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Nano-bionic Devices for the Purpose of Cognitive Enhancement: Toward a Preliminary Ethical Framework

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Cognitive Enhancement

Part of the book series: Trends in Augmentation of Human Performance ((TAHP,volume 1))

Abstract

This chapter examines the emerging ethical challenges raised by implementation of nanotechnology in brain devices for enhancement purposes in subjects with healthy brains. This chapter will proceed in five steps. The first section introduces brain implants and discusses how their status may be changed by nanotechnologies for enhancement purposes. The second section explores whether the ethics of nano-bionic devices for cognitive enhancement purposes in healthy, informed subjects might be helped by referring to the treatment-enhancement distinction. Such a distinction could serve to illuminate guidelines and policies. The third section examines whether the designs for nano-bionic devices for cognitive enhancement raise a number of intrinsically new ethical problems if applied to healthy subjects. The fourth section looks at whether nano-bionic devices used for the purpose of enhancement introduce novel ethical difficulties to the informed consent of healthy and free subjects. The fifth section sketches the preliminary ethics that have to be established before a healthy individual could undergo an informed consent process for invasive nano-bionics brain intervention.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I assume that enhancers have an enhancement effect in any body (i.e. a healthy body and a sick body). For instance, growth hormones affect any body, not only a body with disease. However, not all treatment will have an enhancement effect (i.e. a healthy body and a sick body). For example, could a treatment with radiation or a treatment for influenza enhance a healthy body?

  2. 2.

    “L’espèce humaine doit-elle s’améliorer, soit par de nouvelles découvertes dans les sciences […]; soit enfin par le perfectionnement réel des facultés intellectuelles, morales et physiques, qui peut être également la suite, ou de celui des instruments qui augmentent l’intensité et dirigent l’emploi de ces facultés” (Condorcet 2004: 430).

  3. 3.

    The debate on somatic nuclear transfer for reproductive purpose (reproductive cloning) has been monopolized and depicted without accuracy by the media. This phenomenon has dragged ethical questions on speculative ground and shifted the focus away from issues of safety and efficacy.

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Acknowledgement

This research was funded by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES). Thanks to Susan Dodds, Eliza Goddard and Timothy Krahn.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    Frédéric Gilbert

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  1. Frédéric Gilbert
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Correspondence to Frédéric Gilbert .

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  1. , Department of Philosophy, University of Mainz, Jakob Welder-Weg 18, Mainz, 55099, Germany

    Elisabeth Hildt

  2. , Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, Mainz, 55131, Germany

    Andreas G. Franke

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Gilbert, F. (2013). Nano-bionic Devices for the Purpose of Cognitive Enhancement: Toward a Preliminary Ethical Framework. In: Hildt, E., Franke, A. (eds) Cognitive Enhancement. Trends in Augmentation of Human Performance, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6253-4_11

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