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Stage Two Enhancements

2008; Springer Nature (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-4020-8649-6_12

2215-0080

George Khushf,

Neuroscience and Neural Engineering

In this essay I consider two kinds of human enhancement technologies. Stage 1 enhancements are discrete, medical enhancements; they involve a modest augmentation of some specific function or capacity, and have quantifiable harms and benefits that are amenable to conventional study designs. Examples of these enhancements include psychopharmaceuticals for enhanced cognitive function, cosmetic surgery, and sports doping. Stage 2 enhancements build upon stage 1, but involve more than a simple quantitative extension of stage1 capacities. Stage 2 enhancement technologies are multifunctional; have an autocatalatic aspect that leads to accelerating development; and involve the convergence of multiple kinds of technology and technology platforms. These enhancements can involve radically new capacities that provide significant advantages to those who obtain them. I illustrate the features of stage 2 enhancements by discussing a nano-enabled brain-machine interface (BMI) that might arise from the research of Miguel Nicolelis and Rodolfo Llinas. Stage 2 enhancement technologies undermine the conditions of traditional, post hoc modes of ethical reflection. The needed up?tream ethical engagement requires a fundamental change in our cultures of research and development, and for this change, we must bridge the gap between the research cultures of science and engineering, on one side, and the humanities, law, and policy, on the other.