‘Human enhancement’ refers to the use of medicine, technology, and techniques to improve the capacities of people beyond what we would consider normal or healthy. Such enhancement could include pills to make us happier, better at remembering things, or more alert; drugs and training techniques to improve physical capacities like strength and stamina; genetic intervention techniques to make our children smarter and healthier; and drugs and medical procedures to extend our lifespans.
Whilst attempts at enhancement are already familiar—we drink coffee to increase alertness and sports drinks to improve stamina—the new opportunities for enhancement offered by recent medical and technological advances raises some important technical, ethical, social, and policy questions, which FHI is addressing. These questions include:
- How can enhancement help improve our lives?
- What advances in enhancement techniques can we realistically expect?
- What socioeconomic consequences would e.g. weak cognitive enhancement have?
- What ethical issues arise from the use of enhancers?
- Are our attitudes towards enhancement rational?
- What risks and consequences might result from more powerful human enhancement methods that might be developed in the future?
- What regulatory approach is best suited for enhancement medicine?