What Level Of Technology Would Need To Be Achieved To Create A Hybrid Body?

When the first Avatar arrived at the cinema in 2009, the visual universe imagined by Cameron was a real aesthetic slap in the face. The lush Pandora, its bioluminescent forests populated by beasts chara design licked, the House Tree of the Omaticaya, the Hallelujah Mountains floating in the air, the extreme elegance of the Na’vi and their bluish skin… A real visual revolution which managed to catch everyone’s retina, while hiding the scenario well enough, ultimately quite uninspired, since we finally found ourselves in front of a modern remix, in broad terms, of Pocahontas.

The third part (Avatar: Fire and Ash) arriving in French cinemas in a fortnight, the opportunity was too good for us to pass up. We wondered if it was really possible that humanity would one day achieve that a human manages to lead a body “ recombined » mixing Terran DNA and Na’vi DNA. A question impossible to resolve with a simple “ oui » or « non », and the exercise was ultimately quite stimulating, intellectually speaking, to carry out.

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A hybrid body can exist, but not in Cameron’s way

Let’s start by setting the record straight: in biology, a “ hybrid » only exists when two species are very close genetically can still reproduce among themselves (a Lion and a Tiger, for example, which can give birth to a “Liger”, see below).

The Liger is officially recognized as the largest feline in the world (400 kg), born from the cross between a male Lion (Panthera leo) and a female Tigress (Panthera tigris). ©less The cloudless sky / Wippédia

Human beings and the Na’vi do not even originate from the same planet in the universe imagined by Cameron. Avatar-style hybridization would require merging two living systems separated by millions of years of evolution… on two different worlds. No current or planned future technology would ensure that these two beings are compatible on a genetic level.

Let’s admit this possibility for a moment: we would already have to sequence an entire genome of an extraterrestrial species, when we have not even sequenced everything that lives on Earth. Understanding the genome of an organism from elsewhere and mapping it amounts to trying to read a book in a language… that doesn’t exist.

Then, two incompatible genomes would have to be merged for the creature to be functional. Even with one of the most advanced genetic engineering tools available, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), it would simply be impossible. This would involve assembling thousands of genes that have nothing in common, whether proteins or cellular structures.

Imagining merging a human and an alien is like confusing biology with a Lego model: both have bricks (receptors, enzymes, codons, membranes for the living organism), but in nature, two bricks that do not share the same biological code cannot fit together.

A body that is 50% human and 50% “ something else » has, therefore biologically, no chance of being viable. This is a golden rule of genetics which, for the moment, is not about to be transgressed.

The human-machine interface: the technology that already exists

There is still one aspect where Cameron hit the nail on the head with his saga, long before these technologies were publicized: the connection between humans and their Na’vi avatar thanks to a neural interface. Today, Neuralink, Blackrock Neurotech or Synchron have demonstrated that it is possible to make a human organism interact with a device, solely through thought, using BCIs (Brain Computer Interface).

Neuralink was the first to publicize the case of its first implanted patient, and a few months later, its second. Even if it is not the first company to have worked on BCIs, Neuralink has a very strong image among the public, which has made it possible to highlight this cutting-edge technologywhose first roots date back to the 1960s. Other players also have a foot in the sector, such as Paradromics, even if they are more discreet because they do not pursue the same objectives.

Of course, none of these interfaces would allow you to control an avatar remotely for one simple reason: their bandwidth is still largely limited. For this to really work, they would need a neuronal mesh thousands of times denser, and a network capable of continuously monitoring the electrical chaos of the cerebral cortex and extracting actionable instructions, without perceptible latency.

It would therefore be necessary to develop, in parallel, an AI model integrated into the BCI sufficiently powerful to decode the billions of signals generated by the human brain every second. A data flow so disproportionate that it would saturate any supercomputer, even the most powerful in the world, which are not designed for such real-time use.

So you have the answer to the question: create a Na’vi-style hybrid body will forever remain beyond our reachthe laws of biology and genetics prevent us from doing so. On the other hand, remotely piloting an artificial body (or even organic but entirely developed in the laboratory) could be possible within several decades if progress in AI and BCI continues at this pace. Let us admit, however, that the body in question risks being much less stylish than the sublime Na’vitheir blue skin and their slender figure, and that he will certainly be much less agile. If you want step (virtually) into the skin of a Na’viyou can still play Avatar Frontiers of Pandora ; only if you are not allergic to Ubisoft and its recycled gameplay formulaswith a consistency that almost commands respect.