Is better always good? The Enhancement Project.
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Behavior Control↗
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Results for “Biomedical Enhancement”
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Prozac, enhancement, and self-creation.
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Affective Symptoms↗
Enhancement of the fixation of pyrolytic carbon implants by using atomic oxygen texturing.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect on the biocompatibility and biologic fixation of atomic oxygen-textured pyrolytic carbon. The implants consisted of unalloyed pyrolytic carbon rods, with half the length of the rod textured by atomic oxygen, and the other half retaining the as-deposited surface that normally occurs during the manufacturing process. The rods were implanted transcortically across the distal portion of the femurs of 6 adult male rabbits for 8 weeks. The implants were assessed mechanically by measuring the interface strength between the implant and the bone. The implant-bone interface was also examined by light microscopy. No adverse reaction to either the as-deposited or the textured pyrolytic carbon was seen. Percent bone apposition was greater for textured implants than for the as-deposited implants; however, it was not significant. The bone apposition efficiency factor, calculated by dividing the interface strength by the fraction of bone apposition, was greater for the textured implants than for the as-deposited implants. This indicates that the fixation obtained was more effective for the textured implants. The findings of this study suggest that biologic fixation of pyrolytic carbon implants can be enhanced by surface texturing by using direct exposure to atomic oxygen, without compromising its biocompatibility.
Animals↗
Mediums and messages: an argument against biotechnical enhancement of soldiers in the armies of liberal democracies.
Assuming that one believes that individuals and states can morally defend values, beliefs, and institutions with force (in short, that just wars are morally possible), one logically wants just combatants to possess the physical, mental, and spiritual capacities that will enable them to win the war. On the other hand, being a just combatant in a just war does not morally entitle that combatant to do anything to win that war. The moral requirement for just combatants to fight justly is codified in international law of war and in state-specific legal documents such as the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice. While it is almost unequivocally clear to soldiers and civilians who soldiers cannot harm in the performance of their duties, and why these people are exempt from harm, it is less clear what the state itself (assuming throughout the discussion that the state is a just combatant in a just war) can morally do to its own soldiers to enhance their chances of victory: can the state do anything to soldiers to give them an advantage on the field of battle? For United States soldiers and their counterparts in most Western liberal democracies, the answer is obviously no. Deeply embedded social and cultural norms in Western democracies mandate that the state set and enforce rigid lines which drill sergeants and earnest commanders cannot cross, even in the name of combat readiness, grounding these norms in notion of basic rights appealed to in the U.S. Constitution. In this essay, I argue against some types of drug-induced internal biotechnical enhancement of soldiers on the grounds that, in the present state of technology, it is not reasonable to suppose that the military can perform such enhancement operations on soldiers without causing irrevocable psychological damage that would certainly and unjustifiably alienate the soldiers from the very society they serve.
Biomedical Enhancement↗
Will the "real boy" please behave: dosing dilemmas for parents of boys with ADHD.
The use of Ritalin and other stimulant drug treatments for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) raises distinctive moral dilemmas for parents; these moral dilemmas have not been adequately addressed in the bioethics literature. This paper draws upon data from a qualitative empirical study to investigate parents' use of the moral ideal of authenticity as part of their narrative justifications for dosing decisions and actions. I show that therapeutic decisions and actions are embedded in valued cultural ideals about masculinity, self-actualization and success, as well as in moral conceptions of authenticity and personal freedom. I argue that this investigation of parents' moral justifications and dosing dilemmas raises questions about the validity of authenticity as a transcendent moral principle. Moreover, this study demonstrates that in order to be relevant, bioethical analysis of neurocognitive enhancement must engage with ground-up studies of moral principles and decision-making in context.
Adolescent↗
[Ethical aspects of pharmacological cognition enhancement and the use of psychostimulants by children and young persons].
DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM: Pharmacological cognition enhancement aims at an improvement of cognitive activity and performance in healthy people by means of appropriate drugs. Ethical implications of this kind of cognition enhancement stand in need of reflection. ARGUMENTS: For a number of reasons, the distinction between treatment and enhancement is fuzzy with regard to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In consideration of the growing number methylphenidate prescriptions, one question addressed in this article is whether or not psychostimulants are used not only for therapy but also for cognitive enhancement by children and young people. The possibility of a "grey zone" between treatment and enhancement seems to open the field for medicalization of social and pedagogical problems as well as for "hidden enhancement." In clinical practice, the use of stimulants is associated with certain ethical problems concerning diagnosis, treatment and prevention of ADHD. Some of these problems are associated with the possibility of cognition enhancement. In order to evaluate ethical problems of pharmacological cognition enhancement, short-term and long-term consequences of stimulant use need to be taken into account. This refers to the level of transmitter balance in the learning process, to the level of individual learning strategies as well as to the level of interaction. This raises the question (1) of how well adapted the means of enhancement are with regard to the end of a comprehensive education and socialization, and (2) whether there are justifiable limits to the standardization of behavior and knowledge. (3) Moreover, stipulating an autonomous decision as a minimum prerequisite for legitimate cognition enhancement seems inadequate in the case of children and young persons. CONCLUSION: Considering the evidence and the many open questions associated with pharmacological cognition enhancement for children and young persons, it is concluded that it is indeed a morally problematic technique.
Adolescent↗
Knowing sin: making sure good science doesn't go bad.
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Biomedical Enhancement↗
Normal functioning and the treatment-enhancement distinction.
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Canada↗
Models for the neuroethical debate in the community.
Citing a line from ancient Sanskrit wisdom, "there is nothing in the world so purifying as knowledge," John Timpane urges the adoption of a roots-up process by which citizens, in organized forums, deliberate critical neuroethical issues. The author suggests several ways such a deliberative process might play out with some top neuroethics issues--enhancement, stem-cell research, and the use of "brainprints"--to show how the citizen groups might form consensus recommendations. "We have time before the wave of the new neuroscience crests," he writes. "Best to discuss it now before the wave is upon us."
Aging↗
Neuroethics: a guide for the perplexed.
Like filings to a magnet, issues of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of importance are sticking to the idea of neuroethics. Martha Farah, an early thinker in this new field, proposes that, numerous as they are, the problems actually fall into just three categories. She finds that neuroethics has made a quick start sizing up many practical--and some unique--questions swirling up from brain science, but, she writes, watch for challenges that reach beyond these to the metaphysical. Neuroscience may one day explain in terms of neural tissue virtually all aspects of human cognition and emotion--realms traditionally deemed apart from physical law. Thus, we should also expect neuroethics to grapple with our fundamental distinction between persons and mere "things." If mental processes prove to result from purely physical events, this opens to question our notions of consciousness, spirituality, free will, and moral responsibility.
Behavior↗
Ethical issues in taking neuroscience research from bench to bedside.
Dramatic advances in neuroscience have created fast-rising expectations for improvements in the health and well-being of people around the world. But fulfilling this promise is proving to be neither quick nor easy, and not for scientific reasons alone. Alan Leshner urges that neuroscientists not only address the significant challenges of their own investigations but also be willing to participate in ethical and legal dialogues with colleagues and non-colleagues alike.
Behavior↗
[Usefulness of enhanced ultrasonography after administration of intravenous contrast agent in the evaluation of therapeutic effect in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, and efficacy of percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) for residual tumor].
PURPOSE: To investigate the usefulness of enhanced ultrasonography after the administration of intravenous contrast agent in the evaluation of therapeutic effect in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) comparison with dynamic CT, and to examine the efficacy of percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) for residual tumor. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients (22 men, 8 women; age range, 42-76 years; mean age 60 years) underwent enhanced ultrasonography with the intravenous ultrasonographic agents Levovist, after transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) (n = 15, size range 23-35 mm, mean 25.3 mm) or PEIT (n = 15, 15-35 mm, mean 24.5 mm), to compare the therapeutic effect with dynamic CT. If residual lesions were detected by enhanced ultrasonography, we performed additional PEIT. RESULTS: The evaluation of enhanced ultrasonography correlated almost completely with that of dynamic CT. Two residual lesions could not be detected by dynamic CT due to lipiodol, but enhanced ultrasonography and dynamic MRI showed them clearly. In total, eight residual tumors (3-15 mm, mean 8.3 mm) were seen. We performed PEIT on seven lesions and obtained good control for six months. CONCLUSION: Enhanced ultrasonography with Levovist could be performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of treatment for HCC, and could serve as be a good marker for additional US-guided therapy.
Adult↗
Converging technologies for enhancing human performance: science and business perspectives.
Our goal is to provide a rough sketch of some of the possible implications of converging technologies for enhancing human performance ((Roco and Bainbridge, 2002)) from both a science and a business perspective. Converging technologies refers to a type of coevolutionary progress that is characterized by rapid advances across multiple areas of technology (nano-bio-info-cogno or NBIC), accelerated by interdisciplinary cross-fertilization as the advances in one area spill over and speed progress in other areas. The rapid, multi-front progress characteristic of converging technologies results in better technological capabilities which are faster and cheaper, and can be broadly applied for many different purposes. In this paper, we specifically explore applications of converging technologies for enhancing human performance, that is, enhancing our human ability to achieve goals both individually and collectively. These applications hold the promise to make people healthier, wealthier, and wiser as well as to make businesses more responsive, resilient, and adaptive.
Biological Evolution↗
DARPA on your mind.
Applied science may once again play a decisive role in changing the face of armed conflict, and the rest of human affairs, by shifting the battlefield to our very brains. The national-security establishment--and particularly the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--supports research at the intersection of neuroscience and national security that could ultimately enable authorities to do things like enhance (or muddle, or erase) memory, monitor crowds for individuals whose brain patterns correlate with aggressive behaviors, or control weapons from afar merely with thoughts. What are the dangers of such information falling into "the wrong hands," and are there any "right hands" for this kind of knowledge? Is any extension of human abilities justified by the need for government to protect its society?
Behavior Control↗
Authenticity and ambivalence: toward understanding the enhancement debate.
The differences between critics and proponents of enhancement technologies are easily overblown. Both sides of this debate share the moral ideal of being "authentic" to oneself. They differ in how they prefer to understand authenticity, but even this difference is not as stark as it sometimes seems.
Attitude↗
At the edge of humanity: human stem cells, chimeras, and moral status.
Experiments involving the transplantation of human stem cells and their derivatives into early fetal or embryonic nonhuman animals raise novel ethical issues due to their possible implications for enhancing the moral status of che chimeric individual. Although status-enhancing research is not necessarily objectionable from the perspective of the chimeric individual, there are grounds for objecting to it in the conditions in which it is likely to occur. Translating this ethical conclusion into a policy recommendation, however, is complicated by the fact that substantial empirical and ethical uncertainties remain about which transplants, if any, would significantly enhance the chimeric individual's moral status. Considerations of moral status justify either an early-termination policy on chimeric embryos, or, in the absence of such a policy, restrictions on the introduction of pluripotent human stem cells into early-stage developing animals, pending the resolution of those uncertainties.
Animal Experimentation↗
Moral assessment of growth hormone therapy for children with idiopathic short stature.
The prescription of growth hormone therapy for children who are not growth hormone deficient is one of the controversies in contemporary paediatric endocrinology. Is it morally appropriate to enhance the growth, by means of medical treatment, of a child wish idiopathic short stature? The medical, moral, and philosophical questions in this area are many. Data on the effects of human growth hormone (hGH) treatment will not on their own provide us with answers, as these effects have to be evaluated from a normative perspective. In this article we consider hGH treatment for children of idiopathic short stature from three normative perspectives: the goals of medicine, the good of the patient, and the public good. We argue that the prevention of psychological and social problems due to short stature (and not merely the enhancement of growth) should be the ultimate goal of medical treatment and research.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Cosmetic psychopharmacology and the President's Council on Bioethics.
Advances in neuroscience and biotechnology have heightened the urgency of the debate over "cosmetic psychopharmacology," the use of drugs to enhance mood and temperament in the absence of illness. Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (2003), the report of the President's Council on Bioethics, has criticized the use of cosmetic psychopharmacology. The Council claimed that cosmetic psychopharmacology will necessarily lead to "severing the link between feelings of happiness and our actions and experiences in the world," but it provided no satisfactory arguments to support this claim and ignored the possibility that cosmetic psychopharmacology might actually enhance the link between happiness and experience. The Council's arguments against cosmetic psychopharmacology depend heavily on the mistaken belief that Prozac and similar antidepressants are mood brighteners in healthy subjects. The empirical evidence, however, clearly indicates that these drugs are not forms of cosmetic psychopharmacology, thus negating much of the Council's arguments. The use of pharmaceutical agents to enhance mood or personality in normal individuals should not be rejected a priori. Instead, the effects of each agent on the individual and on society must be weighed using sound ethical reasoning and the best evidence available.
Advisory Committees↗