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Three Enhancement Methods

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Virtue Ethics and Human Enhancement

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Ethics ((BRIEFSETHIC))

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Abstract

Looking around the globe the same dismal scenario repeats itself: in the face of glaring evidence humans are led to make bad decisions by greed, selfishness, lack of responsibility, low capacity for taking in the bigger picture, irrational fear, bias and so forth. Our poor decision-making has large scale, potentially disastrous, consequences for millions of people. Consider, for example, the human suffering in the wake of global warming, armed conflicts and the financial crisis.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Parts of this chapter has previously been published in B. Froding, Cognitive Enhancement, Virtue Ethics and the Good Life, Neuroethics (2011) 4:223–234.

  2. 2.

    T. Klingberg (2011), Den Larande Hjarnan, p. 122: L. Bäckman, L. Nyberg, A. Soven et al. Effects of working-memory training on striatal dopamine release, Science, August 5th 2011.

  3. 3.

    S. J. Colcombe et al. (2004): S. J. Colcombe et al. (2006): A. C. Pereira et al. (2007): C. H. Hillman et al. (2008): K. I. Erickson et al. (2010): J. Ratey (2008): L. T. Ferris et al. (2007): B. A. Sibley and J. L. Etiner (2003): A. J. Richardson and P. Montgomery (2005): R. G. Voight et al. (2001): S. Hirayama et al. (2004): C. Eppig et al. (2010): T. Klingberg, Den Larande Hjarnan av Torkel Klingberg, Natur och Kultur (2011)

  4. 4.

    Draganski et al. (2004) Neuroplasticity: Changes in grey matter induced by training, Nature 427, 311–312: see also T. Klingberg et al. (2010) Training and plasticity of working memory, Trends in Cognitive Science, 14, pp. 317–324

  5. 5.

    See for example S. van Leeuwen, W. Singer and L. Melloni (2012) Meditation increases the depth of information processing and improves the allocation of attention in space, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, April 2012: Luders et al. The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: Larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter. Neuroimage 45: 672–678. Britta K. Hölzel, Ulrich Ott, Tim Gard, Hannes Hempel, Martin Weygandt, Katrin Morgen, and Dieter Vaitl, “Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry” in Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2008 March: 3(1): 55–61. Lazer et al. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport. 16: 1893–1897. Brefczynski-Lewis et al. Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104: 11483–11488.

  6. 6.

    For links between cognitive capacity and glucose, creatine and amino acids (for example) see Fox, P.T., Raichle, M.E. et al. (1988). Nonoxidative glucose consumption during focal physiologic neural activity. Science, 241(4864), 462–464; Rae, C., Digney, A.L. et al. (2003). Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 270(1529), 2147–50; McMorris, T., Harris, R.C. et al. (2006). Effect of creatine supplementation and sleep deprivation, with mild exercise, on cognitive and psychomotor performance, mood state, and plasma concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol. Psychopharmacology, 185(1), 93–103; Lieberman, H.R. (2003). Nutrition, brain function and cognitive performance. Appetite, 40(3), 245–54.

  7. 7.

    http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=1383&visa=pm&pm_id=1815

  8. 8.

    http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?a=48112&d=34670&l=sv

  9. 9.

    http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=1383&visa=pm&pm_id=1815

  10. 10.

    http://ki.se/content/1/c6/04/87/81/Freund_Levi_Abstract_Sw_Eng.pdf

  11. 11.

    To be completed 2013.

  12. 12.

    See for example P1 http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=412&artikel=5030142

  13. 13.

    See for example Sahakian, and Morein-Zamir. 2007. Professor’s little helper. Nature 450: 1157–1159: Repantis, D., Schlattman, P., Laisney O., Heuser, I. (2010) Modafinil and methylphenidate for neuroenhancement in healthy individuals: A systematic review, Pharmacological Research 62 187–206: Schermer, M., Bolt, I., (2011) What‘s in a Name? ADHD and the Gray Area between Treatment and Enhancement, in: Savulescu, J., Meulen, R., T., Kahane, G., Enhancing Human Capacities, Wiley-Blackwell pp. 243–260: Franke, A., Bonertz, C., Christmann, M., Huss, M., Fellgiebel, A., Hildt, E., & Lieb, K. (2011). Non-Medical Use of Prescription Stimulants and Illicit Use of Stimulants for Cognitive Enhancement in Pupils and Students in Germany. Pharmacopsychiatry, 44(02), 60–66: R. C. Kadosh, N. Levy, J. O‘Shea, N. Shea, N., J. Savulescu (2012), The neuroethics of non-invasive brain stimulation, Current Biology Vol 22 No 4. R1-R4: M. H. Rogers, P. B. Anderson (eds.) (2009) Deep Brain Stimulation: Applications, Complications, Side-Effects, Nova Biomedical Books, New York.

  14. 14.

    Plausibly, some key concerns that attach to mood enhancers, e.g. that they will ‘flatten our souls’, are less applicable to the case of cognitive enhancements. N. Bostrom and A. Sandberg (2009) ‘Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges’, Science and Engineering Ethics, 15: p. 326.

  15. 15.

    Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Then there is also deep brain stimulation (DBS), non-invasive brain stimulation (e.g. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation).

  16. 16.

    See e.g. Kumar R. (2008), Approved and investigational uses of modafinil: an evidence-based review, Drugs. 68(13):1803–39

  17. 17.

    A. Heinz, R Kipke, H. Heimann, U. Wiesing (2012), Cognitive neuroenhancement: false assumptions in the ethical debate, J Med Ethics medethics-2011-100041 Published Online First: 6 January 2012

  18. 18.

    For more on the habituation process as envisioned by Aristotle see Chaps. 4, 6 and 77.

  19. 19.

    Current examples of healthy people using prescription drugs in order to enhance their performance are Ritalin (developed to treat ADHD): Ampakines or cholinesterase inhibitors (drugs developed to counter cognitive degeneration in Altzheimer patients: and modafinil-based substances (developed to treat excessive need for sleep). For a comment see e.g. Sahakian and Morein-Zamir (2007), ‘Professor’s Little Helper’, Nature 450, 1157–1159.

  20. 20.

    See e.g. Bostrom & Sandberg (2009) ‘Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges’, Science and Engineering Ethics: Roche & Liao (2009) ‘After Prozac’, in J. Savulescu, R. ter Muelen, and G. Kahane (eds.), Enhancing Human Capabilities (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell): Savulescu J, Bostrom N. (2009.) eds. Human Enhancement. Oxford: Oxford University Press: Liao, S. M., Savulescu, J., and Wasserman, D. (eds), 2008, ‘Special Issue: The Ethics of Enhancement’, Journal of Applied Philosophy 25: 3 pp. 159–261: Sahakian & Morein-Zamir (2007) ‘Professor’s Little Helper’, Nature 450, 1157–1159: Catterjee (2007) ‘Cosmetic Neurology and Cosmetic Surgery: Parallels, Predictions and Challenges’, Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 16: 129–137.

  21. 21.

    Here I am thinking especially about the example of ‘vicious Cynthia. Buchanan, Brock, Daniels and Wikler (2000), ‘From Chance to Choice’, CUP. Other examples from the popular culture would be the character Data in the Star Wars. He is highly intelligent and physically strong but has no emotions (he has an ‘emotion chip’ installed but that does not really work all that well). Another, somewhat bleaker, example is HAL 9000 in the book by Arthur C Clarke which later was turned into the movie ‘2001—a space odyssey’ by Stanley Kubrick.

  22. 22.

    G. Domes et al. (2007), Oxytocin improves “mind-reading” in humans, Biological Psychiatry, 61(6), pp. 731–733.

  23. 23.

    T. Baumgartner et al. (2008), Oxytocin shapes the neural circuitry of trust and trust adaptational humans, Neuron 58(4), pp. 639–650: M. Kosfeld et al. (2005), Oxytocin increases trust in humans, Nature, 425 (7042), pp. 673–676.

  24. 24.

    See the Weekly Mortality and Morbidity Report Increased Transmission and Outbreaks of Measels—European Region, 2011 December 2, 2011/60(47): 1605–1610.

  25. 25.

    This has been previously published in B. Froding, Cognitive Enhancement, Virtue Ethics and the Good Life, Neuroethics, (2011) 4:223–234.

  26. 26.

    I am acknowledging that forms of very advanced conative (emotional) enhancement potentially might achieve both the same results and mimic the experience of habituation. This essay however, deals with the type of medical and technological possibilities that we have access to today or are likely to have in the near future. For space reasons, this book cannot deal with conative enhancement as a separate issue but for an interesting argument, see e.g. Douglas (2008) ‘Moral enhancement’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 25, No. 3: Persson and Savulescu (2008) ‘The Perils of Cognitive Enhancement and the Urgent Imperative to Enhance the Moral Character of Humanity’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 25, No. 3.

  27. 27.

    See work by virtue-responsibilists like Linda Zagzebski and James Montmarquet for example. See also Chap. 5.

  28. 28.

    Here I am following the Aristotelian account in assuming some version of cognitivism—i.e. that the virtuous person is the one who knows what is right and wrong.

  29. 29.

    For some interesting ideas on Social Moral Epistemology, see e.g. Allen Buchanan (2007) ‘Institutions, Beliefs and Ethics: Eugenics as a Case Study’, Journal of Political Philosophy 15/1: 22–45: A. Buchanan (2009), ‘Philosophy and Public Policy: A Role for Social Moral Epistemology’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 10 JUL 2009, DOI: 10.1111/j.146x930.2009.00452.x

  30. 30.

    N. Bostrom (2203), Human genetic enhancements: A transhumanist perspective, Journal of Value Enquiry, 37(4), pp. 202–214.

  31. 31.

    For an account of the temporal aspects of different virtues and personal goods, i.e. the idea that certain virtues are good for us at certain points in our lives (for example, that innocence and trustingness is good for children but less so for adults), see Slote (1983) Goods and Virtues, New York: Clarendon Press. Note, however, that Slote does not claim that all virtues are ‘relative’ in this sense.

  32. 32.

    See Chap. 2.

  33. 33.

    See, for example, bio-conservatives like Francis Fukuyama, Leon Kass and George Sandel.

  34. 34.

    Any such enhancements must of course be voluntary and safe.

  35. 35.

    J Savuelscu and A Sandberg. (2008). Neuroenhancement of love and marriage: the chemicals between us. Neuroethics 1: 31–44.

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  1. Division of Philosophy, Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 78B, Stockholm, 100 44, Sweden

    Barbro Fröding

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Fröding, B. (2013). Three Enhancement Methods. In: Virtue Ethics and Human Enhancement. SpringerBriefs in Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5672-4_7

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