By Futurist Thomas Frey
The Salamander Solution to Human Limitations
Salamanders lose a leg and simply grow a new one. Starfish regenerate entire arms. Octopi regrow severed tentacles, complete with millions of functioning neurons. These creatures possess regenerative capabilities that make human healing look primitive by comparison. We scar. We replace. We install artificial substitutes and call it medicine.
But by 2040, we’ll have cracked the code. The same biological mechanisms that allow salamanders to regrow limbs will be activated in human bodies through targeted genetic therapies, stem cell interventions, and molecular signaling that awakens dormant regenerative pathways. And when we do, something remarkable will happen: those artificial knees, mechanical hearts, and prosthetic limbs we’ve installed over decades will become obsolete—not because we remove them surgically, but because our bodies will slowly, methodically expel them as natural tissue grows back and reclaims the space.
Continue reading… “When Your Body Learns to Regrow What Was Lost: The End of Permanent Replacement Parts”