Social Question
Enhancing the quality of love and creating a smarter world - How do you feel about healthy people swallowing neuroenhancing drugs?
Neuroenhancers are drugs which manipulate the brain’s chemistry to get rid of some of the nastier side effects of human life. They are debated in their effects, how they are obtained and whether they give an unfair advantage. They might be suited to the anxiety of white-collar competition in a floundering economy. When three cups of strong coffee make no difference, maybe some pill might?
“The latest research holds out the promise of drugs to help forget traumatic memories, or even to stay devoted to our sexual partners. Many people—notably some religious leaders, doctors, scientists, politicians and philosophers—have misgivings about much of this. But when they spell out their qualms, their reasoning is often shakier than it first appears. Nonetheless, this is not a debate we can ignore. What scientists are now discovering about memory presents us with an interesting set of dilemmas.
At the heart of the debate there remains unease about tampering with the very things that make humans human. And while we are becoming accustomed to some varieties of enhancement, our capacity to manipulate not just our bodies and our cognitive faculties, but potentially also our core emotions, is taking us into a world of new options.
Then there’s the precautionary principle. This flags a warning: we should be careful with this stuff. Bioengineering can effect change with great power and speed—and set in train irreversible transformations, the consequences of which we cannot predict.
Other objections to enhancement seem just as problematic. It’s said that it will lead to a growing gap between those who can afford it and those who can’t. Pro-enhancers believe that use of such drugs will spread in the same way as mobile phones: initially expensive toy-gadgets for the rich and within a few years dispersed through society and across nations.
Should we use our growing knowledge of the neuroscience of love to enhance the quality of love by biological manipulation?”
From http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/09/the-age-of-enhancement
So, if you could afford neuroenhancers, would you buy them?
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