Sam de Brito Published: December 23, 2012 - 3:00AM 'There's something in the water.'' That's what we say when we observe a bunch of locals behaving in the same, odd way, but maybe it's also the answer to some of our thornier social problems? Tap water has a host of different elements to…
Perspective 1 Adrienne Asch Proponents of so-called moderate genetic enhancements contend that we nee dn’t worry much about possible upgrades to future human beings because they will not be transformative. Proponents of more radical enhancements endorse possible radical changes to humans .
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The debate over human “enhancement”, or the biotechnological heightening of human abilities, is prominent in bioethics. The most controversial stance is transhumanism, whose advocates urge us to develop biotechnologies enabling the “radical” elevation of select capacities, above all, rationality.
Transhumanists insist that their vision of the radical bioenhancement of human capacities is light-years removed from prior eugenics, which was state managed. Decisions about how far and even whether to enhance oneself and one’s children-to-be would stem strictly from personal discretion. Since autonomy is retained indeed, powerful biotechnologies would offer individuals marvellous new avenues for its expression transhumanists’ vision fits squarely within liberal democracy. Or so we are told.