Could we get significant biological intelligence enhancements long before AGI?

2 min read

Probably not (if AGI is doable within a few generations). It is surprisingly difficult to make the brain much more powerful than it currently is
The brain is designed to be very energy efficient
We are limited in the overclocking we can do without creating excessive heat
Evolution doesn’t want your neurology to be easy to mess with (to make parasites have a harder time hacking your cognition), so you have a complex web of interactions which are hard to hack
Check whether neuro transmitters are actually toxic (yes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4288432/#:~:text=Some%20non%2Dpeptide%20chemicals%20that,of%20these%20neurotransmitters%205%E2%80%93%207.)
Enhancing biology e.g. putting a propeller on a bird and make it better that way is harder than building a flying machine from scratch with technology, similar to why we’ll likely get AGI before WBE
Outside the overton window and at least one full generation later is Iterated Embryo Selection, but this won’t happen and probably would not be quick enough for AI timelines.
Evolution is a hacky mess, where it’s hard to make large changes without breaking a lot of other things. A mud ball of spaghetti code in programming terms.

Whilst this is possible, AI technologies seem to be progressing much faster than cognitive enhancement.