Should nanotechnology be applied to reverse the human trend to grow?

Besides modelling and certain sports like basketball, there is no real advantage in being really tall these days. Humans no longer have to hunt for a living and sophisticated weapons have also made battles more a test of wit than strength, so, being larger begets no additional gains or even evolutionary advantages. However, as we have been growing apace for two million years, maintaining bigger humans is undeniably costly as production has to keep up with increasing percapita demand. With climate change and sustainability becoming key issues, Dutch artist Arne Hendriks’ solution of evolving smaller humans should perhaps be regarded a little more seriously than the movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. While that Disney movie showed the unexpected perils inherent in becoming excessively diminutive, Hendriks’ contention that 50-cm-tall humans would occupy less space and use less resources cannot be dismissed outright.

It is not impossible either, as tweaking DNA could well ensure scaled-down versions of just about everything on the planet. Since nanotechnology is seen as the future of science and experts aver that smaller human brains — even walnut-sized ones — could theoretically function as brilliantly as our current ones, more compact and fuel-efficient human beings should definitely be an area of research.