Abstract
Despite limited evidence of efficacy, the use of cognitive enhancement (CE) has captured the imagination of the public and policymakers. This chapter outlines general attitudes and perspectives regarding the ethics of cognitive enhancement. While exceptions are typically made for therapeutic use and non-competitive contexts, in competitive arenas, for example academia, moral arguments appear to be reminiscent of those seen in the drugs in sport debate. Generally, the public views cognitive enhancement negatively. Their use is unfair and in the eyes of some, no different to cheating. Moreover, in allowing one to achieve more than they otherwise would in their absence, others hold that enhancement might undermine human achievement. Although representing a novel means by which to do so, it is argued that the enhancement of one’s cognition through psychopharmacological means is not inherently different to other modalities of enhancement that are both common and/or culturally accepted. Cognitive enhancers are no more unfair than any other intervention that is unevenly distributed in society. Moreover, while it is entirely plausible that enhancement may render our achievements inauthentic, we have no reason to believe that it poses any greater threat than the utilisation of calculators in the classroom. As automation continues to usurp traditionally human endeavours, it is predicted that cognitive enhancement will become more commonplace and discourse will likely shift towards societal obligations to ensure equal access.
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Notes
- 1.
For conceptual clarity, here I will use intelligence enhancement (IE) to distinguish from the drugs currently subsumed under CE.
- 2.
However, in their study of gifted children whose IQ ranged from 135 to 163, Martin and Kubzansky (2005) report a 32% decreased risk of mortality per 1 SD increase in IQ. This suggests that an intelligence-mortality gradient exists even at the highest end of the IQ distribution.
- 3.
Although Botox is not indicated for depression, it nevertheless displays a robust antidepressant effect (Cohen’s d = 1.07; Magid et al., 2015).
- 4.
This should be contrasted with the treatment of ADHD; the pathology itself is a functional impairment in one’s positional standing.
- 5.
College Board (2017) SAT distribution using the Harvard admission cut-off score of 1540.
- 6.
For example, a five-year combined undergraduate law degree with a Commonwealth contribution of $2089 per year.
- 7.
Although Schaefer, Kahane, and Savulescu (2014) argue that genetic CE would increase autonomy, it maps more faithfully to the coercion seen with iodine fortification.
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Cakic, V. (2021). A Familiar Landscape in the Brave New World: Ethics of Cognitive Enhancement Introduction. In: Hall, M., Forshaw, M., Montgomery, C. (eds) Chemically Modified Minds. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6771-1_7
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