance that out.
Nah, probably not ... :)
Bodybuiders are frequently bulked-up. Weightlifters are large, but look different. While the bones will largely take care of themselves (hauling the mass will eventually do it), tendon strength will take quite a bit of time to develop, as it lags FAR behind muscular development in speed. Anybody who gets this strength boost, and then tries to lift a car is going to experience an interesting set of popping noises....
I am a wieghtlifter not a bodybuilder and I have leg pressed 2K pounds for 15 reps. It is possible to do huge weight now but it takes years of training and the right genetics. Building up tendons can only be done as of now by training. The worst thing about steriods is that they allow new lifters to overtrain and hurt themselves otherwise I have found them to be very helpful to alot of people I know.. If we ever find a way to build tendons with drugs or using some kind of genetic enhancment process then we will see major athletic gains but not before. I also like the idea of super soldiers. Very useful in places like Afganistan where it is hard to win with Mechanized forces and it is more a man on man fight.
tendon healing improvement.
there is also the exercise pill that tricks the body into thinking it has exercised which improves muscles and tendons
http://brainstimulant.blogspot.com/2008/08/non-...
Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation can also reach almost any area of the brain when compared to conventional TMS which only reaches 1-2 cms into the brain. It may be used to improve mood or cognitive enhancement in the future.