(The New Atlantis) – The new doped Olympics are not about what we can do but what tech titans can do to us.

The boundary between the leisurely exercise of human strength for its own sake and its exercise due to besetment by horrible monsters is now more carefully guarded. The chlorinated indoor pool, not the open sea, is the theater of action. Sharks and serpents are turned away at the door. The conditions of the race are carefully equalized, and World Aquatics monitors and punishes any attempt to change them in a way that confers a partial advantage: for example, by using anabolic steroids, exogenous testosterone, stimulants, and so on.

Of course, one man’s squalid doping is another man’s calibrated biohacking regimen. Funded by Peter Thiel, Christian Angermayer, and Balaji Srinivasan, a new athletic organization with pretensions to the Olympic throne has swaggered onto the scene: The Enhanced Games. No longer will humanity be hamstrung by the fretful old-man moralism of the World Anti-Doping Agency and its ilk, irrationally flinching in disgust from the many beautiful performance-enhancing drugs science has given us. In May 2026, spectators can journey to Las Vegas to see athletes in swimming, track, and weightlifting compete with all the juice the doctor orders. (Read More)